Opnion PIeceSarah Palin's odd complaint about the Obama Christmas card design

I'm 5 days late with this article. Sorry about that.

From Los Angeles Tribune, Culture Monster BLog: Sarah Palin's odd complaint about the Obama Christmas card design

Even in Alaska, Sarah Palin's popularity has plummeted. In October the Wall Street Journal reported that the number of people in her home state holding a positive view of Palin had fallen to 29%. Ever since her 2009 resignation from the governorship, halfway through her first term, Palin's full-time job has been self-promotion. She's got books, personal appearances and reality TV shows to sell. So the polling collapse is no doubt nerve-racking.

What to do? The Republican presidential-nomination circus has sucked all the publicity air out of the room, and Palin has virtually disappeared from public view.

Well, kicking a dog in public will certainly get you back in the limelight. That's what happened this week when Palin complained that the illustration on the official White House Christmas card featured Bo, the Obama family's Portuguese water dog. It's doubtful whether dog-bashing will do much to make people like you more, but ink and blog posts are guaranteed.
Explaining the card's illustration, Los Angeles artist Mark Matuszak, 47, told The Times that the White House asked him for "something home related," so he came up with a conventional, Norman Rockwell-style image of a hearth. Photoshop to the rescue: A digitally inserted Bo is stretched out in the warmth of a roaring fire, beneath Georgia O'Keeffe's serene 1930 landscape painting, "Mountain at Bear Lake--Taos," which hangs over a mantelpiece decorated with greens. A nearby table is loaded with wrapped Christmas presents beneath a huge red poinsettia.

Xmas card OkeeffePalin ignored the gifts, holiday plant and national family hearth. She also neglected the rugged American landscape by O'Keeffe, the quintessential "modern western pioneer woman," whose carefully crafted media-persona is the model for the Alaskan's own. Instead, she told Fox News radio that she found it "odd" that the card emphasizes the dog instead of traditions like "family, faith and freedom."

Oops. Forget all the signs she ignored. Lots of popular art books compile histories of dog imagery in art, from the cult-mysticism of ancient Egypt to the contemporary Conceptual comedy of William Wegman. Dogs, perhaps the first domesticated animals in human history, are most often an artistic symbol for fidelity within families. (Fido, anyone?) The classic is Jan van Eyck's so-called "Arnolfini Wedding Portrait" (1434), in which the bourgeois couple, solemn representatives of Renaissance Flanders' prosperous one-percent, is accompanied by a loyal dog.

Of course, depending on the context, dogs also sometimes artfully symbolize lust. Jean-Honore Fragonard's infamous bedroom romp, in which a luscious young woman plays with her fluffy white pet amid rumpled white sheets, functioned as an 18th century equivalent to Playboy's racy pictorial spreads. But there's nothing like that going on in the Obamas' benign holiday greeting card. Like virtually every White House Christmas card since Franklin D. Roosevelt began the tradition in the depths of the last Great Depression, this one shows the White House decorated for the season. It's straight out of the Hallmark playbook.

Palin, not content to leave well-enough alone, went on to say, "Even stranger than that was his first year in office when the Christmas ornaments included Chairman Mao. People had to ask that it be removed because it was offensive."

It was? And they did?

Actually, the ornament in question, sent in by an unidentified American citizen for a White House community tree, included a decoupage reproduction of an Andy Warhol painting that lampoons Mao as a vapid celebrity; it shows him in rouged-and-lipsticked drag, vamping like a Communist Marilyn Monroe in a Three Gorges remake of "Niagara." But bigotry always emphasizes the "otherness" of the hated subject, and what is more "other" than white Republicans implying that the Democratic, African American president of the United States is a Communist?

That, speaking of dogs, also is called a dog whistle -- coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population but has a different, more specific meaning for a target audience. The so-called "War on Christmas," which is a ludicrous but perennial fabrication of Palin's employer, Fox News, is a dog-whistle for right-wing fundamentalists who want the United States to officially become a Christian nation. On Thursday Palin followed up her greeting card dog whistle with a Facebook Christmas message that's all about her fantasy of "a ramped up 'war on Christmas.' ” (The only thing missing is the dog in the manger.) Communists being godless, of course Obama would put a dog at the center of the holiday greeting card!

Obama was in fact doing Hallmark, but Palin is doing John Birch Society. Whether that will boost her likability numbers above 29% remains to be seen.

Independent group urges Iowans to "vote rogue" - for Palin

From Political Hotsheet: Independent group urges Iowans to "vote rogue" - for Palin
An independent group of Iowa Republicans is urging fellow Iowans to "vote rogue" on January 3, and caucus for a candidate who has already declared she isn't running: Sarah Palin.

"Are you unhappy with the current GOP field?" says a narrator in a radio ad. "Let me tell you something, you are not alone. Join thousands of Iowans as we vote rogue. It's the caucus for Sarah Palin on January 3. Let Iowa and the entire country know we want real leadership and real reform in DC. So come on Iowa, vote rogue on January 3!"

The ads are paid for by a group calling itself "Sarah Palin's Iowa Earthquake." In addition to the radio ads, the organization is readying television for the upcoming weekend, according to a Facebook page that appears to represent the group.

Palin flirted for months with the idea of launching a presidential campaign, but announced in October that she would not be doing so.

And while a write-in campaign for the former Alaska governor is very unlikely to succeed - particularly given that she has missed the filing deadline for several states' primaries - it is possible in Iowa, as caucus-goers could just write her name on the list of candidates.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Regular blog postings begin on DECEMBER 26, Monday.

Palin bandwagon grinds to a halt as networks turn away

The Independent: Palin bandwagon grinds to a halt as networks turn away
Whatever happened to Mama Grizzly? A year ago, Sarah Palin was one of the hottest properties in US politics, hovering near the top of the polls in the Republican presidential race, negotiating a $1m-a-year contract to act as a contributor to Fox News, publishing books, delivering paid speeches, and starring in weekly TV documentary about life in her home state, Alaska.

Today, she appears to have gone into hibernation. After months of flirting with a run, Mrs Palin announced in October that as far as the White House went, she was a non-starter. Her last book came out in November 2010, and no others are on the horizon. Her speeches are few and far between. And her Facebook page, once tended to several times daily, has been updated a grand total of three times in the past month.

Nowhere does her decline seem more evident than in the ratings-obsessed world of television. This week, it emerged that she has been doggedly trying to sell a brand new fly-on-the-wall programme to the country's networks, but has yet to find a willing buyer.

Citing industry insiders, The Hollywood Reporter said that the mooted show will focus on her husband Todd's career as a championship snowmobiler. But Discovery Communications, the organisation whose TLC channel aired her last series, has passed on the proposal. A&E Networks, which lost a frenzied bidding war for Mrs Palin's first TV series, is also not interested.

Part of the problem appears to be the steep price that Mrs Palin and her producer, the influential British reality show developer Mark Burnett, are asking for the programme. Sarah Palin's Alaska was bought by TLC for around $1m per episode, and they are asking for the same lofty amount this time.

A second major issue is undoubtedly the subject matter. Viewers have already watched one television series about the Palin family's domestic travails, and their enthusiasm for a second is questionable. Although Sarah Palin's Alaska scored a record five million viewers for its first episode, it garnered mixed reviews. For the second episode, the audience dropped to three million. By the time all eight episodes were done, that figure was down to 2.5 million.

The third major factor that seems to give TV buyers pause for thought appears to be a perceived decline in Mrs Palin's cultural relevance. In recent months, everyone from Michele Bachmann to Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich has temporarily sparked the enthusiasm of the Tea Party demographic which represents her core following. As a result, one network executive told the Reporter: "I think it's safe to say her time has passed."

Mrs Palin, 47, also has clouds on the horizon in her career as a rolling news pundit. Her decision to not seek the White House was announced on a talk radio programme. That so angered Roger Ailes, the powerful Fox chief, who believes that his $1m-a-year contract should buy exclusivity on major stories, that he has reportedly considered letting her contract expire in 2013. "I paid her for two years to make this announcement on my network," Mr Ailes told a colleague, according to reports that have not been denied by Fox. Earlier this year, the New Yorker magazine reported that Mr Ailes believes her to be an "idiot" and was not prepared to support her as a potential Republican candidate if she decided to run.

Although she retains a devoted following, Mrs Palin also sparks fierce loathing among opponents. Perhaps as a result, she does not seem to find herself being publicly courted by potential Republican nominees for an official endorsement. This week, Mitt Romney learned the dangers of being officially backed by a headline-prone woman from the party's far right. Christine O'Donnell, a Tea Party favourite once dubbed "Palin-lite", toured TV studios announcing her support, only for Mr Romney's rival Newt Gingrich to take a double digit lead in the polls.

Sarah Palin fails to find buyer for latest TV show

From The Telegraph: Sarah Palin fails to find buyer for latest TV show

The former Republican vice presidential candidate's new proposed foray into reality TV would focus on her husband Todd's career as a champion snowmobile racer.

It would be a follow up to "Sarah Palin's Alaska," an eight-part travelogue which was sold to The Learning Channel (TLC) for more than $1 million an episode and first broadcast in November last year.

That show followed the former Alaska governor and her family around the state, including footage of her shooting a caribou on a hunting trip, going on a deep sea fishing expedition, and visiting a logging camp.

It broke ratings records for a first episode on TLC, drawing more than five million viewers. However, it dropped to three million for the second episode and received mixed reviews, with entertainment industry bible Variety commenting "Boring? You betcha".

