Wayne Mazza: If I could Introduce Governor Palin at CPAC

Saran Palin rocked the house at CPAC in 2012. Not only did she fill the room past overflowing capacity, other rooms, set up with monitors, to handle the crowds that wouldn’t fit in the main hall, were overflowing as well. As such, CPAC has invited her back in 2013. Reader favorite, contributor Wayne Mazza, muses about giving Governor Palin the introduction she deserves at the upcoming CPAC convention. [The one the geniuses running Team McCain should have given in 2008]

~ Gary

By Wayne Mazza

I was thinking about CPAC the other day. Of course, the Guv was on my mind. Brought memories back to me about her CPAC 2012 speech as well as her many others that go straight to the heart of our problems. I mean this woman is definitely way ahead of the curve. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, she ranks about a 20 for me, with the rest falling in the range of 1 to 2 with a few that may hit 3.

Ted Cruz, if he keeps to his principles, will be a 10 in no time, standing alongside Allen West.

It is mind boggling to hear these pundits talk about the Republican Party needing a leader and a voice. People like Bill Reilly, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingram, Ann Coulter, and Karl “ Tokyo” Rove to name a few. The leader has been there all along, right in front of their face.

The lack of the Republican Party and McCain’s team to effectively show the accomplishments of this woman and use it to better the campaign and win 2008, leads me to see CPAC have a chance to revive the common sense attitude and accomplishment of this truly amazing success story of an “ALL AMERICAN” woman who governs with a true servants heart.

If I was fortunate to be the one on stage at CPAC 2013 to introduce Gov. Palin, here is what I would say, and it takes less than 2 1/2 minutes:

“Ladies and gentlemen, please forgive me, but I must make time to introduce our next speaker properly.

A Governor, that as Mayor of her home town, brought about infrastructure improvements … built roads, installed new water and sewer systems, etc. … [you know, shovel ready jobs] lured in major retailers as well as smaller shops, resulting in increased business that brings in roughly 50,000 shoppers a day.” [according to current mayor]

Thanks to Sarah’s vision and hard work, Wasilla, Alaska is the trading hub for the entire Mat-Su Valley, an area roughly the size of the state of Delaware.

~ Gary

Compare that to President Obama spending almost a trillion dollars in stimulus funds and then laughingly mocking it, saying it all was not as shovel ready as he thought.

This Governor has met and solved the problems of her state that plague our nation today. This Governor has already solved the hard line problems that most politicians only talk about. This Governor knew how to work with her legislature for bipartisan support of all major legislation passed. Legislation passed by majorities in both parties, I might add.

This Governor is so humble, she rarely talks about her own accomplishments, and when she does, credit is always given to her team.

This Governor:

*Reduced debt liabilities of her state by 34%, something Scott Walker is now accomplishing in Wisconsin.

*Cut spending more than 33% in fy10 from fy-09 budget

*Amassed a $12 billion budget surplus for the state

*In 2008 alone vetoed $268 million from budget bills

*Reduced requests for federal earmarks by 80%

*Increased oil production by forcing the oil companies to drill on land they held leases on for over 30 years

*Forward funded education

*Reformed state pension system

*Helped seniors easily acquire much needed health care by ridding them from senseless red tape

*Brought about actual ethical reform to “drain the swamp” in her statehouse, unlike Nancy Pelosi’s big promises of doing this when elected as Speaker of the House.

*Instilled fiscal policies that upgraded her states credit rating from AA to AA+ in 2008 and eventually to AAA in 2010, unlike the Obama’s policies that have downgraded the nation’s credit rating, for the first time in history

*Is a model for a Republican woman that has it all through hard work, a true feminist, … not what the left leaning women want you to see!!

*Even though she put in hard work and long hours as a politician, she still had the time to raise a beautiful family,

*She stands tall with a steel spine and steel resolve!

*Her record of success stands as proof that she possesses the medicine we need to cure this country.

*With no further ado, it is my honor to introduce to you, GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN, from the great state of ALASKA!!!!!!!

….. Well my fellow patriots that is the way I would do it.

Governor Sarah Palin’s speech from CPAC 2012:

For the media, naysayers, and those simply not very familiar with Governor Palin’s incredible executive accomplishments: Check out the extensive listing put together by Whitney Pitcher and Stacy Drake here.

