Draft Sarah Palin For Vice President

One Year Reunion

2009-08-29T17:28:00.004-06:00

This site has been out of commission for a while - but I think there is good reason to recommission it for a special one-night-only event.

For anyone who was part of the Palin movement at the time, you should remember that exactly one year ago we achieved our goal - Sarah Palin was nominated by John McCain as the Republican candidate for Vice President in 2008. Of course, we got a half-million hits that day and received a lot of publicity - but the one thing most of us will probably remember is the marathon comment thread (about 900 comments total) that ran through the night as all of the commenters talked with a curious poster named "Drew" - who said he was helping set up the Dayton event and that we would be happy. We never actually found out who he was - but he was right, we were happy. A number of you also found ways to look up planes currently in the air - and you were the first to find a charter plane from Anchorage to Dayton, which ultimately was picked up by the media as the first sign that Gov. Palin would be nominated.

Some of you might even remember that I was not a part of that thread - I regret to say that I stupidly fell for McCain's disinformation campaign and went to bed, fully expecting to spend the next morning watching the genesis of the McCain-Pawlenty or McCain-Romney ticket. Thank goodness I was wrong.

So, while I think we in the Palin Movement still have much to do, I think we can take a little time for nostalgia. Hence, the old site is being temporarily rebooted to accommodate a reunion. I actually have an engagement tonight - so I again will miss the opening posts - but I should be around later in the evening for those interested in re-enacting the vigil.

Welcome back everybody.

New Thread

2009-04-02T12:58:00.002-06:00

Hello Everyone.

Since there are still a lot of people commenting here, I figured that I would give you a new post to start on. This way, you won't have to scroll through three pages to get to the recent stuff.

If you want to read my recent writing, you can find me at three different locations. In addition to my own blog, The Brickyard, I am also now a contributor to Race42012.com and Conservatives 4 Palin.

"The Brickyard"

2009-01-02T17:32:00.002-07:00

If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check out my new blog, "The Brickyard". This site may continue to be updated sporadically, but The Brickyard will be my main platform moving forward.

- Adam Brickley

Holiday Hiatus

2008-12-10T15:13:00.002-07:00

UPDATE: Visit my new blog, "The Brickyard"...and follow me on Twitter while you're at it.
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Hello everyone. If you haven't noticed, this blog has been rather quiet recently. This is in part due to the fact that I am very busy looking for employment and housing in the DC area, and partly due to the decrease in focus on the election. Hence, while I intend to continue blogging, I will not be posting here until after the New Year. Frankly, after almost two years at this gig, I think we could all use bit of a break to think and refocus.

Now, this does not mean we are shutting down. In fact, there are several things that I will be pursuing and would like your opinion on.

1) This website will not be changing its look...at all. Due to the fact that it is being archived by the Library of Congress as a site of historical significance, I intend to leave the name and design of this page intact for posterity and will not redesign. However, I may look into moving operations to a new location where we can put up a page with a more general and/or 2012-based focus.

2) I will probably be looking at launching a personal site/blog that will have a more general political scope (although it will almost surely include a section devoted to all things Sarah).

Thank you for reading and please keep coming back. I'm not going anywhere, just taking a breather before launching new efforts.

I hope all of you have a Merry Christmas or (in my case) a Happy Hanukkah, and I will see you all soon.

- Adam Brickley

Palin credited for landslide win in Georgia

2008-12-03T11:28:00.001-07:00

OK newspaper says; Palin credited for landslide win in Georgia

Chambliss: ‘Dynamite’ Palin turned out vote
Newly reelected Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) credited Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with firing up his base and allowing him to cruise to a victory over Democrat Jim Martin.
Chambliss heaped praise on Palin, saying she has a “great future” in the GOP.
“I can’t overstate the impact she had down here. All these folks did a great job coming in,” he said, referring to former presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani. “They all allow you [to] add momentum to where we were in the campaign. But when she walks in a room, folks just explode.”

Party leader credits Palin, majority for GOP victory in Georgia
“The margin you see in this race, I think you can attribute to her involvement in the end,” McKoon said.

Biden to Palin: With the race over, ‘no one pays attention to me’
“I might point out, as I told you when we walked in, since the race is over, no one pays attention to me at all … Maybe you will walk outside with me or something later and say hello to me,” Biden said,

Perry, Sanford and Palin fight for Taxpayers at Philly Conference
Republican Govs. Rick Perry of Texas, Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Sarah Palin of Alaska, led a spirited debate about the pitfalls of adding to the $10.7-trillion federal debt. “They warned that the U.S. economy could collapse”, said Governor Paterson

Palin Power: Former Vice Presidential Candidate Attracts Most Attention At The Governors’ Meeting
The most exciting politician at the National Governors Association (NGA) conference was not President-elect Barack Obama, D, nor was it the former movie action star, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif. The politician everyone wanted was Alaska’s Gov. Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate.
“I still have great concerns, when much of the economic problem that we are facing today perhaps was caused by too much debt that solving those problems will not come from incurring more debt”, said Palin.

Finally, watch this video. It appears as if Senator Chambliss endorsed Palin for 2012.

Trashing Palin is Damaging the GOP

2008-11-29T13:12:00.002-07:00

Last evening, I read one of the most sensible posts in the last two months on R42012. The 80+ comments that followed have left me depressed. Not because of the subtle sexism and anti-Palin rhetoric, but because of the oblivious attitude many on this site have towards the current functional state of the GOP.

I am going to take the post one step further and accuse some (in the minority) elite/east-coast Republicans of unknowingly sabotaging the party and any near-future hopes of regaining control of congress or the White house.

Any of you offended? Then let me explain the reality of the situation to you.

Expect President Obama and the DNC to raise $2 billion dollars over the next four years. Expect the Obama/DNC email distribution list to reach 20 million (from the current 13 million) and their online donors list to grow from the 3 million current supporters.

Today, the Republican party is in much poorer shape than it was post-Watergate and we are on the verge of handing the Democrats a filibuster-proof Senate majority. It may take our party 8 years to match the Democrats in terms of fundraising and volunteer lists. IMO, 2006-2008 may not have been rock-bottom for Republicans and we may experience further defeat.
Many conservatives believe that the 2010 mid-term elections will be a repeat of 1994, but do not hold your breath. In the eyes of the voting public, the words, ‘Republican’, ‘corruption’ and ’DC’ are virtually indistinguishable. We are just as ill thought of as we were in 2006 and might still be just as negatively perceived in 2010, when there are even more vulnerable Republican seats up for re-election then there were in 2008.

Is there any hope for the GOP? What do we have in our arsenal to compete with this Obama/DNC machine and halt the slide in our shrinking memberships lists and volunteer organizations?

Answer: Sarah Palin.

Let us put aside the 2012 campaign for a moment and review why Sarah Palin is critical to saving the Republican party from further electoral losses.

Currently, Governor Sarah Palin is the only Republican politician who is in high demand on the talk show circuit, has galliardising support, is directly or indirectly responsible for developing massive email distribution lists, growing the online presence of conservative chat rooms, networking site and blogs and has the ability to fund-raise at the level of President Bush. Since the Nov. 4th election, most of the new conservative blogs and sites have been created on behalf of Sarah Palin or created by administrators supportive of Palin and/or her conservative positions. The online growth (blogs, youtube, conservative social networking) is Palin motivated and Palin targeted.

The three largest national pro-Palin organizations, http://www.draftpalinforpresident.com/, http://www.teamsarah.org/ and the http://www.nfrw.org/links.htm have nearly 300,000 members. All three groups have a national organization, a fundraising apparatus and have utilized their membership lists, technology and networking capabilities to work on behalf of Senator Chambliss. DraftPalin and teamsarah only developed their networks in the last 45 days. These three sites, in combination with the other pro-Palin sites/blogs and networks will easily exceed the 1 million membership mark before the end of next year.

The online Palin movement is the only conservative network to adopt identical technology and networking platforms as the successful Obama Presidential campaign. The Palin movement will be the critical factor in saving many Senators and House members in 2010, which is why liberals want Palin to become insignificant and shun from the national stage. See a transcript from a recent Limbaugh show for further explanation.

Still do not believe me about Palin, then read this from Politico.

Three weeks after the Republican ticket suffered a sweeping defeat at the polls, Sarah Palin continues to dominate search engine queries, cable news and online video sites. The only American politician who generates comparable interest is President-elect Barack Obama. No one else is close.

Palin was the most popular Lycos search from the week she joined the ticket continuously through last Sunday,

The Alaska governor now ranks fourth, just one spot below Obama, on the weekly Lycos 50 list.

In September, the Anchorage Daily News reported a 928 percent spike in traffic, according to Nielsen Online.

Her mid-October “Saturday Night Live” appearance drove the show’s highest rating in 14 years, and her Oct. 2 debate with Joe Biden was the most watched vice presidential debate ever — drawing more viewers than any of the three presidential debates between McCain and Obama.

She ranked as the No. 2 top news search at Ask.com this week and No. 2 (after Obama) among newsmakers on the AOL 2008 year-end hottest searches list, and she occupied two slots on Politico’s list of the site’s 10 most searched terms.

Palin also ranked fourth among Yahoo searches
she sat for an interview with Greta Van Susteren of Fox News and delivered the show’s largest audience of the year.

According to the Project for Excellence in Journalism, Palin was the second-leading newsmaker for the week of Nov. 10-16, trailing only Obama and ranking ahead of President Bush, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and McCain in the number of stories about her.

Some web sites and GOP activists/politicians have provided some excellent suggestions to improve the Republican party, election strategy and online and grassroots conservative activism, but without growing membership lists, fundraising dollars and motivated activists, the ideas will not materialize into success. Like her or not, Sarah Palin is the only net-positive national representative we have at the moment.

Next time you decide to repeat your Keith Olbermann talking points on Sarah Palin, remember which national GOP candidate is stumping across Georgia for Senator Chambliss, on the eve of the election. It is not President Bush, former President Bush or Senator John McCain, it is Governor Sarah Palin.

A wise choice, Senator Chambliss.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Well, we definitely have a lot to be thankful for this year! We've seen Sarah go national, and hopefully helped launch her as a national figure. I've been a little busy lately (home in Colorado for turkey day), so I didn't get a chance to comment on that ridiculous turkey video that hit YouTube last week...to be honest I thought it was just one of those uncontrolable silly things that occasionally happen to public figures, and we can all get a laugh out of if. However, I figured that Thanksgiving was an appropriate time to show of the OTHER side of "Turkeygate". This is the footage of Sarah actually pardoning the turkey and wishing Alaskans a happy Thanksgiving (I personally found it heartwarming and more fun to watch than the now-infamous turkey footage). Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

New Pro-Palin 527

2008-11-24T14:32:00.002-07:00

H/T: Marc Ambinder.

Brand new Sarah Palin ad, produced by a Conservative PAC. Watch it here.

PAC spokesman Sal Russo said they have received $2 million in donations for the ads, which will start running tomorrow in Alaska and will include a national buy. “We wanted to give Sarah Palin the reassurance that despite the critics, Americans by and large appreciated her service and want her to continue to be a voice.”
He said there was some “back and forth” about whether the political ad would air on the television networks. He said it would air on cable news outlets. In Alaska, the ad is airing in primetime Wednesday.

I can hear all the potential 2012 candidates saying to themselves…”I have no chance to secure the nomination if Palin runs”.

It's Official: We Made History!

2008-11-20T22:14:00.002-07:00

I recieved this message from the Library of Congress in my email today (and yes, I verified that it was legitimate). We made history here, and the people who write history are acknowledging it. Pat yourselves on the back, because whatever happens from here on out, we know that people are going to remember this effort.

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To Whom It May Concern:

The United States Library of Congress has selected your Web site for inclusion in its historic collections of Internet materials related to Election 2008. The Library's traditional functions, acquiring, cataloging, preserving and serving collection materials of historical importance to the Congress and to the American people to foster education and scholarship, extend to digital materials, including Web sites. We request your permission to collect your web site and add it to the Library's research collections. We also ask that we be allowed to display the archived version(s) of your web site.

The following URL has been selected:

palinforvp.blogspot.com

With your permission, the Library of Congress or its agent will engage in the collection of content from your Web site at regular intervals over time. The Library will make this collection available to researchers onsite at Library facilities. The Library also wishes to make the collection available to offsite researchers by hosting the collection on the Library's public access Web site. The Library hopes that you share its vision of preserving Internet materials and permitting researchers from across the world to access them. If you agree to permit the Library to collect your Web site, please click the following link to signify your consent. This link also includes a separate consent for permitting the Library to provide offsite access to your materials through the Library's Web site.

(link removed)

For several years, the Library of Congress has collected Web sites within certain themes or topics, such as elections, for which we were required to seek permission for each new collection developed by the Library, even if permission had been granted in the past. As our collections have grown, we have had to contact some Web site producers repeatedly. To reduce this duplication and to save site owners from having to respond to multiple requests for information, we are now requesting permissions for the Library to collect, over time and in varying frequency, sites of research interest. Your site has been identified as a Web site of interest related to Election 2008. If you grant this permission, we will capture your site for inclusion in our Election 2008 Web Archive and may also include it in our future collections related to national elections. If you grant this permission, and in the future you no longer wish to be included in the Library's Web archives, please contact ! us and we will cease collection of your Web site.

Our Election Web archives are important because they contribute to the historical record of our national elections, capturing information that could otherwise be lost. With the growing role of the Web as an influential medium, records of historic events could be considered incomplete without materials that were "born digital" and never printed on paper. The Library has developed three previous Election Web Archives, in 2000, 2002 and 2004. These Election Archives are available along with our other Web Archive collections through the Library's Web site (http://www.loc.gov/webcapture/). For more information about these and other Web Archive collections please visit our Web site.

If you have questions, comments or recommendations concerning our Election 2008 Web Archive project, please e-mail the Library's Web Capture team at (removed) at your earliest convenience.

Thank You,
Web Capture Team
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C.
http://www.loc.gov/webcapture

Sarah Palin: Bestselling Author

2008-11-19T22:16:00.001-07:00

by Adam Brickley

So, the word on the street today is that Sarah may have been offered up to $7 Million dollars to pen a book. Personally, I think she should take it…not for the money but for the exposure. In fact, I have suggested that writing a book would be a good step. However, I have to add one key caviat to my endorsement of the idea: if the publishers want her to just write a “memoir”, she should tell them to take a hike.
Memoirs are for has-beens…and Sarah is clearly just beginning her national career. What we need from her now is vision, not memories. Any forthcoming book by Sarah Palin needs to be forward-looking and contain commentary about the current political scene: what’s right about it, what’s wrong with it, and how we can fix it. If Sarah can use her own past accomplishments as a basis for a broader national agenda (and she can), than more power to her, but she needs to keep ideas at the center of her writing and use her biography only as proof that those ideas work. This book would need to be substantive and meaty, because it will probably be the lynchpin of any effort to dispel the Tina Fey stereotype of Palin-as-airhead.
Personally, I think she could eschew the biography end of things all together and write on policy. She’s one of the nation’s leading authorities on oil and gas policy, and one of its most dogged crusaders for ethical government. It should not be hard for her to crank out a volume on either of those subjects.
So, we can all celebrate the fact that the publishing world wants to hear from our favorite Governor, but we need to make sure that she knows what her devoted “fans” want to hear from her.
So, as the original “Palin fan” (at least here in the Lower 48), I’ll start the chorus:
SARAH, PLEASE FORGET ABOUT THE PAST AND GIVE US A VISION FOR THE FUTURE! (Besides, something tells me that, be the time this thing would go to print, the public might be hungry for some more genuine plans for “hope” and “change”)

Are Thompson and Palin working together?

2008-11-18T15:28:00.001-07:00

Are Thompson and Palin working together?

Ever start to put two and two together and…

I was updating my bookmarks and I was surprised to see Team Sarah was still actively advocating for Governor Palin. No mention of 2012, but their efforts were obvious. In recent weeks Team Sarah’s most vocal advocate and leader has been Jeri Thompson. You can watch some of Jeri’s performances here. As many of you are aware, Jeri is not just a political spouse, she is a political operative. Jeri worked at the RNC.

Both Thompson (Fred) and Palin have been very silent on their future roles in the GOP, but I am beginning to notice a trend. What appears to be a subtle movement(s), is actually a full-scale assault and I believe that Mrs. and Mr. Thompson and Mrs. Palin are actively working together to ascend to the leadership of the GOP.

This is of course is mostly a hunch, but we need to keep our eye on the connections and subtleties.

———
On Thompson, Matt Lewis from Politico (Townhall) has the story (including some speculation on Palin);

During his short-lived 2008 presidential run, Thompson often seemed a better advocate for others than for himself. After dropping out of the presidential race, he served as one of Sen. John McCain’s most eloquent, hard-hitting and effective surrogates. With his Hollywood ties, he’s also a pretty good fundraiser. As RNC chairman, he could continue in that role without the pressure to become president himself (which, frankly, didn’t seem to appeal to him).

The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder noted possibly the most intriguing pre-Election Day speculation, when he said that “some activists want Sarah Palin — assuming she doesn’t become vice president — to run.”