Discovery Communications, which owns TLC, has not bought the latest idea for a Palin show. Cable and satellite broadcaster A&E Networks, which bid for the previous series, is also reportedly not interested.

One network insider told the Hollywood Reporter: "I think it's safe to say her time has passed."

Todd Palin, 47, has won Alaska's Iron Dog snowmobile race four times and would be the latest member of the Palin family to feature in a reality television programme. Mrs Palin's daughter Bristol, 21, finished third on "Dancing with the Stars" last year.

Mrs Palin, 47, who was John McCain's running mate in 2008, had become a figurehead for the Tea Party movement and was encouraged by supporters to run for the White House in 2012.

But after keeping the public guessing for months, and conducting a "One Nation" bus tour along the US east coast, she finally ruled herself out in October.

Having confirmed she will not take part, the public focus has since shifted to other potential Republican candidates.

In the last few years she has made millions of dollars from two books and numerous public appearances, and she still has a $1 million a year contract as a contributor to Fox News.

Sarah Palin's absence slidelines tea party

From the Politico: Sarah Palin's absence slidelines tea party
The tea party is still pining for Sarah Palin.

The grassroots conservative movement has yet to throw its support behind a Republican presidential candidate because “we don’t have the female Ronald Reagan running — and that’s Sarah Palin,” said Amy Kremer, chairwoman of the Tea Party Express.

“We haven’t engaged in presidential politics yet because the movement hasn’t coalesced around anybody, so we’re just sitting back and waiting,” Kremer added.

Predicting that a good slice of the country’s conservatives will not make up their minds until they are standing in front of the ballot box, Kremer singled out the former Alaska governor as “the only person out there right now that can truly excite the base.”

“Certainly some candidates bring their own energy and excitement. Michele Bachmann had it early on when she won the [Iowa] straw poll, and then when Perry got in,” she said. “But there’s no one that is electrifying as Sarah Palin.”

Kremer is the leader of one of many tea party groups. But while she is far from being the authoritative voice of the movement, she suggested a sense of ambivalence and frustration is widespread among conservatives.

Earlier this week, tea party darling and former Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell announced her endorsement of Mitt Romney, and on Friday, another tea party favorite, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, also threw her full support behind the ex-Massachusetts governor.

But Kremer said she doesn’t believe Romney and Gingrich will be the last men standing.

“I think it’s possible that Rick Perry could come back. I also think Michele Bachmann could rise back up. I wouldn’t count them out,” she said. “I don’t accept he premise that it will be Romney or Newt. What I [think] back to is Jan. 2010 – everyone said Scott Brown couldn’t win.”

Sarah Palin: Ron Paul ‘Is The One Americans Need To Listen To’ On Domestic Spending

From Mediaite: Sarah Palin: Ron Paul ‘Is The One Americans Need To Listen To’ On Domestic Spending
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin joined Eric Bolling on Fox Business Network’s Follow The Money Wednesday night, and chimed in on several hot-button GOP issues, including the Donald Trump debate and Newt Gingrich‘s rise in the polls. But her most interesting comments came when Bolling got into the weight that her endorsement may carry.

“You know the endorsement that I’m most interested in?” Palin asked. “Ron Paul’s, to tell you the truth.” Palin said she didn’t agree with Paul’s foreign policy, pointing out that he wasn’t even invited to the Republican Jewish Coalition’s summit this week. But she said that he was “absolutely right on” when it comes to his stand on domestic spending issues.

“He’s the one that Americans need to listen to when it comes to dealing in reality about this bankrupt path that we are on,” she said. “So Ron Paul’s endorsement — not saying he won’t get the nomination, but in case he doesn’t — who it is that he chooses to endorse will give us a clear indication of who is on the right path with domestic spending that needs to be addressed. I’m very interested in hearing what Ron Paul thinks at the end of the day.”

As far as the Trump debate on Dec. 27, Palin thinks that candidates skipping it do so at their own peril. Not because she’s necessarily a huge fan of Donald Trump, but because he could bring in an audience that hasn’t been exposed to the stable of GOP candidates yet:

“It’s very important that independents and those who are not obsessed with inside baseball partisan politics — which is most of us — we would like to hear more of the message of each one of these candidates, and perhaps Donald Trump would be able to attract the diverse demographic that maybe has not been as interested in this horse race, this primary process thus far.”

She added Mitt Romney should attend the Trump debate because, “We can’t just be preaching to the choir.”

Sarah Palin endorses Donald Trump’s GOP debate, says Mitt Romney should participate

From NY Daily News: Sarah Palin endorses Donald Trump’s GOP debate, says Mitt Romney should participate
Sarah Palin is not running for President, but she has some pointed advice for those who are seeking the GOP nomination: Don’t fear The Donald.

Palin says Mitt Romney and other GOP candidates should jump at the chance to participate in Trump’s Dec. 27 debate.

So far, only Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have committed to the debate, with Romney telling Fox News earlier this week that he won't do it because he has already agreed to two debates in December.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and Texas Rep. Ron Paul also have declined, with Paul even telling CNN, "I didn't realize [Trump] had the ability to lay on hands and anoint people."

Palin believes the criticism is unfounded, and that the debate will be a great platform for candidates to express their views.

"I think candidates should not be afraid in front of the nation no matter who the host of the debate is," Palin told the Fox Business Network on Wednesday night. "What is a bit appealing about this idea of Trump hosting a debate is, consider the diverse audience that perhaps he can attract."

Romney, behind Gingrich in recent polls, is missing a big opportunity by skipping the Trump debate, Palin says. Donald Trump - and Gingrich - have also questioned Romney for not participating.

"I think Romney could and should still change his mind and Huntsman too and jump in there and participate," Palin told Fox Business News.

Palin, not surprisingly, said she would have participated in the debate if she was running for the White House.

"America needs to wake up to what is going on under Obama's socialist policies and how he will bankrupt the country," she told Fox Business News. "I'm looking at the debate as a positive thing because of that fact."

Palin, who flirted with the idea of running for President, has yet to endorse a candidate. However, she praised Gingrich to Fox, saying he has "been a bit more successful" than Romney in courting party activists.

Don't expect a Sarah Palin 2012 endorsement before Iowa

From the Alaska Dispatch, Palin Watch: Don't expect a Sarah Palin 2012 endorsement before Iowa
Sarah Palin's endorsement is highly coveted by the tea party-aligned candidates for the Republican presidential nomination. After all, few if any Republicans in the country (who aren't running to replace Barack Obama) have the infrastructure of support or ultraconservative bona fides that Alaska's former governor has built up since her 2008 vice-presidential campaign.

Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum all have eyed the big Palin prize. And according to Newsmax, they'll have to keep waiting. Palin told Newsmax this week that Republicans shouldn't expect an endorsement from her before the Iowa caucuses.

She did seem to insinuate, in her way, that Gingrich was looking better to the conservative base, particularly considering his experience working with a Democratic president in the 1990s to balance the federal budget:

(Gingrich) has been engaged in that movement most recently in order for them to hear his solutions and there's been some forgiveness then on the part of Tea Party Patriots for some of the things in Gingrich's past … Romney and others need to reach out and convince tea party patriots and constitutional conservatives that he truly believes in smaller, smarter government.

Palin did offer one endorsement: she encouraged Republican candidates to participate in Donald Trump's upcoming debate. Two of the more moderate GOP candidates -- Romney and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman -- have both said they won't be attending The Donald's show.

For Palin, presidential endorsement could be double-edged sword

From The Hill, Capitol Blog: For Palin, presidential endorsement could be double-edged sword
With Herman Cain out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination, the rush to win his supporters is heating up.

In fact, those supporters — with their Tea Party beliefs and fervor — could be the deciding factor in the race.

No one holds more sway over this group than two candidates who are now out of the race: Cain himself, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) is the early favorite to win Cain’s backing, while Palin’s choice is less clear, but potentially more important.

Cain left the race with a tarnished reputation that could suffer even more damage as new details of sexual allegations trickle in. Palin’s reputation, however, is still sterling to this band of voters. That makes her a huge get for any candidate.

But the Tea Party favorite faces an interesting dilemma: Should she compromise some of her political purity to endorse a front-runner for the nomination, thereby proving her relevance and making a mark on the race? Or, should she stick to her principles and endorse someone with unquestioned conservative credentials but little shot at winning?

It’s a difficult either/or, because both of the two front-runners, Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, have significant skeletons in either their political or personal closets. Meanwhile, the candidates who have, by all accounts, the most conservative records don’t have much of a chance of winning.

On an ideological level, Romney’s record clearly doesn’t square with Palin’s. He helped design and implement a healthcare program much like President Obama’s, and conservatives are wary of his stances on such issues as abortion and gay rights.

Further, Palin has often seemed in a shadow war with Romney. On the same day he announced his presidential bid in New Hampshire, she suddenly showed up in the state, unannounced, sucking up all the press in the process.

And, more recently, during the August debt-ceiling debate, she went on Fox News and gave a sardonic “Bless his heart” for Romney’s relative quiet during the crisis.

“Bless his heart, I have respect for Mitt Romney, but I do not have respect for what he has done through this debt-increase debate,” she began.

Then she put her right index finger into the air, as if testing the wind, and said: “He did this. He waited until it was a done deal.”

Political timidity is not and has never been Palin’s thing.

Further, Romney is undoubtedly the establishment candidate of the cycle, and Palin’s disdain for the establishment has guided many of her endorsement decisions.