Video: Governor Sarah Palin’s Transformational Leadership Style

By Gary P Jackson

A great video put together by Ron Devio and wonderfully narrated by SarahNET Radio’s Kevin Scholla. An interesting look at Sarah Palin’s leadership style, and something folks may want to bookmark for future reference:

Governor Palin is a transformational leader in the grand tradition of Ronald Reagan. When she took office as Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, she took what was essentially a dirt road village, and turned it into the fastest growing city in the state. Mayor Palin built infrastructure, lured major businesses into town, and before long, Wasilla was the trading hub for the entire Mat-Su Valley, an area roughly the size of the state of Delaware. Oh, and she did all of this while actually lowering city taxes!

To this day the current Mayor of Wasilla credits Sarah Palin with the fact some 50,000 shoppers a week come to Wasilla. It was her policies that made the city such a powerful trading hub.

Of course, Sarah’s many accomplishments as Governor have been well documented here. It’s been said that Sarah Palin got more done in her one term as Governor than most politicians, including two term Presidents will in a career, and as a young woman, Sarah has a lot more her career left to add to those numerous [and impressive] accomplishments.

It’s no secret that we support Governor Palin, and would love nothing more to see her run for President in 2016. America needs, and deserves solid, responsible leadership. The kind of leadership Sarah Palin can bring.

GretaWire Readers [By a Huge Margin] See Sarah Palin as the Leader of the GOP Post Election UPDATED

By Gary P Jackson

On Wednesday, Greta put up a poll asking her readers who they thought, at this moment, was the leader of the Republican Party. Readers responded by choosing Sarah Palin by an overwhelming margin over the rest of the field.

Reading the comments it’s pretty plain that many feel Sarah could have fared far better against President Obama than Governor Mitt Romney did. Judging how well Sarah’s hand picked candidates for office did, vs how those in the standard GOP mold under-performed, it’s not much of a stretch to think Sarah herself would have done well and likely led the party to victory.

It’s also clear, reading those comments, that Greta’s readers would like to see Sarah Palin run for President in 2016. It’s way too early to speculate what Sarah will do, and it’s probably best not to speculate until she, herself says something, but I’m one of those who is 100% on board with the idea of a her running.

We need strong leadership from a GOP candidate, and for the last two elections, we’ve had no leadership at all. Timidity cannot defeat evil, and we are staring evil right in the face. We need a warrior at the helm.

Here are the results of the poll as of this afternoon:

Governor Sarah Palin 37.76% (2,137 votes)

**UPDATE**

As Greta has left this poll open, the vote total has actual grown for Governor Palin, she now is seen by a very clear majority as the leader with 42.13% of the vote. As stated below, this is in no way a scientific poll, but it certainly shows an intensity for Sarah, and a desire for real leadership, something that is totally lacking in the Republican Party.

Oh, and it seems the trolls have found the poll too. Delightful little wizbang creatures that they are.

*****

Senator Marco Rubio 17.62% (997 votes)

Speaker Boehner 13.91% (787 votes)

Congressman Paul Ryan 8.54% (483 votes)

Governor Romney 8.41% (476 votes)

Someone else 6.94% (393 votes)

Governor Chris Christie 3.64% (206 votes)

Speaker Newt Gingrich 3.18% (180 votes)

I’d be curious to learn why Speaker of the House John Boehner rates so high. Maybe some readers took the question literally, as Boehner is the highest ranking Republican in office. It’s just that seeing Boehner and “leader” mentioned together somehow seems wrong to me.

Readers would rather see someone, anyone besides Chris Christie or Newt Gingrich leading the party. I agree.

The poll isn’t scientific in any way, but Greta’s blog is popular with a wide range of people from all points of view, and likely represents the feelings of many, if not most of the GOP faithful.

Sarah Palin Stars in TV Ad For Missouri Senate Candidate Sarah Steelman

By Gary P Jackson

Tony Lee at Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government is reporting Sarah Palin is starring in a new TV ad supporting Missouri’s Sarah Steelman:

In the ad, which is titled “Momma Grizzly,” Palin, who recently endorsed Steelman, says “we can get American back on track by sending true conservatives” like Steelman to Washington. 

“Sarah is an economist who defends our tax dollars like a mama grizzly defends her cubs,” Palin says, noting that Steelman also earned a reputation as a “conservative maverick” by blocking pork-barrel spending.  

