Kavon W. Nikrad backs Palin!

If you are not familiar with Race42008.com, then you are missing out on the best election coverage in the blogosphere. Over the last few years, R4'08 has built itself into one of the most widely read Republican Election blogs on the net. One of the key minds behind the site is Founder and Managing Editor Kavon W. Nikrad, who announced today that he believes Gov. Palin would have more impact than any other VP candidate. This is important to me for two reasons. The first (and most important) is that I am a long-time reader of R4'08 and have tremendous respect for what Kavon has built over there. I started lurking in their comments section several months before I came up with the idea for this blog (under the he handle "ElephantMan") and still frequent the site (now under the handle "Palin for VP!"). Secondly, Mr. Nikrad has previously opposed the concept of a Palin nomination, so this proves our point that the more people see of Gov. Palin, the more they like her.

I have reposted the full text of the column below.

-------

I am a Flip-Flopper...

…on Sarah Palin for Veep that is. I have overcome (cough…flip-flopped…cough) my initial skepticism and am now of the belief that the selection of Sarah Palin could have the biggest impact of any potential choice that Sen. McCain could make.

It’s not only Dave’s compelling posts on disaffected Hillary voters (here and here) that changed my mind. This really does seem to be a real phenomenon with staying power that will stretch to November rather, than just a temporary tantrum.

The turning point for me is anecdotal, so take it for what it’s worth- but the majority of Hillary voters that I am acquainted with have told me that I they are not simply sitting the election put, put will actually pull the lever for John McCain in November. And to the very last one, they have echoed the sentiments of this irate Hillary voter, independently of one another.

I was shocked to discover that my wife’s gay, male, lifelong Democrat volunteer/activist friend (with whom she has shared many a friendly but spirited political debate with) pulled her aside to confess that he will be voting for John McCain in November. His reason is the same as the female Hillary supporter featured in the video, and is the same as that of the other Democratic acquaintances that have shared their decision with me. Their explanations have been that although they are lifelong Democrats, they cannot in good conscience vote for someone as inexperienced as Obama to be President of the United States.

And that is really the crux of the anger here, isn’t it? It not that Hillary lost, it’s that Hillary lost to someone that her supporters feel is vastly underqualified for the job in comparison. When Hillary supporters look back on their remembrances of the peace and prosperity of the Clinton years, as well as Hillary’s accomplishment of her own since she the White House and see that a three-year Senator that was representing a few neighborhoods in the Chicago area before that is poised to receive the Democratic nomination, the only conclusion that they can come to is that sexism is the root cause (this is what happens, of course, when your party is dominated by identity politics, but that is a discussion for another day).

Which brings me back to Palin. What would happen if Sen. McCain would select an accomplished and articulate Governor who identifies herself as a feminist, yet holds the values of a Center-Right Nation? My answer is that on election day, we would actually be able to hold many of these disaffected voters that may drift back to Obama or simply decide just to sit out instead.

The Veep selection is now a double edged sword for Obama. Pick a female, and he cannot shore up his main weakness in the general which is that he is too inexperienced to be CiC. Choose someone like Gen. Clark, Gen. Zinni, or Sen. Webb, and McCain can potentially pick off massive amounts of female voters by selecting Gov. Palin.

Bottom line: the veep selection on both sides is of more importance in this contest than perhaps any other in many, many years.

Best. Primary. Ever.

WizBang: Palin to meet with VP search team!!!

According to Kevin Aylward of WizBang, Arthur Culvahouse, the head of John McCain's VP search, has been spotted in Juneau! If this is true, it would confirm that the McCain campaign is SERIOUSLY considering a Palin nomination.

If you have any information that can independently confirm this report, please contact me at palinforvp@gmail.com.

Great column by Jean Avery

You've probably heard all of my arguments for a Palin candidacy by now, so I figured that it would be refreshing to post somebody else's for once. Jean Avery of Moms for McCain recently wrote a very good column on the subject (reposted over at McCainNow), and I think that you should read it. It's one of the best pro-Palin pieces that I have read, and it eloquently sums up some of the key ideals of our movement.

Click here to read.

Conservative praise, leftist fear, and another big poll

The pro-Palin news just won't stop coming in. Based on the stories listed below, along with the ones listed in the previous post, I think that it is now safe to declare that the "Palin Revolution" has officially begun.

CONSERVATIVE PRAISE

Jonah Goldberg plugs Palin as a potential VP at National Review's "The Corner"

Ross Douthat does the same for The Atlantic.