In 2010, she endorsed the inexperienced upstart Christine O’Donnell in Delaware’s Republican Senate primary, as well as Kentucky outsider Rand Paul in his state’s primary. Both were high-profile outsiders taking on establishment insiders. That’s how Palin herself came to power, and that’s what she likes to see in candidates.

But Gingrich, the other front-runner, has his score of challenges in wooing Palin. One that’s been rarely reported is his criticism of Palin over the years — something the famously sensitive former governor has shown little patience for when others have done it.

In April 2009 — before Palin had even resigned as governor — Gingrich delivered the kind of condescending, back-handed compliment that’s so enraged Palin’s followers over the years.

Gingrich called her a “celebrity in her own right” and said that “to go from there to becoming a national leader would take a significant amount of work.”

“Is she willing to do the kind of development of national issues and development of a national profile that would be required?” he asked.

And earlier this year, Gingrich took another dig at Palin — in something of a glass-house moment — on ABC.

“I think she’s got to slow down and be more careful and think through what she’s saying and how she’s saying it,” the famously rash Gingrich urged.

Further, Palin would take another risk by endorsing the former Speaker.

Right now, Gingrich is trying to portray himself as a Washington outsider, but with a career in D.C. spanning more than three decades, he’s vulnerable to being portrayed as the ultimate insider.

Not only that, but Gingrich has a messy personal life, and has been married three times. Palin might jeopardize her sparkling social credentials by backing someone who was conducting an illicit sexual affair at the same time he was criticizing then-President Bill Clinton during the latter’s impeachment process.

Yet if Palin chooses to pass on both Romney and Gingrich, some say she could back an ideologically pure candidate such as former Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.).

Last week, she raised eyebrows when she told Fox News’s Sean Hannity: “If voters start kind of shifting gears and deciding they want ideological consistency, then they’re going to start paying attention to, say, Rick Santorum.” She went on to praise his record on abortion, fiscal issues and foreign-policy concerns.

Santorum was so pleased that he sent a letter to supporters, trying to fundraise off Palin’s kind comments.

A Palin endorsement might, no doubt, boost Santorum’s spirit, but it probably wouldn’t be enough to erase a 20 percent to 30 percent deficit in the polls.

In other words, Palin wouldn’t be much of a difference-maker if she endorsed Santorum. She could, however, have a profound effect on the race by backing either Gingrich or Romney.

One indication that Palin might be leaning toward the option of backing a front-runner comes from an interview last week with Fox News.

“I think my personal endorsement probably doesn’t amount to a hill of beans today, at this point in the race,” she said, before slyly adding: “Maybe as the weeks progress, it would become a little bit more significant.”

In other words, she plans on making an impact.

Herman Cain could he become the next Sarah Palin?

From AllVoices.com: Herman Cain could he become the next Sarah Palin?
Now that Republican presidential nominee Herman CainHerman Cain has suspended his bid for the presidency, some are left wondering if he will become a political pundit like Sarah Palin.

As many are aware, Palin was the governor of Alaska when John McCain tapped her to be his vice president running mate in 2008. The pair did not make it to the White House, and Palin returned to her governorship.

In 2009, however, Pain resigned as governor of Alaska citing personal reasons. Since that time she has been a fixture in the news often making headlines (for better or for worse). Palin had been considered a potential candidate for the 2012 presidential election. She, however, dispelled the speculation in October when she announced she would not run for the presidency. This has not silenced her. She has been somewhat of a major voice on the political scene giving comments on the current president and congress. She has even become a political commentary for Fox News.

This brings us back to Cain, who was seen as a light weight running for president. That all changed when he became the front runner, and that became his undoing. He was then opened up for a microscopic vetting which brought up questions regarding his knowledge of world affairs and his relationship with women (just to name a few).

Now making it full circle, with Cain suspending his campaign he can still receive campaign donations. The donations can allow him to create a political action committee, which is something he alluded to during his speech Saturday in Atlanta. A Cain political action committee would allow him to remain in the limelight with his 9-9-9 tax plan and other conservative issues.

Palin Energizes Santorum WH Bid

From NewsMax.com: Palin Energizes Santorum WH Bid
Sarah Palin is using her influence to breathe new life into Rick Santorum's campaign for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

The 2008 vice presidential nominee told Fox News' Sean Hannity, "If voters start kind of shifting gears and deciding they want ideological consistency, then they're going to start paying attention to say, Rick Santorum."

Read more on Newsmax.com: Palin Energizes Santorum WH Bid
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now!

Palin also said about Santorum, "He's been consistent in wanting to protect the most vulnerable and the sanctity of life. He's been consistent in saying we need to slash the federal income tax."

Palin also commented that Santorum is a, "hardliner against Iran to help protect Israel."

She stopped short of saying she is endorsing Santorum.

"My personal endorsement probably doesn't amount to a hill of beans at this point in the race," she told Hannity before quickly adding, "Maybe as the weeks progress it would become a little bit more significant."

Santorum sent a letter to his supporters addressing Palin's supportive comments.

He said he is grateful for her remarks, adding it is clear, "other conservatives are starting to rally around our message of passionate conservatism."

Santorum also pointed out in his letter that he is also getting the backing of an Iowa evangelical leader, Pastor Cary Gordon who according to the former Pennsylvania senator, is texting hundreds of thousands of Iowa voters to get on board the campaign.

Gordon of Cornerstone World Outreach says he supports Santorum because of his positions on marriage and abortion.

Santorum is also getting a big boost from conservative filmmaker and Palin confidant Steve Bannon.

Bannon told RealClearPolitics he will have Santorum as his guest for one hour Sunday night on his KABC radio program.

Says Bannon, "We're going to give an entire hour to have him walk through his argument for why he should be the Republican nominee and specifically about Gov. Palin's comment about how he's the most ideologically consistent candidate and how that compares and contrasts with the others."

RealClearPolitics points out Palin wasn't always a big fan of Santorum.

Back in February, Santorum criticized her decision to not attend the CPAC conference in Washington.

"I wouldn't have turned it down. But I don't live in Alaska, right and I'm not the mother to all these kids, and I don't have other responsibilities like she has," he said at the time.

Palin responded back then, "I will not call him the knuckle-dragging Neanderthal that perhaps others would like to call him. I'll let his wife call him that instead."

Read more on Newsmax.com: Palin Energizes Santorum WH Bid
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now!

Sarah Palin Mum On Endorsement Even as Supporters Hold Out Hope She Will Reconsider

From ABC News: Sarah Palin Mum On Endorsement Even as Supporters Hold Out Hope She Will Reconsider
DES MOINES — Sarah Palin may have been fielding calls from the GOP contenders since she decided not to enter the GOP primary in October, but according to her advisers and those with access to her she is staying mum on who she will get behind.

“She remains tightlipped about whether she will endorse a Republican candidate and if she will, who it will be,” according to an insider with knowledge of the inner workings of SarahPAC. “She has not even informed her close staff about whether she is going to make an endorsement, who it will be, or how it will be made.”

However, another source close to SarahPAC says that it does appear she may be leaning towards Newt Gingrich.

Similar to when she was mulling whether to enter the race herself or not, she is keeping her staff on their toes, and even they don’t know when she will make up her mind.

Another Palin advisor said she is not as much focused on who and when she will endorse one of the GOP contenders as trying to push a message of reforming government.

“I think her principal focus is on crony capitalism and the permanent political class,” the advisor said repeating the phrases Palin uses in her speeches and in a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. “She’s very passionate about this.”

The advisor noted that none of the current crop of GOP candidates are discussing these specific issues: “If you look at the Republican field, no one is picking this up as a topic … They are not addressing this.”

This same focus is what could make an endorsement difficult for Palin. Newt Gingrich was first elected to Congress in 1978 making it hard for him to shake the Washington insider label, and reports the former speaker of the House received millions in consulting fees from Freddie Mac or his health care consultancy could be too much “crony capitalism” for Palin and her loyal supporters.

Other options have similar problems, though. Rick Perry is the longest serving governor, running Texas for the last ten years, which Palin may see as the “permanent political class” she decries. He has also dodged calls that he rewarded supporters with plumb positions in the past. Although, Palin and Perry did have a friendship, and she campaigned with him in his 2010 primary against Kay Bailey Hutchison.

If she goes with Mitt Romney, her conservative supporters may feel as though she is abandoning what they have been fighting for alongside her since she was selected to be John McCain’s running mate in 2008. Herman Cain fits the outsider profile that she would be drawn to, but his recent struggles would make that an unlikely choice.

However, those same Palin supporters which any of the Republican candidates would want just aren’t ready to move on yet – or at least some of them. Despite being just 33 days from the Iowa caucuses, for some of Palin’s most ardent supporters the dream is not dead. On Wednesday in Iowa, Palin’s most passionate backers put up a television ad urging the former Alaska governor to reconsider her decision not to enter the race.

Conservatives4Palin, an online group devoted to defending and promoting Palin, put down $6,500 for an ad buy to run in the Sioux City market on the local ABC station there.

The ad, titled “The Challenge,” shows video of past Palin speeches and closes with text that reads, “Run Sarah Run.”

Ian Lazaran, one of Palin’s most devoted backers who also writes for and helps to run Conservatives4Palin, told ABC News the ad “is all we intend to do at the moment.”

Lazaran is his online handle, not his real name.

He said the group chose Iowa because it is “one of the few early states where she could actually still participate in because there are no deadlines for participating in the Iowa caucuses.” He said Sioux City was chosen because the western part of the state is a more conservative area.