Palin also says that “[Steelman] will fight for a constitutional amendment that forces Congress to balance the budget.” 

Steelman, in the ad, says she is running “because the status quo has to go.” 

Steelman told Breitbart News that Palin “is one of the strongest conservative leaders in the country who remains steadfast battling for what is right despite the personal attacks from the liberal left” and someone who “isn’t afraid to take on the status quo” as she fights to “return the power of government to the people where it belongs.”

“I respect and admire her,” Steelman said, noting she was also “honored and excited that Governor Palin has endorsed me for U.S. Senate.” 

“[Palin] believes we need people with a strong backbone willing to fight for what is right,” Steelman said. “She knows I  will cut government spending, balance the budget and get government out of the way.”

The Missouri Republican Senate primary is August 7, and two other Republicans–Todd Akin and John Brunner–are also running to get an opportunity to defeat the vulnerable incumbent, Democrat Claire McCaskill. This is a prime pick-up opportunity for Republicans who are fighting to retake control of the Senate to overturn and repeal Obama’s policies, like Obamacare. 

[ …. ]

A recent Mason-Dixon poll had Brunner with a slight lead over Steelman, who was within the poll’s margin of error. One out of five voters surveyed in that poll said they were still undecided. 

Steelman is hoping ads such as this will swing those undecided voters over to her, much in the same way Palin’s endorsement sealed the deal for Senate candidates in Indiana (Richard Mourdock) and Nebraska (Deb Fischer) and boosted the chances of Texas’s Ted Cruz, who is leading his race against David Dewhurst going into Texas’s Tuesday runoff.

Read more here.

Here’s the ad:

We’ve seen the power of Palin all across the country this year. No doubt this powerful, positive, upbeat advertisement will help solidify Steelman as the right choice for Missouri, and America. We need proven Conservatives in Washington to take on the corrupt, entrenched Establishment in BOTH parties.

Palin Power: Pro-Establishment Super PAC Backs Away from Lugar Campaign in Indiana

By Gary P Jackson

Just a day after Sarah Palin endorsed Indiana State Treasurer, and Tea Party favorite, Richard Mourdock for the United States Senate against the entrenched Republican Establishment™ candidate Richard Lugar, comes more bad news for “Obama’s favorite Republican.” A group that is noted for backing incumbents has said no mas.

From The Hill:

The American Action Network, a super-PAC that backs establishment Republicans, has pulled out of Indiana’s Senate race, the latest bad omen for Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.).

“We’ve decided we’re going to let this race play out,” AAN spokesman Dan Conston told The Hill Friday evening.

The group had committed to spending nearly $600,000 on television attacking Lugar’s Tea Party opponent, Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock (R), and has been on the air in Indianapolis for two weeks. But they have pulled their online advertising and will end their TV buy on Tuesday, a week ahead of the May 8 primary.

Sarah Palin’s stellar record of picking winners in 2010 no doubt made the Establishment™ Super PAC think twice about spending any more money on what will most certainly be a loosing effort.

We look forward to seeing the Governor flex her muscles again this campaign season, as she backs principled Conservative leaders in opposition to the Washington elite who have been failing the American people for far too long.

Make sure you check out Richard Mourdock’s website and give him all of the support you can. What’s good for Indiana is what’s good for America.

Sarah Palin: Frankly, I’m ecstatic we beat the “perky one “

By Gary P Jackson

Sarah Palin comments on her appearance on the Today Show. From Zap2It:

Per the Nielsen Fast National data, “Today” garnered 5.497 million viewers, with 2.209 million in the target Adults 25-54 demographic, up against “GMA’s” 5.141 million viewers, with 1.917 million in the demo.

This morning (Wed., April 4), Palin commented by email about the experience:

“The people backstage,” she writes to Zap2it, “who make the ‘Today’ show happen are top-notch! Todd (husband Todd Palin) said to let you know, Kate, that ‘…they put my home TV crew to shame’ (That would be my crew of Todd and a buddy — and sometimes the kids helping out — in our Wasilla studio located in the back of Todd’s airplane hanger).

“Really, it was a lot of fun to work with every single one of the folks at the ‘Today’ show. I have so much respect for the workerbees at my FOX job, and to see this network support staff working just as hard to produce their network’s product reinforces my belief that it’s the good people with their elbow grease and nose to the grindstone who make the world go ’round. They make the talent look good!”

