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."

Sarah Palin's Decision Not to Run Shocks Supporters

I have to say I don't understand why Palin's supporters are shocked. It was obvious for several months that she had no intention of running. But by delayingher official announcement for so long, one would think she's lost a great deal of credibility now as even a political analyst. And I wonder if her supporters will want their money back?

From: Sarah Palin's Decision Not to Run Shocks Supporters
Sarah Palin announced today that she will not run for president.

ABC News’ Sheila Marikar and Shushannah Walshe report:

After months of “will she or won’t she” speculation, Sarah Palin hammered the nail into the coffin of her 2012 presidential aspirations: She’s not running.

In a statement obtained by ABC News and first reported by Mark Levin’s syndicated radio show, Palin said that she made her decision “after much prayer and serious consideration.”

“My decision is based upon a review of what common sense Conservatives and Independents have accomplished, especially over the last year,” she said. “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.”

Read the full text of Sarah Palin’s statement.

The former Alaska governor addressed her fervent supporters, many of whom, like those running grassroots organizations dedicated to her all over the country, stepped away from their jobs and families to ramp up for her potential campaign.

“From the bottom of my heart I thank those who have supported me and defended my record throughout the years, and encouraged me to run for President,” she said. “Know that by working together we can bring this country back — and as I’ve always said, one doesn’t need a title to help do it. ”

She concluded, “In the coming weeks I will help coordinate strategies to assist in replacing the President, re-taking the Senate, and maintaining the House.”

Many observers speculated that Palin would not enter the race after she failed to announce in September — her one-time, self imposed deadline. She further indicated that the White House may not be in her sights last week, when she suggested that a presidential title might be too “shackle-y” on Greta Van Susteren’s Fox News show.

Still, her announcement comes as somewhat of a surprise. As recently as yesterday, Palin aides did not know whether she was running and were calling various states to find out filing deadlines for the primaries.

For some of Palin’s supporters, her decision not to run is heartbreaking.

Peter Singleton moved to Iowa almost a year ago to campaign for Palin, setting up a chapter of Organize4Palin in the first caucus state. He told ABCNews.com that he “expected her to run.”

“I’m disappointed, but disappointed for the country because he was the best choice for president at this time,” Singleton said. “I believed she would run, but I understood there was a chance that she didn’t. It was always her choice. And I have enormous respect for Gov. Palin as a leader and I respect her decision.”