Lazaran says he and her other online supporters understand that Palin reconsidering is a “long shot.” Other states that would be important for Palin to participate in if she would enter the race, like South Carolina and New Hampshire, have already had their qualifying deadline to get on to the ballot passed. Florida’s deadline is actually on the day of the Iowa caucuses, January 3.

However, those deadlines are not stopping them from trying.

“I think every Palin supporter respects her decision, but there has been such a void left in the field because of the changed circumstances since she made that decision,” Lazaran said. “The void in the field is for a conservative outsider and reformer with executive experience and there’s no other candidate that fills that void.”

Lazaran said it’s not just a gesture of support and instead the “point of the ad is to encourage her into getting in the race,” but added they will “support her either way.”

“She fits that profile while the other candidates do not. The conservative candidates don’t have executive experience and the candidates with executive experience aren’t conservative. She’s the only one that combines them both,” Lazaran explained.

Lazaran said they haven’t heard anything from Palin or her staff, but they “hope she will recognize the circumstances have changed.”

Although her most loyal followers may be hanging on to the hope Palin may change her mind, Lazaran said if she does endorse one of the GOP candidates most of her supporters will jump on board.

“I think most of her supporters will get behind who she endorses. I think most of her supporters value her judgment and they will come to the conclusion that she arrived at the correct judgment with respect to who she endorses,” Lazaran said, adding that besides Palin he doesn’t have a preference. “Most [supporters] will be prepared to support who she endorses.”

It would help any of the GOP candidates with the conservative base of the party just weeks before voting begins. It’s never clear how influential endorsements truly are, but Palin has a built-in passionate base that could also work hard for whoever they get behind, especially if they do it in a group.

This is the first ad Conservatives4Palin has put out and Lazaran said there will probably not be more television ads, but the group will continue to promote causes Palin believes in.

Did Sarah Palin mistakenly attribute a quote to John Wooden?

Why in the world does the Los Angeles Times care whether Sarah Palin misattributed a quote to John Wooden? Why even report something like this? Yes - it's from a blog, not a news article...but my goodness what a puff piece.

Especially when, in the body of the piece, the author admits that several people have quoted John Wooden as saying what Palin said he said. So how is it her fault if some source she referenced gave her the wrong info?

Los Angeles Times: Did Sarah Palin mistakenly attribute a quote to John Wooden?

BASKETBALL URBAN LEGEND: Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden once said a notable impassioned quote about the importance of land to Americans.

Besides being a legendary basketball coach, the late, great John Wooden was also an inspirational writer and speaker. He wrote (or co-wrote) over half a dozen books and was an in-demand motivational speaker until his death in 2010. He was a proponent of what he called the Pyramid of Success, which consisted of philosophical building blocks for winning at basketball and at life. Some of the famous maxims that Wooden coined over the years include, "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail" and "Flexibility is the key to stability."

In her 2009 memoir, Going Rogue, former Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin spoke about a time that Coach Wooden's words helped her through a disappointing moment in her life. Palin, who was a basketball player during high school (leading her team to an Alaskan state championship in 1982), has been a sports fan her whole life and even once dreamed of being a sportscaster for ESPN (which is at least partially the reason her daughter's name is Bristol) so it comes as no surprise that she would find comfort in the words of Coach Wooden. In 2002, after his election a Governor of Alaksa, Alaskan Senator Frank Murkowski had to choose his successor in the United States Senate. He put together a list of candidates, including Palin. He interviewed her, but after the interview was over she had the impression that he was not going to be appointing her. On the drive home, she discussed her disappointment with her husband, Todd.

We were disappointed...for about seven seconds. We talked about the way the "ball bounces." We reminded each other how UCLA Coach John Wooden had captured our thoughts in a book we'd read about him. I told Todd, "Coach Wooden said, 'Things work out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.'" We said in unison, "Or something like that!"

Later on in the book, Palin continued to show her appreciation for Wooden's words by making a Wooden quote the epigram for the chapter about her decision to run for Governor of Alaska against Murkowski. The quote reads:

Our land is everything...I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember that our grandfathers paid for it - with their lives.

It's a powerful quote. But did Wooden actually say it?

No, he did not. The quote has been attributed to Wooden by many different writers over the years, so Palin is certainly far from the only person to think that Wooden said it. Again, this is a man who is known for his quotes. There is a whole book called just Quotable Wooden. So when you become that famous for your quotes, people tend to both A. attribute quotes to you that you didn't say and B. accept that you said everything that is attributed to you. In this instance, however, it was more than just simply a case of someone saying, "Hey, this sounds like something John Wooden would say, I guess he must have said it" (which happens all the time with people like Mark Twain and Yogi Berra), but rather a case of confusion over the identity of the real originator of the quote, whose name is extremely similar to John Wooden. In fact, it is John Wooden...with a little bit added on at the end.

The quote is from John Woodenlegs (1909-1981), a member of the Northern Cheyenne tribe, who he served as tribal president from 1955 to 1968. A grandson of Wooden Leg, who fought against General George A. Custer’s troops at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876, Woodenleg was an activist for Native American rights. The entire quote is quite interesting:

Our land is everything to us. It is the only place in the world where Cheyennes talk the Cheyenne language to each other. It is the only place where Cheyennes remember the same things together. I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember our grandfathers paid for it--with their life. My people and the Sioux defeated General Custer at the Little Big Horn.

So no, not something that Coach Wooden would ever say, I don't believe.

So this one is...

STATUS: False.

Thanks to Geoffrey Dunn of the Huffington Post for catching the quote mistake.

Palin fans urge her to get into 2012 race

From Yahoo News: Palin fans urge her to get into 2012 race
CHICAGO — Fans of conservative darling Sarah Palin urged the former Alaska governor to jump into the race for the White House Wednesday, running a small ad on a local station in the key electoral state of Iowa.

The ad comes as the Republican field remains unsettled just over a month before the Iowa caucuses, the first nominating event to pick a candidate to challenge Democrat President Barack Obama in the November 2012 elections.

Palin rocketed onto the national stage after being tapped as Republican presidential hopeful John McCain's running mate in 2008.

She has long flirted with a potential White House bid, but has missed the filing date to get onto the ballot in several early-nominating states.

Supporters at Conservatives 4 Palin are hoping that won't stop her from tossing her hat into the ring, despite her October 5 announcement that she will be "more effective" on the sidelines.

The ad, dubbed "The Challenge," ends with a crowd chanting "Run Sarah Run" after Palin speaks of the need for "sudden and relentless reform" to "return power to we the people."

It will run this week in Sioux City, Iowa at a cost of $6,500 the group said.

Sarah Palin: Hang Penn State's 'perverted former assistant coach'

I'm on the side of Sarah Palin with this one.

While it has been proven that many men have been put in jail unjustly over the last several decades, when a case is a "slam dunk" like this one, there is no room for doubt. DNA testing isn't going to prove Sandusky innocent.

And if there is no doubt, why should he get to live in prison for the rest of his life? Costing us millions of dollars? Because if I recall correctly, child molesters don't do well in prison, so they'd stick him in isolation or something, which costs even more...

I say euthanize him now.

From the Los Angeles Times: Sarah Palin: Hang Penn State's 'perverted former assistant coach'

Sarah Palin didn't mince words about her feelings toward Jerry Sandusky, Penn State's "perverted former assistant coach."

Palin, frequently outspoken, didn't stray from that tendency when speaking emotionally on the Penn State child-sex-abuse scandal with Sandusky at its center. The former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate was interviewed by Greta van Susteren on Tuesday night on Fox News' "On the Record."

“It’s not the players’ fault that they have a perverted former assistant coach ..." she said.

PHOTOS: Penn State sex-abuse scandal

Sandusky has been charged with abusing eight boys over a 15-year period. He denies the charges, but the scandal has forced the ouster of the university's president and legendary football coach Joe Paterno, among others.

Palin continued: “As for the perp and perps that allowed the sinfulness to go on as they had allowed in the past, you know, I say about this assistant coach Sandusky: Hang him from the highest tree. I’ll bring the rope.”

When Van Susteren reminded Palin about the need to be found guilty in a court of law before being punished, Palin toned it down to say she would "bring the rope if he is guilty of what has been alleged."

“If he abused these young children and ruined their lives, unless they get a lot of help, Greta, in order to deal with the victimization that they are now suffering from, he needs to be punished to the fullest extent of the law if he is truly guilty.”

Palin's words caused a stir on Twitter on Wednesday morning with both sides represented -- "HANGINGS 2 GOOD 4 HIM!" and "I agree" as well as "She's a lyncher" and "Must insert herself."

Sarah Palin calls for Eric Holder's ouster

From USA Today, On Politics: Sarah Palin calls for Eric Holder's ouster
Sarah Palin says Attorney General Eric Holder should be fired over the flawed weapons-trafficking investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious.

The former GOP vice presidential nominee lashed out at Holder in a post on Facebook and joined Republicans such as Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar in seeking Holder's immediate resignation.

BLOG: Parents lash out

If Holder refuses to resign, Palin writes, "then President Obama – with whom the bucks ultimately stop – can prove that he respects honesty, transparency, and accountability in his administration by firing Holder."

Holder "expressed regret" this week to the family of slain border agent Brian Terry, who was killed in Arizona last year. Two weapons tied to the weapons investigation were recovered from the scene where Terry was killed. Holder said he wants to know why and how weapons that were under surveillance got into the hands of Mexican drug cartel members.

Obama said last month he has "complete confidence" in Holder.