—–
This week has also produced the launch of what is probably going to be the largest “Draft a Pol” movement in American history.
Paul Streitz designed a great site for the 2012 Palin movement. Paul has a ‘MASSIVE’ distribution list and networks of supporters and volunteers across the nation. Politico has the details on the ‘Draft Palin for President’ movement. Paul was a leading activist against the Bush immigration bill (frequently seen on Lou Dobbs) and Paul is the founder of http://www.americafirst2008.com/. This movement will soon have the resources and nationwide network similar to a national leadership campaign.

David L. Kelly, the group’s Treasurer and Colorado coordinator, sent a mass email today that hit at least one Iowa GOP vet.
“Since forming our committee last week, we now have State Organizers in ten states and thousands from across the nation who have signed on as supporters,” writes Kelly. “We feel that for Conservatives to be successful again, we must get back to the core principles of Conservatism. Sarah Palin’s popularity and her Conservative values that she embodies will be the catalyst that will resurrect the Conservative base and reform the Republican Party of the near future.”

Palin for ‘Time Person of the Year’

2008-11-17T08:54:00.000-07:00

Former Romney supporter K-Lo, makes the argument; Read the full article.

Some highlights of the editorial, below.

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But Time shouldn’t diss the not insignificant portion of the country that voted for Republican John McCain. And, specifically, they shouldn’t ignore the people who were energized by the addition of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to his ticket. She offered something new on the right, something new from a woman and something new for Republicans. Mind you, Palin was far from the first pro-life conservative woman to appear in the Republican party — there are plenty of them in the House of Representatives. (With the defeat of Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina, though, there are no pro-life women in the Senate.)
Whatever you thought of her, it seemed everyone in the country had an opinion of Palin — at the very start, throughout, and after the Republicans’ failed national campaign. And like Obama, all you had to do was look at her to see that she offered something different on a national ticket. In neither case did I think that novelty alone was a sufficient qualification for executive office, but the sheer innovative force of each was blindingly obvious, and the first things you noticed.
Here at National Review’s post-election cruise, a group gathered for a weeklong post-mortem on the high seas has Palin on the brain. Palin’s not on ship, but neither her absence nor the McCain loss has dampened enthusiasm for her here.
—–
Like the “change” from the Obama campaign slogan embraced by so many, Palin offered something different. For some it was an anti-Washington feel. Many consider her a refreshing citizen-politician in the old mold, one that Thomas Jefferson would be proud to meet. Does that make her just like Obama? I do wonder what the campaign would have been like had they both been at the helm: He wouldn’t have had a monopoly on change, and she would have had her own staff and freedom to follow her instincts, and perhaps better advice than she was given as she ran for vice president.

We’ll never know what could have been in a straight-on Obama vs. Palin contest. But what we do know is this: Palin, like Obama, energized people. And she did it in a heckuva lot less time than he had to do it, only coming onto the national scene and the GOP ticket Labor Day weekend. It’s still a free country. Media outlets still can do as they please (save for those who choose to hand over their editorial direction to one party or another). But Time would make a mistake if it ignored the Palin phenom this year just because the ticket didn’t win in the end.

Obama would be wise to agree.

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K-Lo, I could not agree more.

Welcome Kristofer! (and other housekeeping notes)

2008-11-14T10:55:00.003-07:00

Updated 5:31p.m. Meet the next Barack Obama! A new post has been added to my ConservaGlobe blog...

Obviously, we are going to have to re-tool this site for post-2008 success, and I'm happy to announce that we took the first step yesterday by adding a new blogger...Kristofer D. Lorelli. Kristofer has a been a player in the Palin movement for some time as the founder of PalinForVP.com, and is also a contributor at Race42012 (formerly Race42008.com).

I haven't worked out how often Kristofer will be contributing yet, but his account is active and he is free to log on whenever he pleases. I will be looking for more new bloggers in the coming weeks and will let you know when a process has been set up.

I also wanted to let you know that I will also be re-starting my non-Palin blogging efforts, as there are many issues I have not commented on in the last year, and I miss blogging on international affairs. For now, I will be re-activating my old blog, ConservaGlobe, with a column to be posted tonight. I will probably be trying to totally re-do that site.

The future starts today, friends, and I'm really looking forward to it.

The 'Real' Palin Emerges

2008-11-13T13:08:00.002-07:00

Out from behind the scripted role of the Vice Presidential nominee, America is now being introduced to the 'real' Sarah Palin. I have never doubted the bond and friendship Senator McCain and Governor Palin developed during the 9 weeks they partnered together, but I have doubted Governor Palin's support for the agenda the McCain campaign was selling to America.

Governor Palin is not an economic populist. Her record of accomplishments include, cutting earmarks, cutting corporate welfare, balancing budgets and re-prioritizing spending. In her RGA speech this morning, the fiscally conservative Governor Palin we all respect and admire re-appeared.

"We're hearing now more talk of additional taxpayer bailouts … for companies, for corporations, perhaps even states now who may be standing in line with their hands out despite, perhaps, some poor management decisions on their part that helped tank our economy,"

"Republicans can help shore (these sectors of the economy) up without getting any more addicted to opium, other people's money," she argued. "We need to have a rational discussion. What and when is enough enough?"

I believe this is the first of many deviations we will see Governor Palin take from the 2008 campaign policy booklet.

Sarah "Knocks 'em Dead" at RGA Conference

2008-11-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

I'm actually having a twinge on nostalgia right now. Back in the early days, we used to LIVE for Governors conferences, because we knew that they were the primary times that Sarah would be in the Lower 48 and talking to the national media. Now, she's returning to this year's Republican Governors Association Conference as the star of the show! What a difference a year makes. I think Sarah is doing a fine job establishing herself as political force in her own right, and I might even be prouder of her now than I was during the VP run. Texas Gov. Rick Perry introduced Sarah today, and he told her to "knock 'em dead"...I think that's exactly what she's been doing lately, and I'm more excited for her future than I've ever been. That's not how I expected to feel less than a month after losing an national election, but I think it's clear that Sarah is back and better than ever. I am really looking forward to moving ahead with a Palin movement that is still VERY much alive.

Also, I will be on CNN today at 2:50 PM Eastern Time for anyone interested in watching.

Medicated and Back in Action

2008-11-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. If you haven't figured it out already, I've been really sick over the last week or so (especially this weekend). Now I'm on antibiotics and trying to get back on the horse. Gov. Palin has been doing some great interviews lately, and I hope you have all seen the Greta Van Susteren interview over at FoxNews.com. While we're at this, I thought I would post video of the Anchorage Daily News' recent interview. Considering all of the criticism I've dished out about editing by the major networks, I find it really refreshing to see almost 10 minutes of raw, unedited Palin.

Endorsement: Operation Leper

2008-11-06T15:18:00.000-07:00

I'm not even going to bother to comment on the disgusting load of hooey being spread in the media today by "anonymous McCain staffers". To address that sort of hateful garbage would be to dignify it, and I will not do that.

I will however, point you in the direction of RedState.com's "Operation Leper", which was posted earlier today. While the idea sounds a little malicious, I think it is worth pursuing in this particular case. Staffers who tear down their candidate the day after the election (likely on false premises), should not have a place in the GOP. If we want to win anything in the next four years, we need to stop tearing each other down and work together. So, I don't care what you think of Sarah Palin or anyone else who might be running for President in 2012 - if your top priority TWO DAYS AFTER A PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION is tearing down a leader in your own party, then I think I have good reason to question both your character and your intelligence.

So, while I normally don't like to be this petty, I think we do need to find out who these people are and get rid of them. Any self-respecting Republican should see the value in closing ranks around Governor Palin and expelling the bad apples who are spreading these viscous rumors. It is irrelevant who support for President in 2012 or what you think of Sarah Palin, if you are a Republican, you have an obligation to work toward unifying the party and providing an effective opposition the Obama administration. Right now, unifying the party means letting these rogue staffers know that we are not going to tolerate their senseless hatred of a major figure in the GOP.

Also, I wanted to post a great analysis of this situation from Townhall.com's Matt Lewis. (Full disclosure: Mr. Lewis is my boss, but I'm posting this because I think he said what a lot of us are thinking, not because I work for him.)

Moving Forward

2008-11-05T15:00:00.003-07:00

CAUTION: LONG COLUMN...BUT PLEASE READ THE WHOLE THING (The best stuff is at the end)

The dust has settled. Barack Obama is the President-Elect, Joe Biden is moving into the Naval Observatory, John McCain is headed back to the Senate, and Sarah is going back to Alaska...hopefully to continue the dramatic progress she has made in upsetting the political establishment and making government work for the people.

Meanwhile, those of us who supported Sarah in her run for Vice President get to begin the process of moving forward. So, as we launch a new phase in our movement, I think it's time to start talking about what we want to see in the future from the Republican Party, Sarah Palin, and our own movement. I have a few thoughts on each. Some of this is stuff I've already read, some of it isn't.

WHAT I WANT THE REPUBLICAN PARTY TO DO

Forget about the 2012 presidential race for two years. We're never going to unseat Obama if we don't unite the party and build a solid foundation. Instead of lining up behind our respective horses for the next round of primaries, we need to focus on getting good leadership in place in Congress and the Republican National Committee (RNC). In Congress, I think this means turning the House Leadership over the the "Young Turks" of the party. More than likely, this will involve the eventual installation of a new Minority Leader from a younger generation (likely Eric Cantor of Virginia). For the time being, John Boehner has indicated his desire to remain Leader, and Cantor is probably going to run for Minority Whip. However, in the next few years, there should be moves to eventually replace Boehner with Cantor and trade the aging leadership team in for dynamic new faces like Paul Ryan (Wisconsin), Thad McCotter (Michigan), and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Washington). They will be able to produce and market 21st Century conservative alternatives to President Obama's proposals.

At the RNC, there needs to be a new Chairman who can rev up the party faithful, rebuild the GOP fundraising machine, and help new Republicans win election. The Democrats figured out how to find such a person in 2005 when they elected Howard Dean, a charismatic former presidential candidate who could barnstorm the country. We could replicate that phenomenon by turning to Fred Thompson or Rudy Giuliani.

WHAT I WANT TO SEE FROM GOVERNOR PALIN

1. Don't pay much attention to 2012 speculation and focus on being Governor. Cement yourself as a presence on the national scene, but top priority is getting that gasline built (thereby giving yourself another major accomplishment as Governor and potentially lowering energy prices down here in the lower 48...you can run on that in 2012)
2. Launch "SarahPAC" as soon as possible. You are a force to be reckoned with when it comes to fundraising potential, and lots of people will be happy to give you lots of cash to distribute to candidates around the country (this also gives you an excuse to occasionally go on campaign trips). You can use SarahPAC (or whatever you decide to call it) to establish a reputation for helping other Republicans win, and gain some loyalty from the Congressmen that you want to endorse your eventual candidacy.
3. Write a bestseller. The subject is irrelevant, though including a good deal of policy talk would probably be helpful. The American public needs to know that you are an intelligent and capable leader, so show them how smart you are. Plus, it never hurts to have to do a bunch of interviews to promote your new book, and if you wrote on energy policy, you could establish yourself as a "preeminent authority" on the subject.
4. DO NOT RUN FOR THE U.S. SENATE. You need to stay far away from Washington and continue to build your resume (and ensure that you get the credit for that shiny new gasline). If you want to run for something, run for re-election.

WHAT I WANT TO SEE FROM OUR MOVEMENT

Sarah cannot start openly tooting her 2012 horn for at least two years, and frankly neither can any other high level GOP operative or major media personality. On the other hand, we "internet nuts" are bound by no such standards of propriety. Our job moving forward is to wave pom-poms and yell "Sa-rah! Sa-rah!" at the top of our lungs for the next few years. We're the ones who will be making sure that Sarah's accomplishments in Alaska continue to be highlighted (need I mention the gasline again?) and that she stays at the top of any and all lists of potential 2012 candidates. This is what we do best, and we need to get back to that sort of operation.

We also need to pursue two objectives from an operational standpoint: institutionalization and decentralization. Institutionalization means putting in place mechanisms to ensure that the Palin Movement remains intact and cannot be broken up. Decentralization means making sure that there are multiple sources of pro-Palin chatter. We've already done well at decentralizing, with a plethora of Palin sites popping up earlier this year (Palinforamerica.com, Palinforvp.com, mccainpalin2008.blogspot.com, etc.), but we need to continue to build stronger networks and more sites. This will ensure that we cannot be shut down by the departure of one or two bloggers. I'll be honest here, I have no clue what I will be doing in four years or whether my career path will allow me to continue an independent partisan blog. We need to make sure that NO ONE can kill this movement or this site, not even me. Hence, I will be looking to build a stronger network of Pro-Palin blogs and re-networking with some of the connections that I have not been able to keep up during the recent frenzy. I will probably also be looking to add new bloggers the team here at palinforvp.blogspot.com.

If we take these steps, we should be able to set up a sustainable movement that, God willing, will help propel Sarah to the Presidency in four years.

God bless America.

Draft Sarah 2012

2008-11-04T21:40:00.000-07:00

Well, looks like it's over. McCain just gave a very gracious concession speech, and we should congratulate him and Sarah on a great campaign. We give our best wishes to President-elect Obama, but at the same time we officially inagurate the "Draft Sarah 2012" movement. As far as we are concerned, victory is still in sight and there will be no settling for second banana next time.

You've all done a wonderful job and I like to thank all of you for reading and commenting during the past year. For as much as I have received much credit for this movement, it would have gone nowhere without you, my readers. I look forward to continuing to work with you.

Our prayers are with Governor Palin, and God Bless America.

Election Night Liveblog

2008-11-04T17:43:00.006-07:00

7:07 PM - It's 7:00 PM on the East Coast and the first polls have closed. As the first results trickle in, feel free to get the party going in the comments section. I'll be back as soon as there is anything to report. Welcome aboard, and let's make it a great night!

8:25 PM - Well, the early results are rolling in. The only thing I have to say is to remember that these are EARLY results. We won't really know what's going on in a lot of these states until more numbers roll in.

8:33 - While I'm thinking about it, special thanks to my friend Carly for the use of her laptop. Carly, I'm sure you'll see this at some point in the night, so rest assured that I will not post your last name all over the web :-).

9:04 - The networks are calling battleground states with less than 5% of the vote in...even Fox...amazing. Anyway, we're winning in VA and closing in FL and NC. Meanwhile, Carly informs me that, in return for using her laptop, I now have an obligation to drop her name in all media interviews.

9:20 - I continue to be amazed at the media's absurd confidence in their ability to predict the future. Pennsylvania has been called with 13% in (a heavy Obama lead...indicating a likely win in Philly) and Ohio with 9% (Oh boy...Obama won Cleaveland!).

10:23 - Things are starting to look bluer, but I'm still not buying some of the early calls. Either way, I'm settling in with some card games and preparing for the real excitement.

11:01 PM - CNN has called the election for Obama. Thoughts? Assuming the result holds, we still have a lot to talk about here. Sarah 2012?

Brace for Impact!

2008-11-03T15:40:00.001-07:00

Nobody knows what's going to happen tomorrow, and frankly I don't feel like wasting your time with pontifications or predictions. Here's what I will say: We will be having an "online victory party" here just like we did the night before the nomination.

I will be liveblogging all night long (though I will be at a party, so we're going to have to see how often I get to the computer). I'm also operating under the assumption that it will be a LONG night. McCain is on fire, Palin is on fire, and the best poll from 2004 shows the race as a tossup.

So, get out to your local polling stations and lets make sure that John and Sarah can raise their hands in victory tomorrow night. Then, we'll get online here to celebrate.

One last thing...I kicked off the last victory party by posting a Bon Jovi music video, so I figure I'll get this one started with another one...

Consider this my response to anyone who thinks this election is lost.

(and if any of you are artistically inclined, I would love it if somebody could photoshop Sarah's hairdo onto the "Have a Nice Day" smiley face from the video...I would love to make that our theme image going forward.)

A Few Thoughts on Polls (and a CNN Video)

2008-11-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

Friends, we are just under 48 hours from the opening of the polls in what could be one of the biggest elections of our lifetime...and personally I'm starting to think it is going to be a real squeaker regardless of who wins.

If you haven't noticed, most of the polls are showing Obama up by roughly 5%, but what a lot of people don't look at is the fine print on how those polls are conducted. A lot of pollsters build party registration breakdowns into their polls to ensure they have a sample that accurately reflects the electorate. Here's the problem: This year, the pollsters have been consistently building more Democrats into their polls. Through my job at Townhall, I had the opportunity to listen in on a McCain campaign media call the other day, and they had to explain that a lot of these polls are building in a 10-12% Democratic registration advantage (assuming a surge of new Democratic voters due to Obama). However, since 1984, that simply is not the case. Instead, there has been a pretty steady Democratic registration advantage of about 5% (even in elections where the GOP wins handily). If we were building polls based on that assumption, we would be looking at MUCH different data than the stuff we are getting.

So, the question then becomes what data the CAMPAIGNS are operating on. Obama wants us to think he's playing in red states now...and to a degree he is (North Carolina). However, that doesn't explain why the Senator from Illinois was in Iowa on Friday. Iowa has been polling blue for months, it's not in need of defending, right? Wrong. McCain internal polling shows it tied, and I'm guessing Obama's polls are showing the exact same thing (otherwise he wouldn't be there).