I'm also hearing that Rush Limbaugh dropped Palin's name today (my hit count skyrocketed, so I believe it).

LEFTISTS COWER IN FEAR

Chris Kelly sounds the alarm in an apoplectic, poorly researched diatribe for the Huffington Post.

DailyKos poster "Thatcher" figures out the Dems are utterly unprepared to face a McCain-Palin ticket. (May 23)

OUR BIGGEST POLL YET

MSNBC has posted it's own version of "VP Madness". With over 45,000 votes already cast, this poll is too big for anyone to hijack, and Palin leads Rob Portman in Round One (presumptive Round Two opponent: Sen. John Thune). Palin-Portman was listed as one of the marquee matchups in the first round by hosts David Gregory and Chuck Todd , with Todd declaring ""Don't be surprised if [Palin]'s got some grassroots movement". Todd also compared Gov. Palin to the basketball team from Davidson College (the Cinderella story of this year's March Madness). I don't know much about Chuck Todd, but right now I like him a lot.

A weekend to remember.

It's been crazy trying to keep up with all of the news surrounding Gov. Palin in the last few days, especially as my offline life has been extremely busy. So, I figured that a recap of the highlights would be more convenient for you than detailed descriptions. There has also been a lot of buzz in the blogosphere; too much to list here, in fact. But you'll get the idea if you go to Google Blogsearch and enter "Sarah Palin".

ENDORSEMENTS

Columnist Nat Hentoff (Washington Times, Jewish World Review)

FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog

Darvio Morrow at "Associated Content"

OTHER MENTIONS

Michael Goldfarb of The Weekly Standard ("on the Palin bandwagon" for the VP slot)

Michelle Malkin (regarding polar bear lawsuit, "You go , girl.")

Hugh Hewitt (Also on polar bear lawsuit, "Bravo")

National Review's environmental blog, "Planet Gore" ("Planet Gore may just have to endorse Sarah Palin as its choice for McCain's running mate"...I'm playing it safe by not labeling that as an endorsement)

Mark Steyn (at National Review's "The Corner")

Kathyrn Jean Lopez (Also at "The Corner)

Kirby Wilbur, guest host on "The Sean Hannity Show" (unconfirmed)

The Rush Limbaugh Program (a caller...not Rush himself)

ALASKAN POLITICS

Palin vetoes $268 MILLION in wasteful spending! (10% of the total capital budget...good work, Governor!)

Video Message on CQ's "VP Madness" Results

Well, I finally got my first attempt at video-blogging loaded. All of the sites mentioned in the video are linked below. Be sure to spread the word about how how Huckabee "won" the poll. Thanks to all of the Palin supporters who voted!

Links:

CQ's wrap-up post by Greg Giroux.

"Huck's Army"

"Hucks Army" message board thread targeting the "VP Madness" finals.

U.S. News & World Report poll targeted by "Huck's Army" (Huckabee at 74%, despite an early lead for Romney)

"Huck's Army" forum thread engineering the U.S. News poll result.

FullosseousFlap endorses Palin!

"Senator, forget about Romney, Crist or Jindal and invite Palin down for a visit."

-FullosseousFlap

For those of you unfamiliar with "FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog", Flap is a very widely read and respected political blogger. This is a BIG endorsement, and it is a great honor to welcome Flap aboard the Good Ship Palin.

Gov. Palin has received a lot of press in the past few days, establishing her as a bona fide contender for the GOP VP nod. We are very hopeful that more endorsements will be rolling in soon

Oh...and stay tuned for an important message later today.

UPDATE: YouTube is not cooperating with me, and I'll be busy graduating from college today (Friday). So, the video message is a little late...but it will hopefully be up tonight.

Breaking: Palin to sue feds over Polar Bears

Gov. Palin made international headlines today by announcing that the State of Alaska will sue U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne for listing Alaska's healthy, growing population of polar bears as a "threatened species". We fully support her decision to stand up against this illegal listing, which is based on suspect climate modeling rather than scientific evidence. Environmentalist groups are planning to use the listing as a back door way of forcing the U.S. Government to impose draconian limitations, so Gov. Palin's lawsuit is really a service to the entire nation, not just Alaska. This is the type of gutsy leadership that proves, yet again, that Gov. Palin needs to be installed as a national leader ASAP.

I will do my best to keep you updated on this rapidly developing story.