Sarah Palin seeks to influence outcome of Kentucky election

From the State Column: Sarah Palin seeks to influence outcome of Kentucky election


Former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin announced her endorsement of Kentucky Republican attorney general candidate Todd P’Pool — the latest attempt by the Alaska Republican to remain a political force within the Republican Party.

On her Facebook page, Ms. Palin calls Mr. P’Pool “a new conservative leader for Kentucky” and hails him as someone ready to “take on entrenched special interests.”


The Alaska Republican announced earlier this year that she would not seek the Republican presidential nomination. Ms. Palin said she expects to remain an influential force within the 2012 race.

“After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking 2012 GOP nomination for president of the United states. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision.,” Ms. Palin said at the time.

In her statement, Ms. Palin said, “It’s not about me, it’s about all of us who are trying to wake up America.”

The Kentucky election for attorney general remains one of the most closely watched elections in the nation. Kentucky governor Steve Beshear is predicting he will coast to re-election over two rivals Tuesday, confident of becoming the second Democrat elected to statewide office. Mr. Beshear is likely to gain re-election despite high unemployment, budget shortfalls and an onslaught of third-party attack ads.

Nicolle Wallace throws open White House doors

From Los Angeles Times: Nicolle Wallace throws open White House doors

By Robin Abcarian, Los Angeles Times

November 7, 2011
A few years ago, after a successful career in the White House communications shop and a much less felicitous turn as one of Sarah Palin's handlers during the 2008 presidential campaign, Nicolle Wallace got the ridiculously overconfident idea that she could write a novel that exposed the inner workings of the White House the way "The Devil Wears Prada" peeled back the perfect facade of Anna Wintour's Vogue.

"What was so thrilling about that book was being transported into this otherwise opaque world of high fashion," said Wallace, 37, who studied journalism in graduate school at Northwestern but did not write professionally until a few years ago.

Unlike "The West Wing," Aaron Sorkin's vision of a loud, bustling place where important people ran around spewing epithets, Wallace knew the White House to be "as quiet as a museum," as she put it. Her White House, where she worked for six years, was a place that even after the attacks of 9/11 — as the vice president debated whether to order the downing of a U.S. passenger jet — housekeepers went on vacuuming.

"There are probably many, many people who are better writers than me," said Wallace, "but I knew I could set a novel in that real place and make it more real than anybody else."

This, at any rate, was what she was thinking when, during a post-election interview with Marie Claire magazine, she blurted out that she was working on a novel.

The New York Post's Page Six ran a little item. Sloan Harris, an agent at ICM, saw it and emailed Wallace.

"Said novel was a 10-page Word document," a very pregnant Wallace said over lunch last month at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. She scrambled to write some chapters.

"Eighteen Acres," released last year, made several bestseller lists. Wallace's second novel, "It's Classified" (Atria Books, $25), is now out, and she has signed a contract for a third. The first book explored the struggles of a female president, the second the issue of mental illness in the White House. The third will take place in the White House on the day of a terrorist attack.

The novels, set on the 18-acre White House grounds, feature a mature and grounded Republican president, Charlotte Taylor, modeled on Hillary Rodham Clinton, complete with a charming, philandering husband (a sports agent, not an ex-president), a female chief of staff who later becomes secretary of Defense, and a TV reporter conflicted about love and work who falls for the president's husband and later becomes press secretary to an unbalanced but charismatic vice president.

The vice president is named Tara Meyers, and if her name sounds like "Sarah," it was meant to. Wallace modeled the character on Sarah Palin, with whom Wallace had a brief, intense and unhappy professional relationship after Sen. John McCain chose her as his running mate in 2008.

Wallace was assigned to help prepare Palin for national interviews, including her famously disastrous encounter with Katie Couric. In Palin's memoir, "Going Rogue," Palin blamed Wallace for her on-camera meltdown.

Wallace's Tara has a gift for connecting with voters. But Tara is hiding a dark secret.

Beset for years by a crippling depression shared only with her husband, Tara crumbles under the pressure of her job. She eats compulsively, constantly calls in sick (who knew the vice president could call in sick?) and is managed by her overbearing, co-dependent spouse.

The novel opens with Tara resigning, as a special prosecutor launches an investigation to learn what the president knew, and when, about her running mate's instability.

In a positive review, the Washington Post called "It's Classified" "flawed but fascinating."

Wallace, who lives with her husband, Mark, on New York's Upper East Side, insisted she is not suggesting that Palin suffered from mental illness.

"I have no capacity to diagnose anybody with a headache, let alone mental illness," but she also said that during the '08 campaign she had conversations with people she would not identify about whether it might be possible to prevent Palin from being sworn in if McCain won. That dramatic assertion has been publicly disputed by at least one high-ranking McCain official, but Wallace said the issue was quickly dropped when it became apparent in the early fall that Barack Obama was going to win.

"I observed behaviors that I found alarming," said Wallace. "I worked in the White House on 9/11 where the vice president was given the authority to, if he deemed necessary, shoot down an American passenger jet. I wasn't sure that that burden would be one she could carry."

Palin's behind-the-scenes moods concerned many on the campaign staff — and those incidents have been well chronicled, notably by journalists Mark Halperin and John Heilemann in "Game Change," coming soon to HBO starring Julianne Moore as Palin.

"I didn't have a special secret about Sarah Palin," said Wallace. "I just had a feeling and some concerns. Her blank stares and her lashing out in some interviews, I think, gave voters pause about her too."

Through Tara, Wallace also explores a poignant aspect of the McCain-Palin relationship — a mutual feeling that each had let the other down; McCain by plunging an unprepared neophyte into an unforgiving spotlight, and Palin by bringing ridicule to the campaign when she seemed inarticulate and ill prepared in interviews.

"She was devastated every time she felt like she screwed up," said Wallace. "The affection between the two of them was real, it endures, and I think each felt pain for the trouble they caused the other."

Wallace, who grew up in Orinda in the Bay Area and graduated from UC Berkeley, swears, despite regular appearances on political TV talk shows as a GOP defender, that she is done with politics.

"I said day after day Sarah Palin was ready and prepared to be the country's vice president," Wallace said with regret. "A life in politics is for people who know themselves and know where their own line is between loyalty and honesty. I figured out where that line was in hindsight. I just didn't want to be a spinner anymore."

Sarah Palin, Howard Dean weigh in on Ky. race

USA Today On Politics: Sarah Palin, Howard Dean weigh in on Ky. race
Kentucky voters go to the polls tomorrow in what has been a little-noticed election outside the state. But Sarah Palin and Howard Dean are out to change all that.

Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, recently endorsed Republican Todd P'Pool in his bid to be Kentucky attorney general. Dean, the former Democratic National Committee chairman and presidential candidate, is behind Jack Conway, who wants a second term in the job.

On her Facebook page, Palin calls P'Pool "a new conservative leader for Kentucky" and hails him as someone ready to "take on entrenched special interests."

Dean, who ran for president in 2004, blasted P'Pool in an e-mail last week for a "smear campaign" against Conway, according to Insight Cable News.

P'Pool accused Conway of covering up a drug investigation into his brother. Conway responded with his own ad saying he told his brother, Matt, to "take responsibility" for his actions.

The marquee race in Kentucky, by the way, is for governor. Democratic incumbent Steve Beshear is expected to easily defeat Republican David Williams. Beshear has a commanding 25-percentage point lead over Williams, according to a recent poll by the Louisville Courier-Journal and WHAS-TV.

Sarah Palin: What's She up to?

From International Business Times: Sarah Palin: What's She up to?
Sarah Palin ended seemingly insatiable speculation earlier this month when she announced she would not, in fact run for President. What's she been up to since then?

Not a whole lot, at least not publicly.

Palin has appeared at two events for the Extraordinary Women's Conference, a Christian's women's gathering--one in Lynchburg, VA on October 7-8 and one in Tupelo, MS on October 21-22.

In Tupelo, Palin alternatively discussed the personal and the political, after starting her speech off with a reference to both Elvis Presley and the "blue suede shoes" her daughet Bristol got while she was a contestant on the reality show "Dancing With The Stars," according to local TV station WTVA News.

"Everyone has challenges. Nobody's road is easy. Everyone in your relationships, in your workplace, in your churches, in your neighborhoods, maybe within your own family, a health battle, maybe a battle trying to keep your home. Maybe somebody in your family [is] trying to keep a job," Palin said, according to WTVA. "Everybody is going through battles; mine just happen to get exaggerated or just downright made up, and their splashed across a tabloid or [television show]."

On the political end, Palin said that even though American's had faith in God, they should be proactive in the direction the country goes.

"I do not believe that we shall fulfill our destiny as a nation that puts its trust in God if we just sit back and watch some fundamental transformation of our country. Turning it into something that is good and just and right and free in America [should be the focus]," Palin said according to WTVA.

Other than her appearance in Tupelo. Palin has weighed in on the Republican race she opted out of.

After the CNN debate in Nevada, Palin appeared on Fox News and declared former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich to be the winner.

"I think we [Republicans] are more interested in substance and that's why like tonight Newt Gingrich again I think did the best because he seems to be above a lot of the bickering that goes on," Palin told Susteren, according to ABC News. "I don't know if he's going to be the one that surfaces as the fortunate candidate who gets to face Barack Obama because unfortunately, in this day and age, sometimes conventional wisdom would dictate that he who has the most money, the campaign dollars, wins. I don't want to believe that this is going to be the case this go-around."

More recently, Palin has been in the news for something she had nothing to do with--comedian Orlando Jones joking on Twitter last week that liberals needed to kill her.