So, I'm bracing for a long night on Tuesday.

P.S. Here's the video from the CNN International segment I did the other day with Zennie Abraham. I can't get the embed to work, but Zennie also has a great piece on this up on his blog, so you can view it there. And he's right..they cut some good stuff out of the final version.

Home Stretch

2008-10-31T15:08:00.001-06:00

Well, here we are. The final days of the campaign are ticking down, and all we can really do is wait. That said, I'm going to try to blog hard until election day, and I have not intention of stopping afterward (regardless of result). Just so you know, my laptop has been stolen, so I'm a little dependent on my work computer and my friends' laptops...so I might be a little sporadic. Anyway, we should have a lot of good news to cover in the next few days, and I intend to stay on top of it. The polls are showing a very close race, Sarah is doing a fantastic job on the trail, and Barack Obama is being forced to play defense in states he thought were wrapped up (namely Iowa, where he was today). Keep it tuned here for all things Sarah as we ramp up for the big finale!

P.S. What's cuter than Piper and Trig? Piper and Trig in costume! (love the baby elephant!)

AK Dems Defend Palin!

2008-10-29T14:59:00.001-06:00

This AP article is a MUST READ. You know the media is not doing their job when even Palin's in-state rivals feel compelled to defend her.

Also, I taped a segment with CNN International this morning. They put me opposite liberal blogger Zennie Abraham, and I have to say that it was an enjoyable discussion. I will let you know as soon as they tell me when they are airing it, and I will be sure to post video here.

UPDATE: Here's the video of the CNN interview

2008-10-27T20:19:00.001-06:00

"Rogue"

2008-10-27T15:21:00.001-06:00

First off, The CNN interview went well and I am working on getting a video for you. I should be able to put it up soon. But first, I wanted to address another issue that has been jumped on by the media..."anonymous McCain staffers" saying that Palin has gone "rogue".

There seems to be no real evidence of tension between McCain and Palin, just tension between Palin and the staffers which were assigned to her (mostly ex-Bush staffers). Everyone in the media seems to be placing the blame on Sarah (as always), but lets take a look at this situation:

Staffers are complaining that Palin isn't taking their advice...advice which led to the Katie Couric editing spree, the Charlie Gibson chop-job, and the abandoned "makeover". Now that Sarah is finding her feet and doing what she does best, suddenly the bad-advice people think they have a right to get mad at her?! Please. These people work for Sarah, not the other way around. She's their boss, not their science project. There's nothing wrong with trusting your advisers, but when the advisers steer you wrong, it's time to get a second opinion. Sarah is the candidate, meaning that she cannot "go rogue" on anyone (except McCain himself), or veer off her own message. The only people "going rogue" are the staffers who wanted to keep Sarah under wraps and hide her from the electorate. Considering their handling of the situation, they should be grateful that Sarah is keeping them around at all.

CNN Appearance Today!

2008-10-27T10:13:00.000-06:00

Just so you all know. I will be appearing on CNN today at 3:30 PM Eastern/12:30 PM Pacific. I will do my best to make video available as soon as possible.

Current

2008-10-24T10:08:00.000-06:00

This is an independent interview I did a few days ago, which has been uploaded to Current. Thanks to Kyanna for a great interview, it was a pleasure talking to you. Be sure to go over to Current and "Vote Up".

CNN for Sarah, New Yorker for Me.

2008-10-22T10:43:00.000-06:00

If you didn't see it yesterday, Gov. Palin turned in a fine performance in a one-on-one interview with CNN's Drew Griffin. I guess they only publicize these things when they think they use them to damage the governor. Oh, well.

On a more personal note, the current issue of The New Yorker has an article on the rise of Sarah Palin...and yes, I'm part of it. It was a real pleasure to be interviewed by Jane Mayer, and I think that the final article came out very well.

Live, From New York, It's Sarah Palin!

2008-10-19T18:10:00.001-06:00

Last night was Gov. Palin’s SNL debut, and personally, I thought it she was hilarious. I think I read that that the show drew a record audience, which could have an ever-so-slight impact on the polls. I think it said a lot that Sarah was willing to participate in what I think were comparatively wild sketches (as opposed to those that have featured either the real John McCain or the real Barack Obama, which were rather tame). Great job, Governor!
I could probably analyze these sketches more, but then you wouldn’t have time to watch them (assuming that you haven’t already done so)

Gov. Palin Steals Tina Fey’s Thunder!

The Sarah Palin Rap (Pure Hilarity!)

Hope your enjoyed the weekend fun, and see you tomorrow as we get back into campaign mode.

John and Sarah: The Comeback Kids

2008-10-15T23:15:00.000-06:00

Ladies and Gentleman, the comeback has begun! The polls were starting to narrow anyway, and John McCain gave the campaign a final boost by blowing Obama away in tonight’s debate. The media can say what they will, but everyone I talked to thought that Senator McCain won convincingly and turned in his best performance yet. Senator Obama, on the other hand, looked flustered by McCain’s spot-on criticisms. After the debate ended, Obama looked worn out while McCain was bouncing off the walls. I don’t care what any pundit says; both candidates on stage tonight clearly knew who won and who lost.

Now, the question becomes how to build on this momentum and continue climbing until Election Day. By most counts, Obama is up by between three and eight points. Some polls, particularly the Gallup Daily Tracker, have shown a wider lead. However, I refuse to put stock in the Gallup Poll as they have recently changed their definition of a “likely voter”. Luckily, Gallup is honest enough to report how their poll would have come out if the traditional definition of a “likely voter” was applied. In today’s poll, for instance, Obama enjoys a 7% lead among registered voters, and an 8% lead among “likely voters”. However, if the standard definition of a likely voter had been used rather than Gallup’s new expanded version, the very same poll would have shown Obama leading by only 3%! Hence, my personal feeling is that Obama’s actual lead going into the debate was somewhere in the 3-6% range. Based on McCain’s performance tonight, I would expect a 1-2% shift in his favor in the next few days, leaving the race in a statistical dead heat. This is where Sarah Palin once again enters the picture.

If you haven’t noticed yet, Gov. Palin has been granted MUCH more independence lately and has ramped up her end of the campaign. She’s doing well in her speeches, and more importantly she has been doing well in interviews. I listened to her on Rush Limbaugh yesterday and the Mike Gallagher Show this morning - she did beautifully in both. She’s also been getting a bit more positive coverage by doing things like stopping the Straight Talk Express at Wal-Mart to buy diapers for Trig (don’t laugh, it happened recently). Finally, if she does indeed appear on Saturday Night Live, she will likely generate a good deal of publicity and emphasize the difference between Tina Fey and the real Sarah Palin. These moves by Gov. Palin may be able to shift the polls another 1-2%.

I’ve already lined out the possibility for a 2-4% shift based solely on McCain and Palin’s actions. Taking into account other factors, it could easily be bigger. The stock market will gradually begin to stabilize, deflating the panic that has inflated Obama’s recent numbers. ACORN is becoming a major issue as more and more fraudulent voter registrations are found. I would not be surprised to see several more major ACORN busts, possibly accompanied by criminal charges. Finally, if there is any major international news, McCain is the natural beneficiary based on his foreign policy credentials.

Bocephus

2008-10-15T15:01:00.002-06:00

This has made a few headlines in the last few days, but I hadn't heard the full song until today. So, for those who have yet to hear Hank Williams Jr.'s "McCain-Palin Tradition", enjoy.

Sarah on Rush!

2008-10-14T14:59:00.000-06:00

For those that haven't seen it yet, Gov. Palin gave a great interview today on the Rush Limbaugh Program. She was in rare form, looks like SarahCuda is back and better than ever.

Click here to read the transcript.

Great "Troopergate" Response

2008-10-13T11:35:00.000-06:00

It's a bit of a slow news day, and I don't have much time. However, before I forget, I wanted to quickly direct you to the response to the Branchflower report issued by Gov. Palin's lawyers. It turns the entire investigation on its head by asserting (credibly) that Sen. Hollis French, Sen. Lyda Green, and "investigator" Steve Branchflower are themselves in violation of Alaska's ethics laws. It also makes a plausible case for "abuse of power" on the part of Senators Green and French due to their use of public money to finance a labor union's vendetta against the governor. I really enjoyed reading such a thorough smackdown against the anti-Palin lynch mob, and I feel that I would be doing you disservice if I didn't make sure that all of your read it.

Half-Baked Alaska with A.C.O.R.N. Glaze

2008-10-10T19:43:00.000-06:00

Well, we’re still waiting for the release (or lack thereof) of the Branchflower report on the Troopergate circus. I don’t really want to go into too much detail until we know more but I do want to offer some thoughts:
I personally doubt this will happen, but let’s say we end up with a “worst-case” scenario where most of the “allegations” against Palin are deemed to be true. Even in that case, I have difficulty discerning a crime. Legally, you can’t say that Commissioner Monegan was wrongly fired. First, he wasn’t dismissed. He was offered a reassignment, which he refused. Second, a Commissioner can be legally dismissed for any reason or even no reason. If I recall, they’re no longer even investigating that angle.
So, if it’s not about Monegan, maybe it’s about Todd Palin’s undue influence on his wife’s administration. Again, there’s no crime there. The governor can choose whoever she wants as an advisor, and numerous first spouses have had as much, if not more, influence than Todd Palin. Nancy Murkowski, Todd’s predecessor, admittedly had a VERY large role in her husband’s administration.
So, if it’s not about Todd, maybe it’s about the idea that Sarah used her power to pressure the department of Public Safety to fire Trooper Mike Wooten. I’m guessing that this is the actual focus of the “investigation”, but there are a lot of pitfalls there as well. I don’t have a link ready, but I remember reading somewhere that the legislators running this show originally said that pressuring for the dismissal of Wooten would be within the governor’s rights if she believed that he genuinely was a bad trooper. So, in order for the kangaroo court to find any wrongdoing, they would have to prove that Sarah not only applied direct pressure to fire Wooten (an accusation which already seems to have been debunked), but also that she disbelieved her own assertion that Mike Wooten was a bad trooper and a threat to public safety. First off, that’s a rather extraordinary burden of proof for the investigator; and second, I think it’s painfully clear that Trooper Wooten is no saint (I would point to his numerous official reprimands). Now, I’m no lawyer, but from what little I know, there objectively should be no case. The only thing they could potentially do is accuse somebody of trying to cover up a crime that…well…was never a crime to begin with.

Now, let’s compare this farce to some of the recent events involving the Obama campaign. Obviously, there’s the Willaim Ayers issue, on which Obama has shifted his position (he now says he knew of Ayers’ terrorist activities but believed that he had be ‘rehabilitated’). That’s worse than Troopergate to begin with in my mind, but most of those associations do go back a little farther than Palin’s issues with Mike Wooten, so let’s deal with something a little more current: A.C.O.R.N. If you’ve been reading the news, you should know that A.C.O.R.N, a community organizing network, is in a lot of hot water for voter fraud. Not only has Barack Obama associated with them in the past, his campaign paid $800,000 to an A.C.O.R.N. -affiliated organization back in the primaries. Now, as it comes to light that A.C.O.R.N is responsible for thousands of false voter registrations in numerous states, Sen. Obama is trying to backpedal. The conservative media and the Republican Party are getting mad, but the “mainstream” people don’t even seem to think that A.C.O.R.N. is even relevant. We’re talking about an organization that is actively trying to rig votes for Obama, which is a much bigger deal than trying to get a bad trooper fired, but I don’t hear anyone in the press screaming for an investigation. Maybe they’re just too busy camping out in the Alaska State Capitol.

Half-Baked Alaska: Awaiting the Branchflower Report

2008-10-10T10:50:00.000-06:00

Once again, we return to the three-ring circus that is the "Troopergate" non-scandal. Apparently, "independent investigator" Steve Branchflower has completed his report and the legislative council is debating whether to realease it to the public. I will be commenting futher this evening when we know more, and I am planning a compare-and-contrast of Troopergate with Barack Obama's scandals. Obviously, this investigation has been so thoroughly discredited that I'm not putting any stock in any of the findings, but it will be interesting to see how much mud gets thrown at the wall. Stay tuned, and please take a look at the McCain campaign's "Palin Truth Files" website for more information about about this issue.

Yom Kippur

2008-10-08T17:48:00.000-06:00

In observance of Yom Kippur, there will be no active blogging on this site until Friday morning. The comment section will be open. Thank You.

SarahCuda vs. The Associated Press

2008-10-06T15:43:00.000-06:00

If anything is dropping faster than the stock market, it's the media's level of integrity. Yesterday, the Associated Press dove further into the gutter by accusing Governor Palin of racism. I'm not particularly surprised by the claim, as the Obamaphiles in press seem to be fond of using racism claims to dispute any argument that they can't legitimately refute. However, I am appalled at the reasoning behind this claim, as it seems to be the first time the media has admitted that any criticism of Obama (including legitimate, totally non-racial remarks) can and will be labeled as racism.

Here's the breakdown: The AP has declared Palin a racist for associating Senator Obama with Bill Ayers, an admitted and unrepentant terrorist who once bombed the U.S. Capitol. Here's the problem: Ayers is white; most of his "Weather Underground" colleagues were white; and he is often referenced as an archetype of the (predominantly white) pseudo-intelligentsia of 1960s radicals masquerading as intellectuals on America's college campuses. Mr. Ayers has no connection to anything that would be considered "black", let alone "stereotypically black". In fact, associating Obama with Ayers is more of an attempt to associate him with the snobbish (and, again, mostly white) class of leftover-hippies-turned-radical-professors. So, basically, the AP has declared Palin racist because she associated Sen. Obama with a bunch of elitist Caucasians.

This bizarre feat of intellectual gymnastics was justified by the AP as follows:

Palin's words avoid repulsing voters with overt racism. But is there another subtext for creating the false image of a black presidential nominee "palling around" with terrorists while assuring a predominantly white audience that he doesn't see their America?

Read that again very carefully. Essentially, they said that she did nothing racial at all, but merely that she dared to suggest that Senator Obama is anything less than a divine gift to America. If this paradigm were applied across the board, EVERY criticism of Obama would be labeled racism. Using that definition, it is literally impossible to say anything negative about the Senator from Illinois without committing a racist act.

Think about that for a second - let it sink in. According the the AP, NOBODY CAN EVER SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT BARACK OBAMA.

Friends, that's not just unjournalistic...it's downright Orwellian.

Sarah Palin is not a racist. She never has been; She never will be; and it is an understatement to say that the AP owes her an apology. It is appalling to me that Barack Obama's association will Bill Ayers, an admitted and unrepentant terrorist, would be considered anything less than "fair game". Until such time as Sen. Obama admits that he showed bad judgement by ever associating with Mr. Ayers, this should remain an open issue, and we should regard any media attempt to bury the story as censorship.

Apologies if this sounds a little radical of me, but this is genuinely how I see it, and I challenge the AP to prove to me that I am wrong.

The Day After

2008-10-03T15:50:00.000-06:00

With the dust finally settling after the debate, it is becoming more and more clear that Sarah scored a resounding victory last night. The conservative media is ecstatic, and most of the mainstream media are declaring it a draw but noting that Sarah did exactly what she needed to do. The leftists and Obambaphiles aren't impressed, but we weren't expecting them to see the light anyway. Even if we accept the idea that Sarah and Sen. Biden tied (and I will admit that the he did well), I would give the tie to Sarah for several reasons:

1) Low expectations.
2) The debate was billed as a referendum on Sarah, and hardly anyone mentioned Joe Biden in the run-up. Far more people tuned in to watch her than her opponent, so she probably got more attention from the audience.

I would also note that skeptics such as David Brooks and Peggy Noonan wasted no time in jumping back on the bandwagon (though we are still awaiting reaction from Kathleen Parker).

So, Sarah is not only back in the game but back with a vengeance. To quote Noonan, "she killed." The only question now is how much movement we will see in the polls. My guess is that McCain will get enough of a bump to take back narrow leads in Virgina, Florida, and possibly Ohio. That would leave him down slightly overall, but well within striking distance if he can score victories in his own debates (which, judging by his first performance, he can).

Lastly, I think we saw last night that the unedited Sarah is far better than the unethical, cut-and-spliced travesties that Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric presented (and no, I don't think that's putting it to harshly after reading the unedited transcripts). This should provide a lesson to the McCain campaign that LIVE interviews are a absolute necessity for Sarah. I don't have a particular affinity for the Sunday talk shows, but I'm starting to think that they are the best venue simply because they cannot be edited. I know that Brian Williams of NBC has the next private interview lined up, and while I think he may have to be more careful after watching the debate, the campaign should assume that he will be just as...ahem..."artistic" in his editing as the other two network anchors. So, now is the time to start booking "Meet the Press" if they want to avoid another hit job.

Congratulations to Gov. Palin on a great debate, and thanks to all of you for helping her get there!

Mission Accomplished!

2008-10-02T21:59:00.001-06:00

Well, I feel comfortable saying that Gov. Palin won tonight. Granted, Sen. Biden was well prepared and gave a good performance. However, I think Palin had the best lines of the night and related to her audience much better. She had a grasp of the issues and soundly put to rest any doubts about her competence. Judging by the earliest media reaction, it looks like the reaction to Sarah’s performance was overwhelmingly positive. Granted, I was watching Fox, but the focus group people all seemed to agree, and there were a number of Democrats in the group.

In the final analysis, I think that we won’t really know how everything went until we see the news reports tomorrow. I’ll be watching to see which lines get the most play in both the mainstream and the conservative media. But, in the early going, I think that the perception is that Sarah is back with a vengeance.

Very quickly, I wanted to run over a few of the bullet points I listed before the debate.

1) On the wardrobe, we didn’t see the red, but we also didn’t see the dreaded leather jacket. So, I think that we saw some evidence that there is less harsh image control.

2) On Gwen Ifill, I thought that most of her questions were fair. I thought that one question was designed to imply that Gov. Palin supported gay marriage (which she does not). But, other than that, a competent job.

3) Kudos to Sen. Biden for keeping a lid on himself and avoiding pitfalls. That said, I saw/heard him sigh several times while listening to Sarah’s responses and I thought that his pronounced facial expressions could easily provide fodder for Saturday Night Live.

Enjoy the Debate!

2008-10-02T18:21:00.000-06:00

I’ve decided against live-blogging tonight’s debate, as it is probably best let you watch rather than forcing you to multi-task on such a big night. I will, however, be providing at least one post-debate analysis. My plan is to put up my personal response right after the debate ends (and before the media gets their crack at Sarah), and then another post later analyzing the media’s response (no promises, though).

A few quick thoughts before we get started:

1) I’m personally going to be watching on FoxNews - not necessarily for the right-leaning coverage, but because they had the most coverage of the Gwen Ifill story yesterday. I’ll personally be watching Ms. Ifill very carefully, so I’m interested to hear analysis of her performance in addition to Sarah and Sen. Biden.

2) You may think I’m nuts for saying this, but I think that Gov. Palin’s wardrobe choice will be our first tip to how she will do tonight. Will we see the “Cindy McCain” designer leather jacket from the Couric interview, the “signature Sarah” red powersuit, or something black and formal? If we see the red, I think that’s our first clue that Sarah is liberated and coming out swinging.

3) Both Biden and Palin are masters of the one-liner, and I expect a number of memorable lines tonight. The question is who will get more.

4) My guess is that Biden will try to ignore Sarah and debate John McCain. On the other hand, I’ve read that Sarah is planning to debate Biden directly. Keep close track of who Biden is talking to. If he takes his focus off McCain and starts talking about Sarah, it could mean that she’s getting under his skin. And if she gets under his skin, she wins.

5) While we’re on the subject of Sen. Biden, there are two key traps waiting for him. First, he must always refer to Sarah as “Gov. Palin”. He doesn’t know her, and to address her without her title will be seen as demeaning. Secondly, he has to be very careful about mentioning the fact that his son is deploying to Iraq, as Track Palin is doing the same. Palin, as a mother, will win any arguments about empathizing with her children, and Biden could be in SERIOUS trouble if he dares to bring up Track before Sarah does.

There is probably a lot more that I’m not mentioning, but those are the first things that spring to mind. Enjoy the debate, and I will see you all afterward.

Debate Prep

2008-10-02T08:05:00.002-06:00

Well, the big day has finally arrived. Tonight, in what will almost certainly be the most-watched VP debate in history, Sarah faces off against Sen. Joe Biden with all the marbles on the line. I don’t want to get too bogged down in analysis, but I do genuinely think that all signs are pointing to a Palin win. Consider the following:

1) While I think that much of the criticism of Gov. Palin’s creatively edited interviews with Katie Couric has been overblown, it has succeeded in lowering expectations. In some cases, I think they have been lowered so far that it is literally impossible for Sarah to perform worse than expected.

2) Gov. Palin is generally regarded as a good debater. Coupled with low expectations, even a typical performance from Sarah will be regarded as a major win.

3) Thanks to her book on Obama, Gwen Ifill will be under more scrutiny than any moderator in history. She will likely go overboard to ensure that she is seen as unbiased, meaning that the questions will likely be fair ones rather than “gotcha” pop quizzes a la Katie Couric.

4) Debates cannot be edited. Both the Gibson and Couric interviews were edited to eliminate Gov. Palin’s best answers, and sometimes to make it look as if she evaded questions that, in the REAL interview, she answered. In a debate, there is no way to censor a speaker, so if Sarah answers a question, the public will actually hear her.

Now, Joe Biden is a good debater and a formidable opponent. He’ll be tough to beat, but I think that the deck is currently stacked in Sarah’s favor. In their rush to destroy her, some in the media have created a situation where she can look “better than expected” simply by forming complete sentences and not behaving like a character from “Hee Haw.” Hence, if she does indeed look competent and prepared, she will get even more of a bounce than she otherwise would have. An otherwise "good” performance will be seen as “stellar”, and an otherwise “stellar” performance could rise to the rank of “legendary”.

No promises, but I am going to try to live-blog tonight’s festivities. Hopefully, we will be watching the launch of Sarahmania version 2.0. See you then.

Sarah Liberated!

2008-09-29T12:06:00.001-06:00

Well, it looks like the McCain campaign is listening to the people. According to Bill Kristol, top McCain aides Rick Davis and Steve Schmidt are personally taking control of what I am calling "Operation Liberation". Apparently, Sen. McCain is as displeased with the rest of us with the way Sarah is being handled by the Bush staffers he hired to do the job. I've also read that Todd and an Alaskan Palin staffer (a group that is sorely underrepresented on the current Palin staff), will be on hand for Sarah's debate prep retreat in Sedona.

If today was any indication, it appears that the liberation is already underway. I personally am watching two indicators from Palin: one-liners and (believe it or not) wardrobe choices. Here's why I think both are relevant:

On the one-liners: Palin is best when speaking off-the-cuff. She's "in the zone" when she's allowed to joke and make lots of flippant remarks. If her speech at today's rally was any indication, it looks like they've already fixed that problem to some degree.Yes, it was still a speech, but it was definitely more of a vintage Palin speech than we've been seeing.

On the wardrobe: Like it or not, the way female politicians dress will always be analyzed more than the threads of their male counterparts. Both Sarah and the McCain campaign have been VERY cognizant of this fact. For Sarah's part, she practically trademarked her hairdo, glasses, and red powersuits in Alaska (and the first two nationally...I'll come back to the third). It was definitely a great look, but it was also done relatively cheaply (personal frugality is also a Palin trademak). On the other hand, the campaign people have put her through something of a makeover, encouraging her to buy expensive designer clothes (usually leather jackets of the sort often worn of Cindy McCain). I have nothing against these as occasional campaign expenses (especially for the convention), but they undermine the down-to-earth Palin persona and frankly they are just not Sarah. While I am actually a big fan of Cindy McCain's fashion sense, I think I'm going to hurl if that look continues to be applied to Sarah.

Why does this even matter? Because my guess is that the clothes will likely be the first thing to go if Sarah is to reinvent herself on her own terms (a reverse-makeover, if you will). Not that Sarah has to start shopping at Wal-Mart, but I think that "Revenge of the Red Powersuit" (also apparently on display today) is a quick and easy way signaling the public that Sarah is back in the driver's seat. It it really relevant, no; but symbolism is a big part of getting your message across.

Now, to those in the comments section who have said that my analyses lately have not contained any policy recommendations: you are absolutely correct. Obviously, there are things that Sarah has to do and say regarding policy in order for the public to be truly comfortable with her, and they are being hashed out on every cable news channel. That said, those of us who have watched Sarah for over a year know, down to the finest detail, all of the things she did that made her message more powerful. Hence, with Sarah receiving some criticism for looking uncomfortable in her own skin, I think it is totally prudent to include such "superfluous" details in strategy discussions. Whether we like it or not, these little details are the sort of things that people subconsciously pay attention to, and they simply cannot be ignored.

Please Let Sarah Be Sarah!

2008-09-26T16:32:00.002-06:00

I know I'm not talking about FDR, and I promise I'll eventually eventually get back to that series, but there is bigger news to deal with. Everybody seems to be up in arms over Gov. Palin's supposedly bad performance in a recent interview with Katie Couric. Personally, I thought she did far better than people think, particularly in the second installment. I also thought that some of Katie Couric's questions on the first night were completely out of line (expecting Sarah Palin to have memorized every vote John McCain ever cast is totally unfair). However, I think that the Couric interview (and the general media narrative that Sarah is being "hidden") do show a problem. Not with Sarah...there is NOTHING wrong with Sarah...but with the campaign staff who are handling her.

I say this with the highest respect to the McCain camp and their strategists, but they don't seem to understand how to use Gov. Palin, and they are paying for it. The reason that we have always loved Sarah here is that she is real. She normally does not sound rehearsed, and most of her best lines have always been the UNSCRIPTED ones, including her most memorable line in the entire campaign ("pit bull in lipstick."). Unfortunately, the campaign seems to think that they need to keep Palin tightly scripted in her public appearances and only allowing her to talk in closed interviews with hostile journalists asking endless "gotcha" questions. This not only hides her strengths, it allows the media to choose the questions and define Sarah based on her perceived weaknesses.

If I were running the campaign, Sarah would be talking with the press at every single campaign stop, making off-the-cuff jokes, and flashing that legendary smile for as many cameras as humanly possible. That's the Sarah Palin that we fell in love with last year, and that's the Sarah Palin who needs to be out on the trail. While I don't think Sarah is doing badly with the tasks she's given, those of us who have watched her know that she is capable of so much more.

For whatever it's worth, my advice is to fire the speech coaches, tear up script, wind Sarah up, and let her loose on America. I think that the American's who fell for the "pit bull in lipstick" are puzzled by the tightly-controlled, suddenly-serious individual that has showed up for the last few interviews.

The GOP has been quick to compare Sarah to Teddy Roosevelt, but I don't think they realize just how appropriate that analogy is. TR was a loose cannon who often infuriated the Washington elite. The DC cocktail set (including the Republicans) shuddered at the thought of such a brash, independent-minded individual gaining as spot on William McKinley's ticket in the year 1900. One high-ranking Republican was so incensed by the selection that, when McKinley was assassinated, his first response was, "Now look what you've done! You've gone and made that d*** cowboy President!". Of course, in hindsight, that "d*** cowboy" became one of the most iconic presidents in history. If they want Palin to be Teddy Roosevelt, they need to start letting her be the type of take-no-prisoners leader that TR personified.

So, can we please mothball the "new Sarah" and bring back the old one? That would be just "bully" in my book.

Send Sarah?

2008-09-24T18:24:00.001-06:00

UPDATE: As proof that this idea is not crazy, allow me to point out that Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol is thinking the same thing:

"As for the question of Friday night's debate, which some in the media seem to think more important than saving the financial system--if the negotiations are still going on in D.C., McCain should offer to send Palin to debate Obama!"
-----
I'm interrupting our regularly scheduled program (a column on Franklin Roosevelt), to bring you my thoughts on the temporary suspension of the McCain-Palin campaign and the looming showdown over the first presidential debate. Obviously, McCain is going back to the Senate to participate in the negotiations over the bailout proposal, which could theoretically go long into the night on Friday and at the very least will bring his debate prep to a screeching halt. This is the right thing to do, and frankly I think that Senator Obama should have done the same thing; the debate is far less important than breaking the logjam on this emergency legislation. But, of course, the Gentleman from Illinois is insisting that the debate go on as planned, and it appears that his campaign is salivating over the prospect of potentially putting their man on stage alone.

This leaves McCain in a tricky position. If he has the courage to stay at work, Obama could turn the "debate" into an infomercial and harangue McCain for not coming. If he shows up, however, he will be going back on his word and possibly letting the negations disintegrate at the eleventh hour. While most people think that this puts McCain's back to the wall, they are failing to consider a third potential option: McCain could stay at work and offer to send Gov. Palin as a surrogate if Obama continues his temper-tantrum.

I know that this sounds rather crazy, but work with me here. I promise….I am not saying this just because I'm a Palinite. Offering to allow Sarah to debate Obama could conceivably produce three possible results

A) Obama rejects the offer and throws a hissy fit - Under this scenario, Obama would be forced to pull out of the debate himself, allowing him to be in Washington for the negotiations and ruining his infomercial

B) The CPD (Commission on Presidential Debates) refuses to allow a surrogate and gives Obama his infomercial anyway – This sets the stage for protests, accusations of bias, and a very messy situation if Sarah shows up at the hall. I doubt that the CPD would be this stupid, as it would jeopardize their reputation in the future.

C) Obama accepts – The novelty factor would likely produce one of the most-watched debates ever. Expectations for Palin, who will have had only days to prepare, will be so low that anything short of a complete meltdown will likely be deemed a success. Plus, Palin is already prepping to debate Joe Biden, who I would classify as a tougher opponent than Senator Obama himself.

As a bonus, simply making the offer would totally undermine the idea that McCain is "hiding" Palin from the world. In fact, it would invite criticism based on the idea that McCain would be exposing his "delicate" running mate to excessive stress (and it's always good for the GOP when the media suddenly has to reverse their arguments).

Now, is this necessarily going to happen? I don't know, but I think that it is something that the McCain campaign should seriously consider. It would reinforce the notion of McCain as the ultimate maverick and turn the race on its head for the second time in a month. Otherwise, Sen. McCain is placing himself in a danged-if-he-does, danged –if-he-doesn't situation. So, please, if Obama wants a circus, let's give him one by forcing him to take on Sarah face to face!

Happy Birthday Adam!

2008-09-24T00:30:00.012-06:00

Adam Brickley, founder and author of this blog, turned 22 yesterday (Sept 23rd). To commemorate this event, his family and admin support have hacked into and temporarily hijacked this blog and we're throwing him this online "Surprise Party". Make sure you leave a comment! As a way of giving back and saying "Thanks" to Adam for all he's done, we have set up a PayPal account and are accepting donations to offset Adam's costs of maintaining this blog past, present & future. We have added a permanent "PayPal Donate" button on the sidebar (just abouve picture of McCain) or you can click here to donate. We tried to get this up yesterday, but, computers being what they are, we didn't get things together until today! No Matter. Whatever the day, it's just our way of saying Thanks Adam for introducing all of us to Sarah and for not giving up! Well Done.

Happy Birthday from Your Family & Staff

please note this is a gift to Adam & the blog and is not a tax-deductible contribution.

Billy, Jimmy, Frankie and Woody

2008-09-22T18:30:00.000-06:00

For some reason, the Democrats seem to still think that the "foreign policy experience" argument is their best weapon against Gov. Palin. Of course, this is utter hogwash when one considers that Barack Obama has nine fewer years in public office, has never held an executive position, and has no foreign policy credentials...but lets play with it anyway, as we are likely to continue hearing it. The standard line of response from the GOP has been to compare Sarah to Teddy Roosevelt, which is fair considering that TR was an outdoorsy maverick who became VP (and later President) after only two years as Governor of New York. However, the problem is that he was a Republican. I personally think that the best way to win this debate on "foreign policy experience" is to force the Democratic Party to take a good, long look in the mirror. Hence, I have decided to look into the pre-presidency credentials of four iconic figures in the Democratic Party. I will start tonight with William Jefferson Clinton and work my way back to Jimmy Carter, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson. So, without further ado, meet Billy:

At age 46, William Jefferson Clinton was the third-youngest man ever to become president; and as a governor out-of-the-way Arkansas, he was a bit of an obscure choice. Before seeking the presidency, he had served three terms as his state's Governor. Prior to that, his only experience was as Arkansas' Attorney General and a losing candidate for Congress. While he had spent a long time in the governor's mansion, he had never held any federal office and had no foreign policy credentials whatsoever. However, despite being something of an unknown quantity, he was able to unseat President George H.W. Bush, who had a long history in foreign policy, despite the fact that the First Gulf War was fresh in America's memory. So, while I would admit that he had more gubernatorial experience than Sarah Palin, he was arguably LESS qualified when it came to world affairs. Arkansas has no international borders, no coastlines, no maritime territory, and probably does not deal with as many international agreements as does the State of Alaska. So, if the Democratic Party is so committed to foreign policy experience, why could they not find a more qualified opponent to take on George H.W. Bush?

As a footnote, I would add that most Democrats consider Mr. Clinton to have been a very good president and would love to bring back his foreign policy.

Stay tuned for more revelations from the Democratic Past.

Video: McCain on Palin

2008-09-22T10:41:00.000-06:00

This is great video from last night's 60 Minutes interview with John McCain. He gave a resounding vote of confidence to his running mate, and said he would "absolutely" be comfortable with a President Palin. So much for the idea of Palin as a "political choice"

Update

2008-09-22T07:03:00.001-06:00

Hello everyone. Just wanted to let you all know that I am, in fact, working on the blog. I am working on a column entitled "Sarah, Teddy, Bill, and Woody", which is partially finished and should be up by the end of the day. In the meantime, Sarah is drawing bigger and bigger crowds. Yesterday's rally in Florida drew 60,000 people! "The Palin Effect" is taking hold, just as we planned!

Some Good Links

2008-09-18T09:36:00.003-06:00

I’m trying to get back to regularly scheduled programming, so I’m going to post a few things that I’ve been neglecting. Then, hopefully, I can go back to analysis and maybe so the column on Palin, Clinton, and Wilson that I’ve been promising.