Orlando Jones slammed for tweets calling on liberals to 'kill Sarah Palin'

From 3 days ago, Fox News:

Orlando Jones slammed for tweets calling on liberals to 'kill Sarah Palin'

Celebrities have been known to post tasteless tweets on Twitter, but critics are slamming comedian Orlando Jones for crossing the line when he tweeted that liberals should “Kill Sarah Palin.”

Following the death of Muammar Qaddafi, the MADtv star tweeted, “Libyan Rebels kill Gaddafi, if American liberals want respect they better stop listening to Aretha & kill Sarah Palin (:”

Despite his addition of a smiley face emoticon, the Twitter community did not react well to Orlando’s post.


“Why does @TheOrlandoJones think it’s funny to call for Sarah Palin to be murdered? #palin #liberaltolerance” said one tweet.

Jones shot back, “No I don’t. I think it’s funny you are so upset about my inane tweet.”

After receiving widespread criticism for his hateful tweet, the comedian spent the better part of Tuesday attempting to defend himself.

“My tweet was farcical not funny or a call to action. 100 bucks 2 the 1st person who can count the # of Palin jokes about killing Democrats(:,” Jones tweeted.

One person tweeted in response, “@theorlandojones why would you say to kill Sarah Palin then? Who does that? It’s inciting to others..”

Jones tweeted back, “Inciting? I agree to disagree. As positive comments do little to incite good. Those perceived as negative do just as much(:”

Finally, after dozens of tweets, Jones decided that 140 characters weren’t enough to properly articulate himself and posted the following statement to his Facebook account: “My job as an artist is to hold up a mirror to society. I do not decide how people feel or react to that. My tweet hit a nerve. That’s good. The fact that is has taken precedent over the serious issues that face us is not good. That’s media outlets vying for attention and ad dollars.

“Was it my best line? No. It would be great if those individuals who are genuinely outraged redirected that energy toward the greater good. Any anger directed at me and my right to free speech is an absolute waste of time. I am not a statesman. My comments reflect no political affiliation. It’s just me being me, in a world that will never comfortably mix political correctness with artistic expression. For that, I offer no apologies, excuses or wisdom.”

Early this morning, Jones remained defiant, tweeting, “Its tempting&more comfortable 2 keep your head down, plod along, appease those who demand: ‘Sit down&shut up, that’s a quitter’s way out.”

It Has Been One Month Since Sarah Palin Called Herman Cain "The Flavor of the Week"

From Slate: It Has Been One Month Since Sarah Palin Called Herman Cain "The Flavor of the Week"

It was late in Fox News's prime time on September 27 that she told Greta Van Susteren this:

Take Herman Cain. He’s doing so well right now. I guess you could say, with all due respect, he’s the flavor of the week.
Since then we've had two presidential debates, and Cain's survived them. When Palin made her comment, Cain was at 5.5 percent in the RealClearPolitics national poll average. The next day, a Fox News poll would peg him at 17 percent; right now, he's at 25 percent in the polling average.


Palin's lack of faith was amusing, but not uncommon. John Dickerson writes today on why Cain's surge isn't going to fade so fast. (One reason I'd add here is that Cain already had a boomlet, back in May, and he's experiencing his second boost.)




Perhaps the thickest part of the cushion for Cain is that his conservative voters don't have anywhere else to go. Michele Bachmann was eclipsed by Perry. That isn't going to happen to Cain. There aren't any eclipsing figures left. Gingrich is having a slight burble of resurgence but he's unlikely to become the new flavor; one of the qualities of being a flavor of the month is that people don't know much about you. Gingrich, for better or worse, is the best known of the bunch. Perry has a long uphill slog to regain what Cain took from him, which will be hard to do in part because Cain is more appealing to voters.
How do we know that Cain is more appealing? Gallup's polling on affinity for candidates found that Cain, consistently, had the broadest appeal to Republicans. Dan Balz locked that CW in amber this week with this story about a focus group that was extremely warm on Cain and saw Perry as a bully. A lot of that is just native to the two men -- Cain is possibly the most good-natured national candidate I've ever seen -- but part of it is related to how they've handled the issues that annoyed their bases. When Perry was challenged on immigration, he said that anyone who opposed his college tutition plan "didn't have a heart." We didn't even get to discuss the merits of the plan, just the fact of Perry's disregard for critics. Cain's big gaffe this month was a mushy abortion answer to Piers Morgan, which he immediately tried to apologize for and clean up. It did some damage, but not Perry-level damage.

Sarah Palin to speak at RPOF Nov. 3 “victory dinner” fundraiser

From the Orlando Sentinel: Sarah Palin to speak at RPOF Nov. 3 “victory dinner” fundraiser

Republican superstar speaker Sarah Palin will be the headliner at the Republican Party of Florida’s Nov. 3 “victory dinner” fundraiser at the Disney Grand Floridian Resort in Orlando.

Palin, the former Alaska governor who ran for vice president in 2008, has been best known this year for not running for president and yet still drawing at least as much attention as the nine announced candidates.

“This gala dinner comes just a year before one of the most important elections in Florida and the nation’s history,” RPOF Chairman Lenny Curry stated in a press release issued by the party. “Having a Republican leader of Governor Palin’s stature and importance is yet again proof of the crucial role Florida will play as the year unfolds. We are so grateful that Governor Palin has accepted our invitation.”

Added Florida Governor Rick Scott: “Governor Palin’s participation in our Victory Dinner next month will help to ensure that we have the resources necessary to take back the White House.”

Palin endorses Ron Paul's position on international militarism

From Digital Journal: Palin endorses Ron Paul's position on international militarism

In the wake of the killing of Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi, the anti-militarism sentiments of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul appear to be gaining ground with the GOP establishment, as Sarah Palin openly backed Paul's position.
The controversial killing of Libya's Colonel Gaddafi has brought with it a wave of international scorn and scrutiny at the United Nations and has bred further distrust of Western governments among some strategically important nations.
In the United States, many in the Republican Party are heaping blame squarely on the doorstep of the Obama White House.

For his part, President Obama used Gaddafi's murder as a hawkish platform to warn other authoritarian governments that their model of governing "inevitably comes to an end," as Reuters reported on Thursday.

President Obama's militaristic warning stands in stark contrast to the long-held desire of Libertarian-leaning Republican presidential candidate Congressman Ron Paul to dial back the over-stretched and under-funded American empire. Paul's position has largely been rejected by mainstream Republicans, as it flies in the face of the GOP's view that a strong America is built on an interventionist and militaristic foreign policy.

However, as Paul's Libertarian ideas have been gaining ground among the Republican Party, particularly with the advent of the Tea Party movement, certain voices among the GOP now appear to be welcoming Paul's staunch criticisms of a cavalier and war-mongering White House. In an appearance on Fox News, Sarah Palin openly endorsed Ron Paul's position.

“You’ve got to give it to Ron Paul," Palin said. "Whether you agree with everything he says or not, at least he is one there in Congress trying to make our President stick to the law and understand that Congress does have a role to play in these foreign policy decisions that are made and Ron Paul, I think hit the nail on the head, when he came out and said Obama had better be careful when he interjects himself and our country in other nations’ business.”

Ron Paul's campaign quickly agreed with Palin's points, highlighting Paul's position in further detail.

"Mrs. Palin was seconding Paul’s criticism of President Obama’s decision to intervene in Libya, but I would add that unless the rest of the Republican presidential field also begins to become more selective about U.S. interventions, it will remain politically and mathematically impossible to actually reduce our debt in any serious manner," Jack Hunter stated on the Ron Paul campaign web site. "Our annual deficit is $1.5 trillion. Our total so-called national security spending is $1.2 trillion."

Mendte - Maybe Sarah Palin Was Right About Death Panels

From KPLR 11 St. Louis (in the Entertainment section!): Mendte - Maybe Sarah Palin Was Right About Death Panels
(KPLR)— I want to introduce you to Helen Wagner. She is 91-years-old and still going strong. Or at least she was until she fell after suffering a stroke and broke her arm. Helen is the mother of my sister-in-law Peggy and she and my brother Bob rushed Helen to the emergency room. Her doctor met them there and ordered a series of tests.

The next day the hospital called and told my sister in law to come pick up her mother. She was stunned and asked, "Well what did the test find?" She was told there were no tests done and that Helen wasn't even admitted to the hospital she was just held for observation

My brother, sister in law, and doctor threw a fit and the hospital said they would sort things out. They kept her another night for observation and performed none of the doctor ordered tests. they told the family that they would transport her to a nursing care facility if someone didn't pick her up immediately.

My sister in law and brother pushed the issue until they got a meeting with hospital administration who said 'we are embarrassed by this' but that under a new medicare crackdown they weren't allowed to admit her.

You see if a patient is admitted, Medicare then has to pay more for rehab. Even more if the patient is there for three days.

An advocate for the elderly who got involved in the case then said something chilling. Medicare may have seen she was 91 and made the decision not to pay.

If that's true, then the government overruled a personal physician to save money because Helen was too old.

When I heard the story I couldn't help but think about the death panels that Sarah Palin warned about on her facebook page. She was ridiculed for that claim during the State Of The Union the president called her out.

Now after hearing Helen's story I couldn't help thinking, maybe Sarah Palin was right.

Sarah Palin: Newt Gingrich Would 'Clobber' Obama In Debates, GOP Candidates Like 'Bickering' Children

From HuffPoPolitics: Sarah Palin: Newt Gingrich Would 'Clobber' Obama In Debates, GOP Candidates Like 'Bickering' Children

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich performed best in Tuesday night's Republican debate in Las Vegas and compared the other candidates to "bickering" children.