So, first off, please check out Palin Fights Corruption. This was put together by some very knowledgeable people in Alaska to both illuminate Sarah’s record and put the smackdown on the Troopergate circus investigation. They’ve done a fantastic job on both counts and I think that their site should be mandatory reading. It does a much better job with this issue than I can here.

Secondly, our friend Paul of McCainPalin2008.blogspot.com has put up a great petition supporting Sarah and denouncing the media’s treatment of her. He’s trying to get to 1000 signatures; let’s make sure he gets there.

Livid

2008-09-17T15:49:00.002-06:00

That was the best word I could think of to describe how I feel about the hacking of Sarah Palin's PRIVATE email account. It may actually be a political positive, as they don't seem to have found anything of any interest, but I'm still really, really mad. Actually, that's nowhere near an accurate description of my current mood, but I don't believe in the type of gratuitous profanity that would be needed to properly convey my feelings.

I'm going to keep my remarks brief in the interest of preventing my head from exploding, but there are three entities I want to single out for criticism:

1. The Hackers: I realize that these people have activist pretensions, but lets call them what they are - delinquent punks. Apparently the think themselves so committed to their cause that they have the right to disrespect the privacy of American citizens at will. Of course, no such right exists, and I sincerely hope that these lowlifes are tracked down and prosecuted.

2. The Liberal Media: In this case, I do not mean, the "mainstream media" but openly liberal publications. The response from Mother Jones made my blood boil. Not only did they fail to criticize the only actual criminals involved (the hackers); nor did they stop at declaring Gov. Palin a criminal herself; they aided the hackers by highlighting email addresses obtained from the Governor's contact list, including that of her 17-year old daughter Bristol. That is not right bay ANY journalistic standard.

3. The Associated Press: Earth to AP - when the Secret Service asks to see the emails, you give them what they want. Apparently, they didn't even ask that the info not be printed...they just wanted to see the emails! I can't think of a more arrogant act in journalistic history than openly thumbing your nose at the US Secret Service.

I may or may not post more on this later. Right now, I'm going to go run my head under some cold water in an attempt to cool off (I doubt that I will succeed).

Troopergate Press Conference Transcript

2008-09-16T08:40:00.003-06:00

I just wanted to share this with you, as I think the information is not being reported half as widely as it should be. The following is a transcript of a statement by McCain campaign spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton at a press conference yesterday in Anchorage. A reliable source in Alaska sent me a transcript,which I have posted below. This event was reported by the media, but I think it's far better to have a full copy of Ms. Stapleton's opening remarks. This dovetails with one of this blog's new objectives, which is to get the truth out about the people running this partisan circus...oops...I mean...."independent investigation".

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OPENING STATEMENT AT MCCAIN-PALIN PRESS CONFERENCE
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA

September 15, 2008

Good afternoon. I'm Meghan Stapleton spokesperson for the McCain Palin Campaign, alongside Spokesman Ed O'Callaghan.

We're here today to reveal compelling evidence that confirms what Governor Palin has stated all along that the reassignment of Department of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan had absolutely NOTHING to do with Trooper Mike Wooten and EVERYTHING to do with Commissioner Monegan's adamant refusal to join in Governor Palin?s fiscal reforms.

After weeks of enduring Senator Hollis French's repeated, reckless statements in the press about a tainted, partisan, legislative investigation, that has been hijacked by Senator French and other Barack Obama operatives here in Alaska, the truth is finally laid bare. Today, we are here to release new information that exonerates Governor Palin, and demonstrates Commissioner Walt Monegan's egregious insubordination led to his early dismissal and nothing else.

We are not here today to rehash all the details of Trooper Wooten. We know his record: He was found guilty by a Trooper review board of tasering his 10-year old stepson; drinking while driving his patrol car; and illegally killing a moose. He also threatened to kill the Governor's father. You know the rest of the details. You know that he continues to threaten the Wasilla community with his poor judgment, and he is a constant threat to this family as the Troopers have continued to ensure that his Trooper post covers Wasilla and is within blocks of the family's homes.

But that's Trooper Wooten. Today is about Commissioner Walt Monegan. And why he was removed from his position as Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.
Today, the Governor's attorney filed a motion before the Personnel Board and included numerous emails which prove the Governor did nothing wrong.

The facts are really quite simple. From the Fall of 2007 through mid-2008? Commissioner Monegan repeatedly tried to undermine the Governor's authority by working against her and the administration over the Department of Public Safety's budget.

As everyone knows, this Governor came into office on a reform platform and one of her principal accomplishments has been to reduce wasteful spending. Commissioner Monegan refused to abide by this fiscal reform policy. One of the governor's top Department of Public Safety priorities was to fill as many as 56 trooper vacancies, but the Commissioner re-routed dollars away from these positions and into his own chosen areas of funding.

Last fall, Commissioner Monegan proposed a 10-year strategic plan that committed state dollars and removed the governor's constitutional budget authority; he also traveled to Washington, DC to lobby Congress for federal earmarks without the Governor's knowledge; and then finished off the year by engineering a press conference that included his friend Senator Hollis French to present the department's own budget, just days ahead of the Governor's reform budget.

Monegan continued his obstructionist conduct through the first half of 2008.? Early on he publicly requested reinstatement of budget money the Governor previously vetoed. Think about that: One of the Governor's own cabinet members publicly contradicting her veto decision!? And in repeated emails among the governor's staff and the Commissioner's staff, Commissioner Monegan's brazen refusal to follow the appropriate interdepartmental channels to request more money was obvious.

The final straw came in late June and early July of this year when Commissioner Monegan arranged for yet another unauthorized trip to Washington, DC to request more financial assistance from Congress.

The bottom line is that Commissioner Monegan refused to comply with internal budget approval channels and lodged repeated requests for funding that were out of line with the other appropriation requests for every other commissioner and agency. Those are the facts leading to Walt Monegan's reassignment on July 11th. We have copied for you a set of relevant emails that were submitted to the Personnel Board today.

Make no mistake, as a political appointee, Mr. Monegan served at the pleasure of the Governor and was duty-bound to execute the Governor's policy objectives. After eight months of repeatedly ignoring the Governor's budget priorities, making public statements that directly challenged the Governor's policy agenda, and taking numerous unilateral actions in conflict with the Governor in support of his own policy agenda, his replacement in July 2008 should have come as no surprise and cannot now seriously be questioned. Absolutely no credence should be given to any Ethics Complaint against the Governor for her appropriate exercise of her executive discretion under this set of facts.

It is important to note that Commissioner Monegan and John Cyr, the head of the police union who filed a Complaint against the Governor before the Personnel Board, and who appeared with Trooper Wooten on a recent CNN interview, repeatedly changed their stories as to why Monegan was dismissed. While at first Monegan had no idea, John Cyr actually talked about budget differences.

And they stuck to those lines until Mike Wooten had another child custody battle a few days after Monegan's dismissal and threatened the Governor's sister Molly at that time, saying "You guys are going down. Get ready for the show." Molly called 911 that evening, but no one came to her aid, as Wooten actually predicted.

So the immediate assessments of Monegan and Cyr began to morph into an evolution of excuses and repeated retractions by Monegan, Wooten, and Cyr. And they enlisted blogger Andrew Halcro to launch their smear campaign against Governor Palin.

In fact, Mike Wooten met Andrew Halcro for drinks at a hotel bar for more than 3 hours, and concocted the malicious scheme to fulfill the threats made to Molly. Hours later, Andrew Halcro posted a blog that lodged the first accusation of Wooten's involvement in Monegan?s reassignment. Later that day, John Cyr held a press conference, retracting his early insistence that this was budget related and switching to the Wooten story, though it takes Commissioner Monegan at least another day to retract his initial statement and blame Wooten.

The following Tuesday, July 21, 2008: Hollis French and Walt Monegan appeared on a radio show together and talked about getting an aggressive prosecutor to prove the existence of "a complex crime". French stated that he was "angry" that his friend Walt Monegan got fired. Remember, Hollis French was the same Senator who supported the budget proposal that sought to undermine Govenor Palin, and Walt Monegan was the Palin cabinet member who publicly sided with French against the Governor on that important policy decision.

And thus the genesis of what turned into a partisan effort to take down the Governor. The bar room banter turned into a full-blown Legislative investigation spearheaded by Monegan's friend and well-known Obama supporter Hollis French, and overseen by another Obama supporter Chairman Kim Elton, who contributed $2,250 to the Obama campaign.

Time after time, a new excuse, a new statement, more stories about what happened. And it only grew once Senator John McCain asked Governor Sarah Palin to join him on August 29th as his running mate.

That day, former Commissioner Monegan actually told the Anchorage Daily News during an interview. For the record, no one ever said fire Wooten. Not the Governor. Not Todd. Not any of the other staff.

But that same day, the Democrat machine also kicked into gear. This is when Obama and his campaign inserted itself into Alaska politics, and the political circus became even worse.? Within no time, one-time supporters of the Governor who worked alongside the Governor to produce reform and accomplishments in Alaska, turned on her, alongside party lines. And Commissioner Monegan prepared to change his story yet again, saying for the first time that he was told his budget would be cut if Wooten retained his job. In early September, CNN reported that the Obama campaign reached out to John Cyr. During that time, Senator Hollis French appeared in the national media pre-judging the outcome of the investigation which had only just begun.

And as many of you heard last Friday, it was revealed that "independent" prosecutor Steven Branchflower allowed Senator French to tamper with the witness subpoena list, even though French pledged to not be involved. Branchflower now says that he will complete his "factfinding" by the end of this week and put out a report by October 10 at the latest. No serious, impartial investigator and no serious prosecutor would ever make such reckless predictions.

Having spoken to the Governor as recently as yesterday, I can personally tell you that Governor Palin is an open book and has absolutely nothing to hide.

This Governor is transparent and honest. I cannot emphasize that enough. This Governor has called for transparency and honesty, and the Democrats are on a smear campaign. The Personnel Board is the ONLY agency charged by law with addressing complaints concerning ethical issues, including hiring and firing matters involving the Governor. The legislature's investigation no longer resembles a fair inquiry and does not have proper jurisdiction. And given all that has developed, the Personnel Board is also the only place to go to ensure the facts are protected from the political circus that has come to Anchorage. And recently, even the Trooper union has acknowledged the role of the personnel board.

Governor Palin has been an open book in this case and has acted with the highest standards of ethics.

Ed O'Callaghan and I are happy to take questions now.

###

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

ACTION ALERT: Bombshell Troopergate Audio!

2008-09-15T15:01:00.003-06:00

I can't believe I missed this column yesterday, but Townhall's Amanda Carpenter has unearthed some very disturbing audio regarding the legislative "investigation" of the "Troopergate" non-scandal. The tape was made during a Spetember 12 hearing of the state legislature's Joint Judiciary Committee, in which the committee is discussing the investigation with Investigator Steve Branchflower. The bombshell information is dropped by Branchflower when he reveals that he does not have control of the subpoena list for his own investigation. Instead, he has to defer questions to the Democratic State Senator Hollis French, who is supervising the investigation. This is the same Hollis French who is one of Barack Obama's leading Alaskan supporters, started using the term "impeachment" before the investigation even began, and is now vocally threatening the McCain-Palin campaign with an "October surprise". Such a partisan hack has no business even participating in this investigation, let alone holding final control over who Steve Branchflower can or cannot talk to.

This is the last straw for me as far as this "Troopergate" nonsense is concerned. I've already spent time detailing Steve Branchflower's conflicts of interest Sen. French's partisan diatribes, and I will no longer go along with the media's refusal to report the shenanigans of this kangaroo court. So, here's what I'm proposing: Let's make sure this audio gets into as many hands as possible. Send it to the Alaskan media, the national media, the McCain campaign, your local newspaper, your favorite conservative publication....anything goes. I'm going to go back and dig up all of the old articles on French and Branchflower so that we have a concise list of references regarding their conflicts of interest, which I will post here as soon as I can. I see no reason to rest until this story hits the national newswires. They want an October surprise, we'll give them an October surprise.

Celebrity Ignorance Watch: Lindsay Lohan

2008-09-15T10:37:00.004-06:00

I know I said that I'd be posting on the experience issue, and I will tonight, but this story is simply too good to pass up. I think it is interesting to see celebrities trying to attack Gov. Palin, as they are almost guaranteed to make profoundly ignorant comments. Today's edition involves Hollywood bad girl Lindsay Lohan, who found it necessary to write an anti-Palin screed on her blog. Now, I will be the first to say that Miss Lohan has every right to disagree with Gov. Palin's policies on gay marriage and abortion, but name-calling is never a classy thing to do, and parts of the blog were just downright silly. Here are a few highlights:

"I find it quite interesting that a woman who now is running to be second in command of the United States, only 4 years ago had aspirations to be a television anchor. Which is probably all she is qualified to be"

Fact Check: Actually, Gov. Palin has been in politics since 1988, which I believe was also the last time she worked in TV news. That was 20 years ago, Lindsay, not four. Four years ago, Sarah Palin had already completed two terms as Mayor and was busy resigning in protest from the Alaska Oil and Gas Compact Commission.

"Oh, and...Hint Hint Pali Pal- Don't pose for anymore tabloid covers, you're not a celebrity, you're running for office to represent our, your, my COUNTRY!"

Well, Lindsay Linds, people in glass houses shouldn't throw rocks. I might also point out the absurd number of magazines that have done photo spreads on Senator Obama and his family.

"And in the words of Pamela Anderson, 'She can suck it'."

Wow, that was intelligent.

"Is our country so divided that the Republicans best hope is a narrow minded, media obsessed homophobe?"

Oh my. More name-calling. And finally...

"I have faith that this country will be all that it can be with the proper guidance. I really hope that all of you make your decisions based on the facts and what feels right to you in your heart-vote for obama!"

First off, most citizens would be disgusted by the idea that we need "proper guidance" to be all that we can be, and even more horrified at the idea such "guidance" has the Lindsay Lohan seal of approval. I would, however, agree that people should vote based on the facts, which Miss Lohan apparently failed to research (as evidence by her misstatement about Gov. Palin's career ambitions). Lastly, "Obama" is a proper noun, and hence should be capitalized.

I think that I'm going to continue to post on celebrity Palin-bashers, as I think they illustrate just how delusional the far-left elites have become. If people don't want bloggers dissecting their remarks dissected by the political blogosphere, then they need to stay out of the political debate. What goes around comes around.

Gibson and Fey

2008-09-14T18:21:00.006-06:00

UPDATE: This should be essential reading. The Mark Levin Show has posted ABC's UNEDITED trnascript of the Palin interview. All of the best quotes from Gov. Palin, especially on foreign policy, were edited out!
-----
Well, a lot has happened in the past few days, notably Gov. Palin's interview with Charlie Gibson and the debut of the Saturday Night Live version of Sarah Palin (played by Tina Fey). Both of these are important developments that I want to talk about.

First, let's talk about the Charlie Gibson interview (click here to watch). I've heard a lot of debate over whether Mr. Gibson's line of questioning was fair, and I personally don't think it was. It was definitely a good idea for him to ask tough questions on foreign policy (I specifically likes the questions about Georgia and NATO), but I do think that the question about the "Bush Doctrine" was out of line. Here's why: there is no set definition of the "Bush Doctrine", a term which has been applied to any number of different policies and which Charlie Gibson clearly has not studied. I would highly recommend Charles Krauthammer's column on the subject, which clearly outlined a number of different definitions which have been applied to the term "Bush Doctrine". Here's what I thought to be the "money quote" from that article:

Yes, Palin didn't know what it is. But neither does Gibson. And at least she didn't pretend to know -- while he looked down his nose and over his glasses with weary disdain."

Krauthammer also brings me to my second point, which is that Mr. Gibson spent the entire interview LITERALLY staring staring down his nose at the next Vice President of the United States. He seemed to have no interest in what she had to say, and premised all of his questions (on everything from the "bridge to nowhere" to "Troopergate") on the idea that she was lying to him. If he didn't get the answer he wanted, he simply got angry rather than trying to understand what was being said. All in all, I think that Gov. Palin did a good job, especially considering the biased line of questioning.

Now, on to Tina Fey of Saturday Night Live (click here to watch). While SNL may not be horribly relevant, it is widely watched and fun to discuss. Personally, I had been wondering for quite some time who would play Gov. Palin if we succeeded. Fey was certainly the natural choice, but I didn't actually expect SNL to bring her back to the program just for the purpose of portraying Sarah Palin. I'm glad that I was wrong, and for my two cents, I thought that her Palin was fantastic. As someone who has had to watch every TV appearance by Gov. Palin for the last year and a half, I laughed my head off at all of the little quirks that Tina Fey managed to pick up (licking her teeth, the way she waved, facial expressions, everything). And on a side note, it creeped me out that I knew so much about the minutia of Gov. Palin's facial gestures. Oh, well.

Next time, I'll be taking on the experience issue by comparing the credentials of Sarah Palin with the pre-Presidency resumes of two heroes of the Democratic Party: Bill Clinton and Woodrow Wilson.

Suggestion Box

2008-09-12T20:39:00.001-06:00

If you haven't figured it out yet, the posting frequency on this blog has gone down. Part of that is a function of the fact that I do not have much free time now that I have a full time job, but part of it is that I'm trying to figure out the best angle to take now that Gov. Palin is the nominee. Obviously, it is no longer hard to find news about Sarah, nor are we the only people online defending her against smears, nor are we the primary contact for pro-Sarah activism (that is now the campaign's job). So, there are definitely going to be some changes made around here. The first will likely be the addition of a second blogger (to increase post frequency), but the rest is up in the air. So, I want to consult all of you on how we should proceed. What do YOU want to see out of this blog? Obviously, there will still be analysis from me (and I hope to have a full reaction to the full Charlie Gibson interview by tomorrow), but I don't want this to be simply a place for me to air my opinion. So, what do you think we can continue to do to help ensure that Governor Palin becomes Vice President Palin?

Dissecting "Lipstickgate"

2008-09-10T10:38:00.002-06:00

Today's web buzz seems to be focused squarely on Barack Obama's "lipstick on a pig" jab at McCain. Obviously, a lot of people are taking that as a swipe against Palin, while Obama is insisting that he was misunderstood.

So, who is right? Well, that's a tricky question. I will admit that I not only know the euphemism "lipstick on a pig", but use it on a regular basis. It is entirely possible that Sen. Obama was referencing the McCain campaign in general, but that's certainly not how it is understood by his audience. He wasn't even able to finish his joke before the audience started laughing at the connection with Gov. Palin.

Like it or not, Gov. Palin's "Pitbull in Lipstick" quip at the GOP convention is one of the most memorable lines of this election. It's been scrawled on signs, printed on t-shirts, and satirized by almost every political cartoonist in the country. Hence, you can no longer use the word "lipstick" in a speech without your audience thinking that you are making a Palin joke.

I will be the first to admit that I don't know what Barack Obama was thinking when he made the remark, but whether he was referencing Sarah or not, he (or his handlers) should have known better. It was a tremendously idiotic gaffe which showed (once again) that Senator Obama doesn't have much of a filter between his brain and his mouth.

Why I love media smear campaigns

2008-09-09T10:54:00.004-06:00

Unless you've spent the last week hiding under a rock, you should know that the national media and the liberal punditry have been throwing everything they can (including the kitchen sink) at Gov. Palin. And while I am getting severely annoyed, I'm also laughing my head off. Far from threatening the McCain ticket, the slime peddlers appear to helping it.

So far, none of the mud has stuck to Palin. In fact, most of the rumors have gotten thoroughly shot down by the conservative media within 24 of publication, and new (and more desperate) rumors have to be manufactured every day. The American public has caught on, and is seeing the hit jobs for what they are: far-fetched rants by a media still reeling in shock. Furthermore, as time goes on, the rhetoric is becoming more and more incendiary. Last week, we saw rampant sexism as Palin's parenting abilities were attacked, and this week we are seeing blatant religious bigotry as the media scours Palin's past church affiliations for doctrines that don't line up with their Washington elite mentality.

So, for my two cents, I welcome the continued attempts to take out Sarah Palin. The media and the liberals are making utter fools of themselves, just like we have always said they would. So, we are not going to waste time here debunking the daily rumors. It's much more fun to just sit back and watch the liberal media self-destruct.

So, to those in the media who may be reading, you have my full blessing with your continued efforts to nail your own coffins shut. PLEASE, KEEP THE SLIME FLOWING!

"The Palin Effect"

2008-09-08T10:56:00.002-06:00

Well, it looks like my life is becoming a little less of a media circus, so it's time to get back to hard-core analysis of the VP race. If you haven't heard yet, the numerous polls show the McCain-Palin ticket dramatically stealing the lead from Obama-Biden. A USA Today/Gallup poll even shows a 10% McCain-Palin lead among likely voters.

So, the Palin nomination (coupled with a fantastic convention) has definitely invigorated the McCain campaign. But before we issue a premature declaration of victory, we have to answer one critical question: is this merely a short-term bounce out of the convention or a total realignment of public opinion? Personally, I say that the answer to both questions is "yes". The GOP ticket is certainly flying height coming out of the convention, and the polls have yet to stabilize. However, there is good reason to believe that the dynamics of this election have changed. By nominating Palin, the McCain campaign has recaptured the "maverick" label and ripped the "change" argument out from under Barack Obama. Meanwhile, strategist Steve Schmidt has overhauled the McCain campaign, molding it into a lean, mean electoral machine. And finally, Barack Obama has thrown his campaign totally off message by nominating uber-insider Joe Biden as his VP. With all of those factors working in McCain's favor, it is not a stretch to think that the Gentleman from Arizona will still be in the lead once the polls stabilize.

It also does not appear that "Sarahmania" will peter out any time soon. The McCain campaign is wisely choosing to keep her in the news rather than allowing her to disappear until the debates. This will allow Palin's star power to continue to lift the McCain campaign and build anticipation for the debates. Sarah should do well against Biden (who has been largely de-fanged by her nomination), launching a second round of Palin-buzz akin to what we saw after her convention speech. McCain himself will also get buzz out of the debates, as he shines brightest in Q&A sessions. Obama, on the other hand, is best when he delivers uninterrupted speeches.

In short, my view of the future is this: The current bounce from Palin will likely continue until the debates, when the McCain ticket will another shot in the arm. After that, he just has to hold the lead until election day. I'm not necessarily saying that this is going to happen, but I think that it is a very plausible scenario. So, while I wouldn't start the party just yet, it may be time to start pricing champagne.

In case you missed it...

2008-09-05T11:42:00.004-06:00

Here is the video of my appearance on The Colbert Report, I come in at the 5:50 mark (you can also watch the full episode on the Colbert website). It was a lot of fun, and Mr. Colbert was a fantastic host - he's MUCH more pleasant off camera. That said, I'm happy to be back in DC and back online. Hopefully, I will get back to a somewhat reasonable blogging schedule soon. Many thanks to Julie for keeping things running while I was gallivanting around the country.

84% Approval: New to US Magazine

2008-09-04T17:57:00.009-06:00

Julie here...thought I'd give you something to enjoy until Adam gets off the TV and back on the computer.

I love irony...and Justice. But both at the same time...gotta love it.

For those who haven't seen it, the cover of US Magazine this week shows a picture of Sarah with Trig boasting Sarah Palin: Babies, Lies & Scandal . (Hmm, wonder which side they're on.).

But, according to their very own Water Cooler Poll (of 233,896 voters), 84% think Sarah's going to make a good Vice President! In another one of their polls 92% say Bristol's preganancy has no effect on their vote . And you should read the comments! Not too many people impressed with the magazine's smear reporting, but they sure are impressed with the Governor!

Sweet Justice!

Flying East

2008-09-04T06:08:00.002-06:00

Well, I once again find myself posting from an airport. This time, it's Minneapolis-St. Paul International and I'm waiting on a flight to New York City. Obviously, I doubt that I will be posting anything more today, but you can watch me tonight on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. Check your local listings to find the time.

See you all tonight, and I'll be back on the blog Friday (maybe sooner)

HOME RUN!

2008-09-03T21:56:00.002-06:00

GREAT SPEECH, GOVERNOR!

Heading Down

2008-09-03T19:20:00.003-06:00

It sounds like getting down to the floor of the convention is a bit of an ordeal. So, I'm going to head down now instead of sitting here blogging from my perch above the stadium. So, Enjoy the convention, and I will try to get back to my computer after the speech to post photos and such. My plan is to camp out behind the Alaskan delegation once I'm down on the floor, I want to watch their reactions.

Photobloggin'

2008-09-03T17:41:00.015-06:00

Here are a few of the photos I've been able to take during the convention. I will be doing my best to liveblog during the primetime speeches, but will NOT be posting during Gov. Palin's speech, as I will be down on the convention floor rather than in a press box perched high above the stands.

Fred Thompson's speech last night...from blogger's row atop the stadium

Blogger's row (including Townhall's Matt Bower, Amanda Carpenter, and Chuck DeFeo)

Sen. Joe Lieberman

My press pass (Wow, I is O-FFICIAL!)

Lot's o' balloons (ready to drop on Thursday night)

Blogger brunch this morning with Congressman Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Chairman of the convention's Platform Committee. He was great!

Blogger Brunch: Surprise appearance by pollster Frank Luntz.
HotAir's "Captain" Ed Morrissey hosts a lunch for bloggers.

Ed Morrissey being interviewed by Pajamas Media's "PJTV" at the blogger luncheon.
The Morrissey luncheon was at Babani's, a FANTASTIC Iraqi Kurdish restaurant here in St. Paul. If you are ever up here, you have GOT to find this place and have a meal. Kurdish food is great!

Up and Running! (Finally)

2008-09-03T14:11:00.003-06:00

Hello Everyone. I am in the convention hall right now and intend too provide regular updates for the rest of the night. While I have not been blogging until now, I have been at the convention and taking a lot of pictures (which will be posted later). Last night, I was in the hall for Fred Thompson and Joe Lieberman's speeches, and today I attended two blogger events (one brunch where I heard Congressman McCarthy of CA and pollster Frank Luntz, and a lunch hosted by HotAir's Ed Morrissey). I will post picture when I can download them, and I may attempt to do some interviews if I can get a few spare minutes.

Adam @ RNC

2008-09-03T10:45:00.002-06:00

Julie here...

Well, Adam actually made it to the convention arountd 9:00 p.m. last night and, as you can see, was happily seated at the Townhall.com spot on the Press Level . He wanted me to let everyone know that he hasn't forgotten all the supporters and will be blogging in an hour or so. He'si n a press "brunch" with guest speaker "Morning Joe" Scarborough of MSNBC.com right now and will be blogging as soon as he's done eating.

Convention & Colbert

2008-09-02T14:50:00.003-06:00

Well, it turns out that I will be making it to the convention after all. I had an opportunity come through this morning and I am currently waiting for my flight at Ronald Reagan National Airport. I will be at the convention all day tomorrow and perhaps some tonight as well. If Gov. Palin does indeed accept her nomination tomorrow night, then I should be able to catch her speech.

I will then be leaving Minnesota Thursday morning so that I can be in New York in time to appear live on that evening's edition of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central.

I will try to photoblog both events.

UPDATE: I have just now placed a call to the Anchorage Chapter of the NAACP seeking comment on rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs' claim that there are "no black people" in Alaska. I left a voicemail and will update you if and when I receive a response.

Comments....

2008-09-02T11:33:00.002-06:00

Wow. The traffic to this site has been tremendous since Friday and the comments section active to say none the least. While we've gotten hundreds, if not thousands of comments and emails in support of Gov. Palin, we've also gotten resumes, spams, people plugging their businesses, and of course, an enormous amount of vile, ugly, vicious, slanderous comments. So, at least for now, the comments are going to "moderated". I know this will slow down the chatter a bit, but it might also keep tempers in check. Everyone should be "slow to anger, and slow to speak".

For those of you who are just dying to have conversation, PalinforAmerica has a discussion forum available.

Adam will be posting in a few hours. Exciting things are happening and you'll be hearing from him a bit more often. But I'll save that for him

Julie

Pregnancy rumors and left-wing bigotry

2008-09-01T11:25:00.002-06:00

First off, apologies for not posting sooner. I've been extremely busy the last few days, but I'm back and ready to cover the convention.

I was going to rebut the disgusting rumor that Trig Palin is actually the governor's grandson by her daughter Bristol, but the campaign beat me to the punch. A statement released today announced that Bristol is in fact pregnant, but is currently five months along and hence could not have possibly had Trig in April. So, I think we just need to let the entire Palin family (especially Bristol) know that they have our movement's complete support going forward. The McCain campaign knew of the pregnancy before Gov. Palin was put on the ticket, so this is unlikely to become an issue; and if it does, it will probably have a positive impact rather than a negative one. So, this is the last I intend to say about this issue as the Palin family has rightfully requested that their daughter's privacy be respected.

Now, on a slightly lighter note. We now have our first evidence of an apoplectic left wing celebrity engaging in a rant against the entire State of Alaska. Rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs (aka. "Puff Daddy", "P. Diddy") has released a profanity laced video in which he attacks Palin, stating that Palin is unqualified simply because she is from Alaska. He asserts that Alaska is different than the rest of the country due to a total lack of "black people", crime, and "crackheads". Apparently, he has seen one too many reruns of "Northern Exposure". His screed is not only ill-informed, but also bigoted and mean-spirited. He owes the people of Alaska an apology, specifically the state's black community, which does in fact exist. I will be placing a call shortly to the Anchorage chapter of the NAACP to see if I can get any reaction (or perhaps get them to extend an invitation to Diddy to visit Alaska and apologize). I'll update you on the results of that call.

Have a great Labor Day!

Media Updates....

2008-08-30T16:00:00.008-06:00

Adam will be appearing on Political Pistachio tonight at 10:00 p.m EST. Eric Dondero has been a supporter for a long time now and was interviewing Adam about Sarah Palin long before it was the in thing to do. Thanks again for everyone's support.

Julie....

Update: CNN at 8:15 a.m. EST

Starstruck

2008-08-29T18:06:00.003-06:00

Just so that you all know, I did receive a brief phone call tonight from Todd and Sarah Palin. Thanks to them for being so kind.

Also, a lot of people deserve HUGE shout outs tonight, so I'll try to start the list. If I miss anyone, I'm sorry:

Steve Maloney (our longest standing supporter), Kristopher Lorelli of PalinForVP.com (who put in TONS of leg work), PalinforAmerica.com, Students of America on MySpace, the original "Ted" (easily our most vocal advocate), Eric Dondero, Trish Houser of Palintology.com, all of the media who were willing to interview me before interviewing me was cool, and everyone in the comments section who kept the faith. I'm sure I'll think of more, but that's a start.

Media appearances

2008-08-29T13:20:00.007-06:00

UPDATE: Larry Elder Show, KABC Los Angeles. 7:20 OM Eastern/4:20 Pacific.
----
If you want to watch me on TV...

FoxNews: 5 PM Eastern/2 PM Pacific. Not sure exactly where in that program I am, but I will be on during that hour.

Fox & Friends: 8:00 AM Eastern tomorrow morning on FoxNews.

NBC 4 (Washington): Interviewed for tonight's evening news (nbc4.com)

NBC 5/30 (Colorado Springs): Story running on tonight's news (koaa.com)

WE DID IT!!!!!!

2008-08-29T09:19:00.003-06:00

UPDATE: Read the official McCain campaign press release.
------
Every network is reporting that Gov. Palin will be introduced as McCain's pick shortly. I'l have a lot more later, but needless to say I am positively elated.

(Note: Thanks to my great boss, Matt Lewis, and Townhall.com for allowing me to blog on the clock today!)

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-08-29T06:56:00.002-06:00

I won't post all of the details, as you can get those by tuning to any news channel, but Gov. Palin has ALL of the late buzz this morning. I haven't been able to read all of the hundred of comments left here since I went to bed at midnight, so mega kudos to whoever found that flight from Anchorage to Dayton.

We're almost there. Put the champagne on ice and get ready for a party, we'll know for sure who gets the nod in a few hours (maybe sooner). I'm going to try to get permission to blog from the office today. No guarantees, but I have a hunch I might get it.

Online Victory Party!

2008-08-28T15:34:00.002-06:00

Okay, I've had enough of sitting on pins and needles. So, I figure we should do what every other campaign does on "election night": Pat ourselves on the back, blast some loud music, and call it a "victory party".

This song seemed extremely appropriate.

Have a great night everyone. I'll get back on when I hear any news, but right now I have to catch the subway home.

The Final Hours

2008-08-28T10:11:00.002-06:00

Well, it appears that John McCain will have a VP candidate in place within 24 hours, and I personally think that Gov. Palin has a shot. If you believe the Drudge Report, the pick could leak as early as 6 PM (Eastern) tonight, with possible confirmation by 8:00 PM. Granted, I'm taking all reports from "sources" with a large grain of salt; but if this is true, I think the pick could be a surprise. If there is indeed a plan to make the pick known BEFORE Obama's acceptance speech tonight, then it had better be a bang up announcement that will throw Obama off his game and steal a lot of news. Otherwise, the smart way to unveil a "safe" (meaning "boring") pick would be to wait until tomorrow morning so as not to compete with a bigger event.

Either way, this has been a fantastic ride, and you all have done a tremendous job promoting the Gov. Palin. Regardless of what happens, we can hold our heads high, as just getting Gov. Palin on the list was an accomplishment. Furthermore, no matter who is selected tomorrow, our movement will continue with a "Phase 2" project to continue to promote our favorite governor (to be unveiled at a later date).

So, pat yourselves on the back and chill the champagne. Hopefully, the entire world will know Sarah's name by this time tomorrow.

Pep Talk

2008-08-27T16:38:00.002-06:00

Hello Everyone. I apologize for being offline longer than I expected, but I have had trouble setting my connections up, and as I live in a building owned by a 501c3 non-profit organization, I’m prohibited from blogging at home. Hence, I send you my greetings from the McDonalds WiFi in Washington, DC’s Union Station. As we enter the final week, Gov. Palin’s name is increasingly mentioned in the media, and Monday and Tuesday were our first ever consecutive days with over 5,000 hits each. Keep the faith. We’re almost there, and I have a bottle of Sparklig Cider chilling in the fridge for Friday (my building doesn’t allow alcohol, or else it would have been champagne).