"I think we are more interested in substance. And that's why, like, tonight Newt Gingrich again I think did the best because he seems to be above a lot of the bickering that goes on," she said to Fox News' Greta Van Susteren on "On The Record," following the debate Tuesday night. She added that the former House speaker would "clobber" President Barack Obama in an debate.

She also praised Herman Cain for being more specific about his 999 plan. "Herman Cain, thankfully, although a lot of people are criticizing his plan, he does have some specifics that he laid out. And that was appreciated. That's what I was looking for. Didn't get a lot of that."

The former Alaska governor, who declined to run for president in 2012, also praised Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) for her straightforwardness. "It's refreshing to hear somebody candid and blunt like Michelle Obama -- or Michele Bachmann -- I'm sorry -- tonight. She came right out and she said, no, she would not cut foreign aid to Israel because they are such a strong ally."

Palin did not always like the tone of the debate. "So when the debate started, a couple minutes into the debate, my kids started walking through the door after school and after play dates, and they're kind of griping and bickering amongst each other, then the debate in my other ear, the candidates are up there bickering and fighting amongst each other. And I honestly for a minute or two there didn't know which group I be listening to and which group was making more sense," she said. "Thankfully, the candidates kind of calmed down and started talking more about detailing the things that -- serious -- an electorate that is very serious in these serious times needs to hear."

She attacked Texas Gov. Rick Perry for signing a bill allowing undocumented immigrants who are Texas residents to pay in-state tuition rates. She called his attack on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for once employing -- and subsequently firing after two Boston Globe stories -- a lawn care company who hired undocumented immigrants, "a little bit of a cheap shot."

Palin said the debates are "still so valuable" and again bemoaned that Obama did not have a primary challenger.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich performed best in Tuesday night's Republican debate in Las Vegas and compared the other candidates to "bickering" children.

"I think we are more interested in substance. And that's why, like, tonight Newt Gingrich again I think did the best because he seems to be above a lot of the bickering that goes on," she said to Fox News' Greta Van Susteren on "On The Record," following the debate Tuesday night. She added that the former House speaker would "clobber" President Barack Obama in an debate.

She also praised Herman Cain for being more specific about his 999 plan. "Herman Cain, thankfully, although a lot of people are criticizing his plan, he does have some specifics that he laid out. And that was appreciated. That's what I was looking for. Didn't get a lot of that."

The former Alaska governor, who declined to run for president in 2012, also praised Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) for her straightforwardness. "It's refreshing to hear somebody candid and blunt like Michelle Obama -- or Michele Bachmann -- I'm sorry -- tonight. She came right out and she said, no, she would not cut foreign aid to Israel because they are such a strong ally."

Palin did not always like the tone of the debate. "So when the debate started, a couple minutes into the debate, my kids started walking through the door after school and after play dates, and they're kind of griping and bickering amongst each other, then the debate in my other ear, the candidates are up there bickering and fighting amongst each other. And I honestly for a minute or two there didn't know which group I be listening to and which group was making more sense," she said. "Thankfully, the candidates kind of calmed down and started talking more about detailing the things that -- serious -- an electorate that is very serious in these serious times needs to hear."

She attacked Texas Gov. Rick Perry for signing a bill allowing undocumented immigrants who are Texas residents to pay in-state tuition rates. She called his attack on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for once employing -- and subsequently firing after two Boston Globe stories -- a lawn care company who hired undocumented immigrants, "a little bit of a cheap shot."

Palin said the debates are "still so valuable" and again bemoaned that Obama did not have a primary challenger.

However, she said the candidates were evasive: "It amazes me that the candidates so often get to escape actually answering the question. They get to spin and pivot and go off onto their sound bites that they want in the 10 seconds that they have to make a point," she said. As vice presidential candidate in 2008, Palin beat expectations in her one debate but performed poorly in several interviews.

"I think the hosts need to kind of dig a little bit more and come back to that candidate and say, No, that's not what I asked you. Here's what I asked you. Please answer it," she said.

Palin Plays Simon Says

From the National Review: Palin Plays Simon Says

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin recently said something both profound and essential. As she was nearing her decision not to launch a presidential campaign — appearing to discern what role she could best play in national affairs, and perhaps preparing to let her most ardent supporters down easy — she asked Fox News host Greta Van Susteren, “Is a title worth it? Does a title shackle a person?” She continued: “Does a title take away my freedom to call it like I see it and to affect positive change that we need in this country? That’s the biggest contemplation piece in my process.”

Such questions could be interpreted as indicative of a dismaying attitude toward public service. But they may also demonstrate an admirable self-awareness, and a keen appreciation of the different ways one might play a role in public life.

We all have our roles. There are expressly political roles; there are roles that are a mix of political rallying, education, and entertainment; there is purse service — donation and stewardship. Some are more focused on using creative talent, and some seek full-on cultural engagement. And we are not all destined for C-SPAN or ABC, for a podium, or for the silver screen. But all of us have a call — a desire that we may recognize as having been put in our heart as a gift, as a mission.

Just ask Bill Simon.

A funny thing happened when I was on the phone with him this summer. In the heat of the debt-ceiling debate, I had called to ask him about the debate, about how Washington was handling things. Simon was polite, sharing his opinion, sharing his concern for the need for fundamental reform. But it was impossible not to notice that, while he was happy to help a writer in need, he had much more important things on his mind, things of a much more fundamental and enduring nature.

Simon is known as a successful businessman, a philanthropist, briefly a politician (he ran for governor of California in 2002), and the son of a former U.S. Treasury secretary. He was raised in a big Catholic family but had subsequently fallen away. He writes in his new book, Living the Call: An Introduction to the Lay Vocation (coauthored with Michael Novak), that he had had fleeting moments of piety, as he “yearned for greater spiritual engagement, but that feeling would usually disappear amid the busyness of life.”

Then, he explains, “about a dozen years ago, with some significant professional and material success under my belt, I began to feel that something was missing, that maybe these things in my life — my family, my faith, and my career — shouldn’t be separate. And maybe the balance among the three wasn’t quite right.”

And so, as he is happy to tell you, he started to pray. He started to encounter the richness of his Catholic faith. He started to read St. Francis de Sales, for the first time. “The Catholic Church has had 2,000 years of thinkers and traditions that are every bit as relevant today as they ever were,” he tells me — something that, about a dozen years ago, “a cradle Catholic was discovering for the first time.”

He is now 59, and he now realizes that there is a role in his Church for the laity, that God calls us all to play a role in our families, in our places of business, in our communities.

“I don’t feel like I should devote the bulk of the rest of my life to getting a greater return on my financial investments,” he says. “I want to make a positive difference in people’s lives. I have found a calling.” He is utterly convinced that his work now is to get people to focus on eternal business. The book he has written isn’t about his story — it’s about the various ways in which lay people that you may pass on the street today live out what they believe. We won’t all go to Calcutta, but there are real opportunities to serve our brothers and sisters all around us, doing small things with great love close to home, and answering more sweeping calls.

There is a sense out there that we have lost focus. In their own ways, both the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movement are expressions of this concern, one that goes beyond mere policy. What needs to occupy our minds and our souls is what Simon wishes he had known all along: that we all have our roles — in church, in the culture, and in our homes as much as in politics. And our roles need to be rooted in and headed toward something beyond the next business deal or the next election. Real moral courage and leadership runs deep, inspired by something beyond ourselves.

Simon now talks enthusiastically about The Imitation of Christ, a treasure trove of practical spiritual pointers, and a book he wishes he had known about much earlier. Bill Simon now has a very different role from any he had previously played or sought. He is not shackled by titles. He is responding to a call, and nourished by the wisdom of the ages. It’s beyond the headlines, with the power to make new ones.

Palin pulls a Palin

From the Los Angeles Times: Palin pulls a Palin
By Donald Craig Mitchell

October 9, 2011

After three years of tweeting, hinting and eyelash-batting, on Wednesday Sarah Palin announced that she was not running for president. Her Facebook friends are disappointed. But for Sarah-watchers in Alaska like me, the announcement was long expected, old news.

In 2008, John McCain dumbfounded the nation when he selected Palin as his running mate. She was so obviously unqualified that even Dick Cheney said McCain had made a "reckless" choice; a judgment Palin quickly validated when she famously told Charles Gibson that she was qualified to speak authoritatively about foreign policy because the Eskimos who live on Little Diomede Island in the Alaskan Arctic can see Russia out their front windows.

John McCain is as astute a politician as Dick Cheney is. So why did he select Palin as his running mate? Because as Alaskans knew and the nation soon would learn, Palin, who is as telegenic as Jennifer Aniston, has rock star charisma.

Today, people forget how close McCain's what-do-I-have-to-lose attempt to revive his flagging presidential campaign came to working. Putting Palin on the ticket instantaneously energized the God and gun base of the Republican Party that McCain had failed to rouse. We'll never know for sure, but if the economy had not imploded four weeks before the election, that might have been enough. Think about it. But for Lady Luck, quirky doxy that she is, Palin — who in a recent television appearance on Fox News seemingly confused Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain with long-dead San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen — might have been a septuagenarian's heartbeat away from the presidency.

The evening after the evening Palin hit her Republican convention acceptance speech out of the park, a friend who is a high-ranking Democratic officeholder in Washington called me in Alaska to ask what he should pass along to Barack Obama about what Obama now had on his hands to deal with.

I said three things. First, that Palin's persona, the hockey mom who wowed the convention delegates, was as contrived as Stephen Colbert's. Second, that from the Wasilla City Council to the governor's mansion, at every stop up the line Palin's political opponents had underestimated her ambition and her ruthlessness. And third, that Alaska is geographically expansive, but politically it's a small town. For that reason, during the upcoming general election campaign Palin would be out of her league.

With respect to my third point, that is how Palin's performance on the campaign trail played out. By the week before the election, according to a New York Times poll, 59% of voters agreed with Cheney that she was not qualified to be vice president.

But that meant 41% thought she was qualified. Today most of those voters are either tea party independents or members of the hard-right base of the Republican Party. Since the 2008 election Palin has tried to keep those voters hoping that in 2012 she would run for president. But as any Sarah-watcher in Alaska could have told them, they were being played. It was a bait-and-switch marketing ploy. Running for president was never Palin's objective.

After the 2008 election Palin returned to her day job as Alaska's governor. In January 2009, in her annual state of the state speech, Gov. Palin reassured Alaskans that "when I took my oath of office to serve as your governor, I swore to steadfastly and doggedly guard the interests of this great state like a grizzly with cubs, as a mother naturally guards her own." Then, six months later at a news conference on the lawn behind her house in Wasilla, Mother Grizzly announced she was abandoning her cubs by quitting. Palin's explanation that day of why she no longer wanted to be governor was incomprehensible. Something about not wanting the state she loved to have a lame-duck chief executive, which, until she quit, it didn't have.

So why did Palin really quit? Levi Johnston, the Wasilla homeboy impregnator of Bristol Palin, who thanks to her appearance on "Dancing with the Stars" is now almost as famous for being famous as Paris Hilton is, lived for a while with the Palins after the 2008 election. In his book, Johnston remembered what he thought after Palin's news conference: "I wasn't surprised. I hate this job, she used to say. I could be making money instead."

Johnston's recollection has the ring of verisimilitude because two months before she quit, uber-agent Robert Barnett negotiated a deal for Palin's ghostwritten hagiography that may have been worth as much as $11 million. Then as soon as she quit, Palin signed with the Washington Speakers Bureau, which quickly got her more than $100,000 for a 90-minute speech. Four months later she signed a seven-figure contract to be a commentator on Fox News. And two months after that, she signed another seven-figure contract with Mark Burnett, who created "Survivor" and "The Apprentice," to star in her own reality show.

For the past two years that's how Palin has spent most of her time: promoting books, making paid television appearances, giving paid speeches. During that time she made no effort to establish campaign organizations on the ground in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Nevertheless, with the filing deadline for the New Hampshire primary election less than a month away, until Wednesday millions of Americans were still wondering about her intentions.

The fact that they were demonstrates that politics and celebrity are now so intertwined that Sarah Palin can be a television star and a potential presidential candidate, Al Franken can be a senator, and when Alec Baldwin recently suggested that he might run for public office, no one laughed. In a moment of odd sagacity, Palin lamented recently to her Fox TV pal Greta Van Susteren that the contest for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination had become just another of Burnett's reality television shows. She was right about that. All that happened Wednesday was that Sarah Palin voted herself off the island.

Donald Craig Mitchell practices law in Anchorage. He is the author of "Sold American: The Story of Alaska Natives and Their Land, 1867-1959" and is now writing a history of Indian gaming.

Question: What Does Sarah Palin Want? Answer: Money.

From the Nation: Question: What Does Sarah Palin Want? Answer: Money
Jon Wiener on October 10, 2011 - 12:21am ET

When Sarah Palin announced last week that she was not running for president, many wondered, what had she been trying to do during the last three years, when she seemed to be almost a candidate? Now we know: she was trying to make money.

That answer was suggested by Levi Johnston—the young man from Wasilla who got Bristol pregnant, and then wrote a memoir of his life with the Palins after the 2008 election. In the book, Johnston recalled the day in July 2009 when Palin resigned as governor—apparently to spend full-time running for president. That wasn’t the way young Levi saw it. He remembered her saying “I hate this job.… I could be making money instead.”

And that’s what she proceeded to do—all the while tweeting hints that she was about to enter the 2012 race. Ask an Alaskan: for example, Donald Craig Mitchell—he’s an attorney in Anchorage and a long-time Palin-watcher; he wrote about her money-making for the Los Angeles Times op-ed page on Sunday. Shortly before she quit the race, he reminds us, Palin signed a book deal reported to be worth $11 million. As soon as she quit, she “signed with the Washington Speakers Bureau, which quickly got her more than $100,000 for a ninety-minute speech.” Four months after that, she signed a seven-figure contract with Fox News to work as a commentator. And two months after that, she signed another seven-figure contract to star in her own reality TV show, the unforgettable Sarah Palin’s Alaska.

Since quitting the governor’s job, Mitchell concludes, “Palin has spent most of her time promoting books, making paid television appearances and giving paid speeches”—in other words, making money.

She was doing one other thing during those years: hinting about running for president. Her will-she-or-won’t-she act provided steady work for a hundred pundits. It also helped sell books and win TV viewers and fill lecture halls with people who thought maybe they were seeing the next president of the United States.

Of course that was never a possibility. The week before the 2008 election, the New York Times poll found that 59 percent of voters said she was not qualified to be vice president. This time around, 72 percent of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents said she should not be a candidate. But that still left 28 percent who wanted her to run, and they are the people Palin kept on the hook for the last three years, while she sold them books and got them to watch her TV shows.

It’s hardly surprising that a Republican who believes in tax cuts for the rich would want to get rich herself. In fact it’s surprising that more Republican candidates don’t make the same move she did—use their candidacies as a way to bring in some real money. Of course, Mitt Romney already has $250 million, according to MSNBC—so he has the opposite problem: what can he do with all that money? Might as well run for president.

But Rick Perry started out more like Palin. He began his working life as a door-to-door salesman in West Texas, then made $1 million while holding elective office. He did it with what the Austin Statesman-American carefully calls “controversial land deals.”

But $1 million is not much compared to Palin’s book deal or her TV contract. Of course Perry tried going the book route, with his 2010 volume Fed Up! That’s where he calls Social Security a “Ponzi scheme.” Somehow that didn’t move many potential readers to shell out $21.99 for the book—an Amazon.com seller is now listing new copies for $4.99. Palin’s Going Rogue, in contrast,entered the New York Times best-seller list at number one and stayed there for six weeks, eventually selling more than two million copies. (Meanwhile the book’s evil twin, Going Rouge, edited by The Nation’s Richard Kim and Betsy Reed, won enthusiastic praise from critics—including Naomi Klein, who wrote “accept no imitations!”)

Fox News made it clear that bona fide candidates could not be paid commentators on the network—they ended the contracts of Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum when each entered the race. So Palin had to decide, and no one should have been surprised that she went for the money.

on travel til Wednesday

I'm visiting elderly relatives in Box Elder, SD who do not have internet.

Will try to sneak out now and again to an internet cafe to post, but more than likely will not be posting until Wedneday.

Palin apologizes to supporters, but most never wanted her to run

>>>"I believe I can be an effective voice for some positive change in these positions."

In other words she'll make more money as a talking head, and have none of the responsibilities of being president, or indeed, any kind of politician.

From Yahoo News, The Ticket: Palin apologizes to supporters, but most never wanted her to run

Sarah Palin went on Fox News Wednesday night to explain her decision not to run for president in 2012 and apologize publicly to her supporters.

"I apologize to those whom are disappointed in this decision," Palin, a Fox contributor, said on "On the Record with Greta Van Susteren." "I've been hearing from them in the last couple of hours. But I believe that they, when they take a step back, will understand why the decision was made and understand that, really, you don't need a title to make a difference in this country. I think that I'm proof of that."

But to judge by recent polling, Palin may have been apologizing to a comparatively empty house. The former Alaska governor, who has been the subject of fervid speculation over her presidential ambitions for months, saw a majority of would-be GOP supporters reject the idea of a Palin bid for the presidency in recent opinion surveys.

Numerous polls showed Palin holding her own in national surveys, with wide name recognition across the political and media world. But most potential supporters didn't actually want her to run in 2012. Seventy-two percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents surveyed by McClatchy-Marist last month said they wouldn't welcome a Palin presidential run. Just 24 percent said they would. Numerous additional polls showed similar results, meaning Palin's decision Wednesday was just what many conservatives wanted--an engaged Palin, but not a candidate Palin.


Just after 6 p.m. ET Wednesday night, Palin finally put an end to speculation around her 2012 plans and announced her decision not to run in a letter to supporters. "I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office -- from the nation's governors to Congressional seats and the Presidency," Palin wrote in the announcement, posted to her Facebook account. Palin last week appeared to be leaning against a 2012 bid, telling a Fox News interviewer that she was concerned that running for president could "shackle" her.

Palin played a major role in the 2010 elections through her political action committee SarahPAC, which boosted tea party and anti-establishment Republicans running for Congress. She has since weighed on in major issues such as the debt limit fight in an effort to put pressure on establishment Republicans in Washington.

"I believe I can be an effective voice in a real decisive role in helping get true public servants elected to office, not just in the presidency, but we have 33 Senate seats coming up. We have a House of Representatives that we need to strengthen in numbers, conservatives who understand that our country has got to get back on the right track economically here, and governors' seats around the nation," Palin said on Fox Wednesday night. "I believe I can be an effective voice for some positive change in these positions."