In the meantime, I have written a little pep talk to make sure that we keep our spirits high.

----

Sarah Palin is an anomaly in American politics. It’s not because she’s a woman, not because of her blue-collar background, and not because of her ability to juggle the titles of “governor” and “committed mother of five”. Forget about all of that stuff for a moment; it’s interesting, but if Barack Obama has taught us anything, it’s that a compelling biography is not a qualification for leadership. Instead, Palin is unique because she can claim one of the broadest bases of support of any leader in our country. Other than the lunatic fringes of Alaska’s kleptocratic political establishment, nobody hates her.

Most politicians rise to power because they represent a certain wing of their party, and even some of their own partisans detest them. Mike Huckabee will never resonate with libertarian republicans, social conservatives cannot support Rudy Giuliani, certain evangelicals will always have a problem with Mitt Romney, and frankly I doubt that hard-core conservatives will ever fully embrace John McCain. That doesn’t make them bad candidates; it just means that they face significant opposition within the Republican Party. Sarah Palin does not have that problem.
I have been working to draft Gov. Palin as Vice President since February of 2007, and I can recount first hand how she has united divergent views among Republicans and is now even gaining Democratic support. The key is that she offers a combination of qualities that make her a hero to many, many different groups. For instance, two of our strongest bases of support have been social conservatives and libertarian republicans, who are normally at each other’s throats.

However, she offered both groups something that they desperately wanted without compromising any appeal to the other. The SoCons loved her pro-life, pro-family, and pro-gun positions, while the libertarians and fiscal conservatives cheered her on as she vetoed hundreds of millions of dollars of wasteful government spending. Getting those two groups to sing kum-ba-ya was enough of an accomplishment, but now it appears that a third group has found what it wants in Gov. Palin: McCainocrats.

For those Democrats who are considering abandoning the Obama ticket (primarily disillusioned Clinton supporters), Palin represents the final push into the Republican camp. Not only is she a woman (which, like it or not, is an issue for some voters), but she also puts a fresh, future-oriented face on the McCain campaign. By upending Alaska’s corrupt political class, Palin has actually produced the type of change that Barack Obama can only talk about; and her collar is far bluer than Joe Biden’s ever was. Furthermore, she is arguably the only candidate who has the necessary expertise to address the single most pressing issue in this election: gas prices. As Governor of Alaska, Chair of the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (America’s largest interstate organization), and a former Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, Sarah Palin can run rings around almost anyone when it comes to oil.

The last candidate to assemble such a broad coalition of support was a gentleman by the name of Ronald Wilson Reagan. He not only won the presidency in two successive landslides, but went on to become one of the most beloved and effective presidents in recent history. Now, I realize that it is somewhat presumptuous of me to make this comparison, but I personally have no doubt that Sarah Palin has the capability to become the next Reagan. In fact, the only real question that I have heard is whether we should bring her to the forefront now as a VP candidate or save her for later as a full-fledged presidential hopeful in 2012. I personally choose the former, because the latter involves the defeat of John McCain and the election of President Obama and Vice President Biden. 2008 will be a crucial election year, with the winner being handed the responsibility for the Iraq war, the gasoline crisis, the Russo-Georgian conflict, and any number of other issues. The stakes are simply too high to throw McCain under the bus and bide our time. Likewise, Sen. McCain should realize that the stakes are too high for him to select a VP candidate who simply “does no harm” rather than pushing his ticket over the top.

There is one sure fire solution to this problem, one way to guarantee a McCain surge, one way to put Obama on the defensive, and one way to steamroll to victory in November. Her name is Sarah Palin.

New VP Poll at Townhall.com

2008-08-26T13:58:00.007-06:00

Hi Everyone,

I'm just filling in for Adam in an admin support roll until he gets settled in DC and back online (hopefully tomorrow). But, he wanted me to let everyone know there's a new VP poll posted on Townhall.com (right under today's funnies). Romney is in the lead, but Kay Baily Hutchison is in second palce with 21%! Ouch! Gov. Palin is right behind her (17%). Run on over and let them know who we REALLY want on the ticket.

Julie

How to beat Joe Biden

2008-08-24T10:29:00.007-06:00

Well, Barack Obama has made his VP selection, taking Washington's most vicious attack dog, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware. So, the question has now become how to combat the fast-talking Biden and his decades of foreign policy experience. Unfortunately, most of the Republican punditry is running scared from Biden and, in my opinion, suggesting that McCain adopt a disastrous strategy with his own pick. So, here are my thoughts on how to beat Biden, and they are probably different from what you've been hearing on the news:

Biden is a fast-talker who pulls no punches. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of foreign policy, and will try to bludgeon any debate opponent with all of the minutia of different situations. He is also a hothead who is overly fond of personal attacks. The best way to beat him is to make him look like a mean-spirited jerk (which is not hard), but unfortunately the punditry seems to think that McCain should now be forced to pick an aggressive VP who can crawl into Biden's gutter and beat him at his own game. I think that that's a horrible idea, and I'm not just saying that because I'm promoting Palin.

Biden is without doubt the best attack dog in the country, period. We aren't going to find someone who can beat him on that front. Furthermore, sinking to Biden's level would make the ticket look sleazy. Instead, we should note that Biden totally undermines Obama's "change" mantra, which McCain can now seize for himself by taking a reform minded VP from outside Washington. We can also show up Biden in the debates by selecting a calm, collected candidate who will show Biden for the hothead he is. Sarah Palin fits both bills.

For one, Palin has actually produced the sort of change that Obama and Biden can only talk about. Secondly, she will refuse to play in Biden's mudpit, which makes him look even worse. Third, she knows how to debate hotheaded opponents. Biden compares very well to John Binkley, another fast-talking attack dog who ran against Palin in the 2006 primary. Palin filleted Binkley (and incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski) by sitting back while they ranted and then delivering crushing one liners that made them look like bratty kids ("Alaskans deserve better than this."). Finally, Biden will do everything he can to attack his opponent on personal terms, which is very dangerous when you are running against a woman or a military parent. Biden WILL say something stupid in the debates, probably belittling Sarah for having been a housewife or mentioning that Track Palin is in the Army, and Gov. Palin will be ready with with a "you're no Jack Kennedy"-style response.

Biden must not be allowed to interrupt the McCain game plan, which likely calls for a young, reformist VP. And when it comes to the debates, the secret will be to allow a cooler head to prevail over the fire-breathing Joe Biden. Gov. Palin is that cool head, and a reformer to boot. If she plays the debate right, she could reduce Biden from "distinguished senator" to "schoolyard bully" and nullify any gravitas that he brings to the Obama ticket.

New Comment Policy

2008-08-23T16:34:00.002-06:00

Due an influx of what we in the blogosphere call "trolls", I have changed the settings in the comments section. You must now have a Google account or an account with another OpenID-affiliated provider to comment. Apologies to all of my users who have been harassed, belittled, insulted, and verbally abused. We have, and will always have, a zero tolerance policy for trolls, haters, and liars; and I will be taking several other actions to ensure that this blog remains clean and free of abusive comments.

Notes from DC

2008-08-22T18:27:00.003-06:00

Hello everyone. As I have been largely incognito this week, I figured that I would drop by, say hello, and address a few issues (and hopefully be short enough to not steal Kristofer's thunder)

Specifically, I want to point everyone to the new forum over at Palin for America. I did sign off on it's creation, but that does not affect the comments section here. I would encourage you use the comments section to address the topics discussed in my posts. Off topic discussions, however, can be moved to the more organized (and troll-free) PFA forum. This an addition to our movement, not a change.

Secondly, be sure to watch tommorrow to find out who Gov. Palin will be shredding in the VP debate. For the record, I've been thinking Chet Edwards was "the guy" for several weeks. We'll have to wait and see. See you Sunday, and kudos to Kristofer and Steve for their great guest-blogging.

Tidbits for Today

2008-08-22T08:13:00.006-06:00

Good morning,

Not Doubting Palin's Popularity

For those who are worried about Sarah Palin's popularity in Alaska, think again! Two new ad's on the airwaves in Alaska for the Republican congressional primary feature Governor Palin, and she is not even running for Congress. Touting her endorsement is a clear sign she remains the most popular Governor in America.

Parnell Ad Here: CFG Ad Here;

Media Speculation

According to several media outlets, John McCain has NOT selected his VP nominee. I would caution everyone when listening to the speculation, as I doubt any of it is based on fact.

Despite nearly six years of torture and solitary confinement, Senator McCain was unwilling to cave to his captors (Hanoi Hilton) in North Vietnam, so I am confident that members of the media have not been able to solicit any meaningful VP information from his campaign team or the candidate himself. I also find great humor in the fact that many of the media reports on Senator McCain's VP nominee are from news organizations that are "unfriendly" to the McCain campaign. The New York Times and Mark Halperin are not the John McCain Christmas card distribution list.

Convention

The RCN has leaked a first draft of the list of speakers at the upcoming RNC convention (see here). This list is probably going to change drastically, for two reasons. #1 - Not one single member of Congress is scheduled to speak, and the speaking schedule has not been time stamped. #2 - It is fair to assume that one of the scheduled speakers is going to be nominated for Vice President. If John McCain had left off Palin, Romney, Jindal, Pawlenty or any of the other rumored names from the speakers list, then they would have had essentially tipped their hand to the media on who is on the shortlist for VP. The fact that Governor Palin has received a speaking role in prime time is a signal that she is held is very high regard by John McCain. Upon further examination of the this schedule, it appears as if just about all of the speakers are either close friends of Senator McCain or have been active in his campaign.

As of today, there is no reason to be doubtful or discouraged. We are in this!

Update; Mark Halperin (ABC News) has removed his post that suggested Romney will be the VP. Don't believe the hype. - Flavor Flave 1989.

McCain's Best Choice: Sarah Palin

2008-08-20T09:52:00.007-06:00

(Note: After I wrote the following piece making light of "breaking news," news in fact did emerge from FOX about Sarah Palin receiving a major speaking role on the second night of the Republican convention (see end of this column). Kristofer and I are mulling over what exactly this means, and we don't believe it signifies that Sarah isn't the nominee. More later.)

Dear Friends, this will be my last day doing guest posts on Adam's blog, one devoted to a thoroughly remarkable woman, Sarah Heath Palin, Governor of Alaska. All highly successful blogs -- and this is surely one of them -- are devoted in part to "breaking news." Frankly, at this point in the process, however, most of the "news" actually consists of "breaking rumors."

Let me reminisce some about why I came on board when Adam asked me -- about 18 months ago -- to support someone whose name was barely familiar to me: Gov. Palin. Like so many of you, I had to learn how to pronounce Sarah's name correctly: PALE -in.

One reason "Sarah for VP" had appeal to me so long ago was that I believed the conventional wisdom then about the person the Democrats would nominate for President. Of course (silly us), it would be Hillary Rodham Clinton, right? Nope! The Democrats have made a truly bizarre choice, an inexperienced, unqualified, untrustworthy, and dangerous (as in "invade Pakistan") man named Barack Hussein Obama.

Would a McCain-Palin ticket beat an Obama-anybody ticket? They would beat them, as an old Pittsburgh-area sportscaster put it, "like a rented mule." The most recent Zogby poll had McCain leading nationally by five points (while Gallup and Rasmussen have the right roughly even). I believe Zogby is correct. As The Economist put it recently, the nation is suffering from "Obama fatigue." We've found that our golden-tongued orator is just a young windbag, a guy who does a great job reading a speech (that someone else wrote) off a TelePrompter.

Since April (around the time of the PA Primary), I've been working with Supporters of Hillary Clinton, people who are very angry at the fraud and strong-arm tactics that took place in the Democratic caucuses. The NoBama Movement is large, and it is growing. On two of my blogs, I'm printing letter-after-letter from former Democrats, men and women who are leaving the Party they once thought was theirs. The MSM being the MSM, you probably haven't heard about that important development.

In all probability, John McCain is going to be the next President. For him to choose Sarah as his running mate would be both bold and wise.

Of course, we Republicans aren't exactly noted for boldness. Like Claude Rains in "Casablanca," our tendency is to "round up the usual suspects." At this time in history, the usual suspects -- say, a Mitt Romney or a Mike Huckabee or a Tom Ridge -- are not good enough. Such people are the "Ghosts of the GOP Past." They do not represent the future of the Republican Party or or of the country.

Sarah Palin does represent that future. To be fair, there are other potential candidates, such as Bobby Jindal, Mark Sanford, and Eric Cantor, who will be part of that future. But McCain can't do better than Sarah, an individual synonymous with toughness, courage, integrity, and consistency. Sarah Palin is the quintessential Amrican.

Let me end by saluting those of you who have embraced this remarkable young woman. You're doing a service to your country -- as she's doing for hers.

(Note: I hope some of you who've visited my blogs -- and many have -- will continue doing so. Two of them are: the national one (featuring Bill Clinton's complicity in 9/11) and the Hillary Supporters one (featuring Democrats leaving their Party). My best to all of you.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/08/20/list-of-rnc-speakers-offers-clues-to-mccains-vp-pick/

"With seven of the most-named running mates listed to speak at the Republican National Convention, the veepstakes over John McCain’s vice presidential running mate is anyone’s guess.

"The convention line-up, which will be held in St. Paul, Minn., from Sept. 1-4, features Connecticut Independent Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman on the first night; former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on the scond night; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on the third night; and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist on the last night.

"The third night is the night the vice presidential nominee will give his acceptance speech. Other speakers that night include Cindy McCain, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.

"Jindal has said he is not interested in the job but Romney has clearly indicated he would accept the nod. FOX News learned this week that Ridge is no longer under consideration because of his support for abortion rights.

"McCain is expected to announce his choice for running mate at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, on Aug. 29. The date is his 72nd birthday and the day after the Democratic National Convention ends."

Note that Mark Sanford, SC Governor, is NOT on the list.

Sarah's Appeal to Key Groups

2008-08-19T12:33:00.005-06:00

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I'll be writing a guest post about the close political and personal links Sarah Palin has to many critical interest groups, including: mothers (she has five childen), active duty soldiers and military families (her 18-year-old son is an infantry soldier probably headed soon to Iraq), women professionals (she is one), working-class families (her husband, Todd, has been a commercial fisherman and oil-field production worker), eductors (both her parents have been public school teachers), parents of special-needs children (her youngest son, Trig, has Down Syndrome), hunters and Second-Amendment supporters (she's a life member of the NRA), and several other voting groups.

In the meantime, here's some developing news about Sarah's quest for the V-P slot on the ticket led by Sen. John McCain:

Drew Zahn of WorldNetDaily . . . is digging hard to establish the veracity of the various rumors that Sarah Palin will be McCain's choice for VP. He points out that a somewhat mysterious web site called McCainPalin.com "appears more legitimate than most" such sites devoted to various V-P choices.

Zahn, whom I spoke to yesterday, says the following: "Palin has drawn attention as a potential running mate because of her youth and charisma, personally demonstrated pro-life beliefs and willingness to tackle tough issues, including an incident where she took on Republican leadership in her state for ethics violations.Editor Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard last year called Palin 'a politician of eye-popping integrity.'"

Also, there's a new web site promoting Palin as McCain's best choice for his VP selection. It's called PalinforAmerica.com. It has a provocative article in support of a McCain/Palin '08 ticket:
Palin for America: A Time for American Leadership

I'll have more tomorrow. Thanks for visiting Adam's blog.

Note: My regular blogs, updated daily, include the following, and I urge you to visit:

Campaign Victory
Hillary Supporters 4 McCain

Steve Maloney
Ambridge, PA

2008-08-18T10:42:00.004-06:00

Hi everyone. Adam (aka "Elephant Man") has asked me to be a guest blogger on "Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President," and I'm pleased to oblige. I hope to put up several posts between now and Thursday, when another guest blogger will appear. I've recently received several links from "Believe," another Palin fan. (By the way, for those new to the Palin Movement, Sarah's last name is pronounced "PALE-in.) For now, here are "Believe's" links:

Take a look at the following link -- Palin on the shortlist.

http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=13718

And also take a look at the following news stories:

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/news/international/FACTBOX_Possible_US_Republican_vice_presidential_candidates.html?siteSect=143&sid=9551124&cKey=1219068622000&ty=ti

http://townhall.com/blog/g/84e89069-3044-4f48-b478-256c65592b2f

http://www.northstarwriters.com/pi124.htm http://www.adn.com/front/story/497064.html

As for "believing" in general, I firmly believe Sarah will be the individual John McCain chooses as his running mate. She would bring an energy -- a dynamism -- to the campaign and could help McCain win several battleground states.

If you're interested in reading other columns by me, please visit one of the following:
http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com.
http://hillarysupportersformccain.blogspot.com.

In the meantime, let me salute to Adam Brickley, who has helped make Sarah Palin a household name -- and a legitimate contender for the V-P role. He accomplished the impossible, and he did it with intensity and style.

Guest Bloggers This Week

2008-08-17T23:35:00.003-06:00

NOTE: Please be sure to read some very interesting articles mentioning Gov. Palin from the Weekly Standard and the American Spectator. Both are very positive for us.
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For those that don't know, I am in the process of moving from Colorado to Washington, DC. It has been difficult to keep up the blog in this situation, and I am sure that the actual move this week will make it downright impossible. During this time, I will remain active in the comments section and perhaps post occasional blogs, but I am handing primary control over to two trusted friends while I settle in.

From Monday until Wednesday, your host will be Steve Maloney, a prolific blogger who has been with our movement since the very start. As one of our very first edorsements, his efforts really helped kick-start the movement, and we definitely owe him a debt of gratitude. Steve always provides interesting commentary and almost never pulls his punches, so I am sure that you will find him very entertaining.

Thursday through Saturday, the ship will be steered by Kristopher Lorelli of PalinForVP.com. Kristopher has put many, many hours of time and effort into our movement. Without him on the team, I highly doubt that our efforts would have been half as successful. Hence, I am more than happy to allow him to take center stage here for a few days. In fact, Kristopher usually finds breaking news about Gov. Palin quicker than me, so you can count on him for a quick and intelligent reaction to anything that happens.

So, I hope that you all enjoy Steve and Kristopher, and I look forward to returning to action on Sunday.

CONFIRMED: Palin submitted papers!!!

2008-08-15T18:55:00.003-06:00

Roll Call posted the following report today under the curious title "Palin Says She Isn't Being Vetted for VP"...which I find rather strange considering the submission of papers to the national party.

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Gov. Sarah Palin (R), whose name has been floated as a potential running mate for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), said she has submitted some paperwork to national Republicans, but added she thinks it is unlikely she will be tapped to be McCain's vice presidential pick.

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Also, national talk show host Mark Levin said yesterday that he would be pleased with a Palin nomination. Click here to listen to the show. Palin is mentioned exactly 34 minutes into the program and the discussion continues until 35:45.

Accusations against Palin imploding, media ignoring key facts

2008-08-15T09:00:00.005-06:00

First off, my apologies for not picking up this story earlier, I have been very getting ready to move and have had very little time for the blog. That said, the "Troopergate" story has reared it's head in the national media again, and lots of new information is being released. So I figure that now is the time to shove another nail into this story's coffin and make a concerted effort to get the facts out. The Associated Press article was relatively even handed, but it was not a full accounting of the facts, and the Alaskan media has been downright horrible. I will be updating this post this story to add detail. But for now, I wanted to give a quick rundown of of the developments that have occurred and the facts that I would like to see reported.

Developments

Gov. Palin held a press conference Wednesday announcing the results of her administration's internal audit regarding the situation. They did find several unauthorized calls made by Palin's staff regarding Trooper Mike Wooten, but no involvement by Gov. Palin, and all of the information will be willingly turned over to Investigator Steve Branchflower. This is an unprecedented level of openness and transparency for an official involved in such a situation.

The key item released was the audio of a recorded phone call by Frank Bailey, a member of the Governor's staff, to the Public Safety Department. The phone call was condemned by the Governor, and I will be detailing later how the audio clearly shows that Bailey was not authorized to make the phone call and not speaking for the administration. That said, Bailey raises some interesting concerns about Walt Monegan in the call, which I will detail later.

For now, I'll let you watch the press conference and listen to the phone call, I'm interested in hearing your comments. Personally, I think Palin is doing a bang-up job handling his.

Facts that have yet to be reported in any media

1. Investigator Steve Branchflower has a GLARING conflict of interest. Not only did he work closely with Walt Monegan's Anchorage Police department for years in the District Attorney's office, but his wife was a detective in that department, including after Monegan became chief. She was even quoted singing Monegan's Praises to the Anchorage Daily News when he was hired as chief. ("New Chief" by Lisa Demer, Anchorage Daily News, Jan. 31, 2001).

2. Todd Palin was ORDERED by the head of the Governor's secutity detail, Special Agent Bob Cockrell, to discuss Trooper Wooten with Walt Monegan, as Wooten presented a credible threat to the Governor's safety. Here's a direct quote from Special Agent Cockrell, who is now providing security for his sixth consecutive governor:

“When made aware of the security concerns regarding a state trooper, I instructed the First Gentleman to contact the commissioner of Public Safety. It is standard protocol to ask every governor about any threats they perceive or have realized. I will not hesitate to set the record straight in answering these false allegations by former Commissioner Monegan.” (emphasis added)

3. State records show that Monegan lied about the number of times he met with the Governor during his tenure. While Monegan claims that the Governor was inaccessible and only met with him four times, records indicate that he had more than two dozen meetings with Gov. Palin, including.

Petitions Sent

2008-08-13T00:10:00.003-06:00

Sorry for not blogging yesterday, I was literally away from my computer all day (my local congressional primary was yesterday). However, I did get copies of our petition shipped Priority Mail to the McCain campaign and Gov. Palin's Juneau office. They should be arriving within two or three days. So, to the more than 2,500 people who signed, I can guarantee you that your signatures and comments will be seen by the people who need to see them.

I also found out that mail takes at least three weeks to get to Alaska from the lower 48 if shipped using standard postage. So, if you want to send a letter to Gov. Palin before the VP selections are made, you need to send it Priority.

Palin blasted Obama on "windfall profits taxes"

2008-08-11T18:54:00.006-06:00

UPDATE: Another great (and detailed) refutation of this story has been posted by Bulletproof Diction.
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For those of you who read the poorly-researched Seattle Times' story claiming that Gov. Palin is a supporter of "windfall profits taxes" on oil companies, I wanted to offer proof that nothing could be further from the truth. The following is a quote from a recent press release from Gov. Palin's office (in which she thanked Barack Obama for finally admitting that tapping Alaskan resources could be a good thing).

The Governor did question the means to pay for Obama’s proposed rebate — a windfall profits tax on oil companies. In Alaska, the state’s resource valuation system, ACES, provides strong incentives for companies to re-invest their profits in new production.

“Windfall profits taxes alone prevent additional investment in domestic production. Without new supplies from American reserves, our dependency and addiction to foreign sources of oil will continue,” Governor Palin said.

I will be posting more on this tomorrow, but if you want the real facts about Gov. Palin's tax policy, there is a massive amount of information provided on her website.

Task Force Palin YouTube Channel

2008-08-10T22:43:00.002-06:00

As we slowly but surely build the infrastructure of Task Force Palin, I wanted to point you to our new YouTube channel. Right now, it contains all of the Youtube ads that have been produced, and I'm hoping to add some new content soon. I'll probably be putting out a video of my own this week, as I am in the process of getting copies of our petition printed and sent to the McCain campaign and Gov. Palin's office (I don't have a big enough stapler for the petition, so I have to get that done tomorrow).

Please stay tuned to TFP, as the setup is going to be a gradual process rather than a sudden launch.

Leading Evangelical says Palin "rings the most bells" in VP race

2008-08-08T09:30:00.003-06:00

Our movement got a big plug this morning from Richard Land, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention. In talking about VP choices with CBS News, Land said that Gov. Palin would be the most exciting VP choice for the Evangelical community. This brings up a key point that I've been trying to emphasize for a while now. Two of our biggest bases of support are Evangelical pro-lifers and libertarian budget-cutters. These two factions of the GOP tend to have an extreme distaste for one another, yet both consider Gov. Palin a hero. That alone should make her a leading choice.
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CBSNews.com: Who’s on the list of people mentioned for VP that you think would most excite Southern Baptists and other members of the conservative faith community?

Richard Land: Probably Governor Palin of Alaska, because she's a person of strong faith. She just had her fifth child, a Downs Syndrome child. And there's a wonderful quote that she gave about her baby, and the fact that she would never, ever consider having an abortion just because her child had Downs Syndrome. She's strongly pro-life.

She's a virtual lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. She would ring so many bells. And I just think it would help with independents because she's a woman. She's a reform Governor. I think that, from what I hear, that would be the choice that CBSNews.com: Who’s on the list of people mentioned for VP that you think would most excite Southern Baptists and other members of the conservative faith community? Richard Land: Probably Governor Palin of Alaska, because she's a person of strong faith. She just had her fifth child, a Downs Syndrome child. And there's a wonderful quote that she gave about her baby, and the fact that she would never, ever consider having an abortion just because her child had Downs Syndrome.

She's strongly pro-life. She's a virtual lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. She would ring so many bells. And I just think it would help with independents because she's a woman. She's a reform Governor. I think that, from what I hear, that would be the choice that would probably ring the most bells, along with Mike Huckabee, of course, who's a Southern Baptist. , along with Mike Huckabee, of course, who's a Southern Baptist.

Task Force Palin

2008-08-07T10:29:00.006-06:00

This press release is being sent to numerous media outlets today. Be sure to check the new effort as we get it up and running. (Note: This in no way affects the running of this blog, which will continue to operate normally).

Pro-Palin websites unite as “Task Force Palin”

Building on the continued success of the grassroots movement to draft Governor Sarah Palin as America’s next Vice President, a number of pro-Palin websites are pooling their resources into a new effort, “Task Force Palin” (TFP), which can be found online at tfp.palinforamerica.com. The founding members of TFP are “Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President” (palinforvp.blogspot.com), PalinForVP.com, “Palin for America” (palinforamerica.com), and “Students of America” (myspace.com/studentsofamerica); with more members expected to join after the launch.

While TFP will primarily work to convince McCain and his supporters that Sarah Palin would be the best choice for Vice President, it is also intended to look beyond the 2008 election. Regardless of the outcome this year, TFP will continue to coordinate an organized network of Palin supporters around the United States.

"It is my strong opinion that Sarah Palin's independence, integrity, and natural leadership style personify America's founding values,” said the proprietor of Palin for America, “Palin's values, now more than ever, must have a strong presence in the office of the executive."
Michel Luciano of Students for America also weighed in on why he decided to back TFP, saying, "I believe that Governor Sarah Palin's conservative credentials, fight against corruption, and stance on energy security along with her leadership experience as Mayor of Wasilla and Governor of Alaska make her the best qualified candidate for Vice President of the United States."

“Task Force Palin takes the short-term VP effort and institutionalizes it as a more permanent presence,” said Adam Brickley, founder of Draft Sarah Palin for Vice President. “If Palin becomes the vice-presidential candidate, then we will have some of the best coverage of the VP race on the internet. If not, we have an organization which can continue to promote Palin as a national figure and, should the worst occur, a candidate to unseat Barack Obama in 2012. While it’s only in its embryonic stages right now, were hoping to evolve TFP into a centralized headquarters that combines the functions of all of our sites into an online one-stop-shop for all things Palin. TFP will be bigger, better, and more professional than anything we’ve done before”.

Glenn Beck: Palin a "brilliant pick" for VP

2008-08-06T06:36:00.003-06:00

The following dialogue took place Monday on the Glenn Beck Program. Scott Rasmussen was on to discuss his recent polling, and the talk turned to the veepstakes. Thanks to Hamilton Roberts of Conservative for Change, who made me aware of this.
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GLENN: Anybody that John McCain could select?

RASMUSSEN: You know, I've been going over this and nobody, there's no silver bullets. I think the reason that I've finally come to that conclusion is most Republicans who have been saying this is the person that John McCain has to pick are people who didn't really want John McCain to be the nominee and they are saying we need somebody who can win despite of the fact that John McCain is the nominee. There is -- you know, you can make a case that Sarah Palin, the Alaskan governor who is very strong on the energy issue.

GLENN: I love her. Can I tell you something? I think she would be a brilliant pick because she's a total fresh face. She is -- she would be, you know, the first woman vice president. She is plain spoken. She is strong on energy. She speaks the language of the American people. I mean, I just think she would be off the charts.

RASMUSSEN: That's right. And she's a former beauty queen and captain of her state champion basketball team. What more do you want?

GLENN: Not that that doesn't hurt. I'm not saying that she's a hottie but I'm not not saying that, either.

RASMUSSEN: Well, the fact is, Glenn, she is a choice that could be very good. We don't know how she would perform in that national spotlight but, yeah, she is -- especially if Barack Obama does not pick a woman as his vice presidential nominee, that would be a very good pick.

Anderson Cooper axes Troopergate story!

2008-08-05T20:39:00.002-06:00

I had a feeling this was coming, but I wanted to watch most of tonight's AC360 before reporting it. After a few emails from our supporters detailing the facts of the case, the Troopergate story suddenly disappeared from the AC360 website this afternoon. Then tonight, the story did not air at all (The new lead story was "Why isn't Barack Obama farther ahead in the polls?"). Maybe they'll try to go back and rework the story using better facts, but I'm guessing that there won't be any new attempt now that they know just how bad this story would have made them look. "Troopergate" is one of the most poorly executed hit jobs I've seen in my life, and this proves that it has no legs.

CNN Tonight: Anderson Cooper takes on Troopergate

2008-08-05T12:16:00.007-06:00

UPDATE: The Troopergate story has been yanked from the "Anderson Cooper 360" website. With the "Tonight's Show" box now showing a generic tagline for AC360. Thanks to those of you who emailed CNN with the facts. However, this does not necessarily mean that the story won't be running tonight in some form. I'll still be watching AC360 very closely.

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Well, let's hope Anderson Cooper has more journalitic integrity than the Alaskan papers, because "Troopergate" is his lead story tonight (10 PM Eastern). By the way the story is phrased on his website (reposted below), it could be either a total hit job or a very positive piece. So, will we be getting fact or fiction? Unfortunately, CNN didn't even bother to double check their facts in announcing the program on their website (Gov. Palin is not running against Ted Stevens), so I'm a little worried.

The good thing about this is that its something of a win-win situation. With everything we now know about the people shopping the allegations, it is almost impossible to put lipstick on the Troopergate pig, so we have a big opening no matter what angle he takes. If Cooper does his homework and reports on the absurdity of the story, this thing is over once and for all. If he decides to swallow accusations hook, line, and sinker, it could give us a national platform to start putting the smackdown on this thing and end it ourselves.

So, Anderson, be VERY careful what you say, because we have all of the facts, documentation, and national support necessary to expose this story for what is is (total baloney) no matter what is said tonight.

Personally, I'm actually getting very pumped up about this. As I see it, this is either the outright end of Troopergate (if Cooper reports the facts) or the beginning of the end (if he forces us to do it for him). So, to quote one off my favorite songs, "When darkness turns to light, it ends tonight." If you watch the music video, you'll get a good idea what kind of response I have in mind.

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From CNN:

More corruption in Alaska?
Is it payback time in Alaska? GOP Gov. Sarah Palin, who’s running against now indicted powerhouse Sen. Ted Stevens, is now being formally investigated by the Senate herself! We investigate the charges against another Alaska official. Tonight, 10 ET.

Look who's watching!

2008-08-04T21:54:00.003-06:00

Looks like somebody is doing a little opposition research. I love StatCounter.

Oh yeah...they're scared all right.

Online Rally for Palin!

2008-08-04T14:27:00.002-06:00

This is a great idea cooked up by Facebook supporter Steven Abott, and I think we can get a really spectacular turnout if we work at it. Right now, this event is Facebook-based, but I'm re-posting the description here so that anyone can participate. That said, if you have Facebook, please log on and participate there.

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Facebook event posted by Steven Abbott:

Online Rally: Sarah Palin for VP
Let's get the VP choice RIGHT: Consider Sarah Palin for VP, Sen. McCain

This is a two-week campaign to encourage John McCain to strongly consider Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential choiceHere are four ways to participate:

1) Make the blue McCain/Palin sign your profile picture on Facebook for this and next week, to show people that you support Sarah. That will be a very strong message of support. (Note from Adam Brickley: I would also encourage this for MySpace profiles, Instant Messenger "buddy icons", etc.)

2) Email the McCain campaign (either nationally or in their state) to urge him to choose Sarah Palin. Here’s an online form: http://www.johnmccain.com/Contact

3) Post a BRIEF message to every blog imaginable supporting Sarah Palin and sending them to one of the many (and growing) sites supporting her selection. A sample message would be, “I’m urging all Republicans to contact John McCain and ask him to strongly consider Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his VP pick.”

4) Write letters to the editor of your local papers and national papers urging Sen. McCain’s support for Sarah Palin.This decision is one of the most important John McCain will ever make on behalf of his campaign and on behalf of the Republican Party. If he gets this wrong, the results could be catastrophic.

Together, we can make a difference!

Interesting analysis from Bill Kristol

2008-08-03T23:32:00.002-06:00

Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol has been one of the leading voices for a Palin nomination in the past few weeks, so we should definitely pay attention when he writes a column titled "How to Pick a V.P." I won't try to break his analysis down here, but it's definitely good news for our movement if his take on the McCain campaign is accurate. Here is what I thought to be the most important passage:

"Most of the campaign staff strongly prefers a selection from the first two categories — do no harm or reinforce experience. McCain himself, on the other hand, is intrigued by the bolder possibilities of youth or bipartisanship.

And he could be especially intrigued by Sarah Palin and Meg Whitman."

So, if Kristol (who has lots of connections in the McCain camp) is right, we just need to pray that Sen. McCain goes with his gut. And having watched him through the years, he goes with his gut a LOT. Personally, I think that John McCain is acutely aware of the fact that he did not get where he is by playing it safe, and that the best way for him to win this race is to be the sort of shoot-from-the-hip maverick that America first fell in love with in the 2000 campaign.

Listen to your gut, Senator, it has very rarely steered you wrong.