“And, frankly, I’m ecstatic we beat the ‘perky one,’ although I wouldn’t have gone up against ABC’s vacationing Robin Roberts, because she’s such a good egg. By the way, both Robin and Matt Lauer have traveled the long journey to Alaska and dealt with unglamorous, rugged conditions to see more of our world; they’ve shown respect for a more unconventional Americana lifestyle, and we appreciate that.”

On Tuesday evening, Palin dropped by Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” show and discussed her morning-show-host debut with host Sean Hannity and fellow panelists Dana Perino of FNC’s “The Five” and Stuart Varney of Fox Business Network’s “Varney & Co.”

During that conversation, Hannity asked Palin about her comments on “Today” that Oprah Winfrey might want to consider adding conservative voices to her struggling cablenet OWN to boost ratings (although Palin doesn’t specifically recommend herself for the job).

Meanwhile, Katie Couric’s attempt to rehabilitate her career, despite all of the hype and promotion, is not going so well. Couric and Good Morning America cannot beat the Today Show.

Morning TV Ratings: “Today” Wins with Sarah Palin

By Gary P Jackson

No shocker here, the Today Show once again beat Good Morning America, with Sarah Palin winning the slot over Katie Couric, who is guest hosting GMA this week, in hopes of reviving her moribund career.

From TV Newser:

NBC’s “Today” show maintained its lead after day two of Katie Couric‘s return to morning TV.

With Sarah Palin as a special co-host “Today” drew 5.497 million total viewers according to Nielsen Fast National data, that’s +356,000 more than #2 “Good Morning America” which drew 5.141 million. Half way through the 2011-12 season, the gap between the two shows is +528,000, so “GMA” continues to chip away at “Today’s lead.

In A25-54 viewers, “Today lead by +249,000 viewers (2.209 vs. 1.917). The season-to-date gap in that demo is +449,000.

The “Today”show also won Monday’s face-off with a +333,000 Total Viewer lead on “GMA.”

The Today Show cast share some reactions:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

Seems as Sarah accomplished what she wanted to. The liberals over at NBC have figured out what we already know about her. She also got her message of common sense Conservatism out to 5.5 million people, many of whom would have never heard it otherwise.

As Andrew Breitbart continually preached, we must win the culture wars if we are to restore our nation. Sarah understands this very well. I hope she does more of these sort of things in the future.

Donnie Deutsch on Morning Joe: Sarah Palin has Star Quality

Vodpod videos no longer available.

By Gary P Jackson

An interesting little after segment with Donnie Deutsch and the cast of Morning Joe. Of course there is the expected snark, but the general consensus is Sarah Palin has “it”. That star power that few have. Something you are born with. It can’t be taught.

The only really hateful one was Mika Brzezinski who is a ridiculous woman on her best day. You could tell it was killing her to even acknowledge Sarah exists. It’s quite delicious to watch her stew in her own hate.

Sarah’s appearance on the Today Show was a hit, and ratings success. Even liberal MSNBC has to give her well deserved praise.

Somewhere Andrew Breitbart is smiling.

Video: Sarah Palin Takes Over The “Today Show”

By Gary P Jackson

Sarah Palin was both an interviewee as well as a guest host on the Tuesday morning edition of NBC’s Today Show. As the photo above, as well as the following video shows, she was both playful and serious during the show.

First the interview with Matt Lauer. They are talking presidential politics, and while Lauer tried to get her to say something bad about the prohibitive nominee, Mitt Romney, Sarah wasn’t having it. She remained professional and reminded viewers that absolutely anyone would be better than Obama. She also reminds Lauer that she had a strong record as governor.

Vodpod videos no longer available.

The interview kicked off the 7 o’clock hour. Sarah would return for the 8 o’clock hour where she participated in a segment the show calls “The Professionals” where she was part of a group discussion on topics of interest. She was feisty, to say the least.

She would also do a segment with Tori Spelling and Ann Curry as well as a segment on teenage girls and the pressure society puts on them. In between she did stand-ups outside with the hosts. It’s still cold in New York City, and while the rest were bundled up, Sarah was in shirt sleeves wearing only a stylish scarf. That scene reminded me of the first meeting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. It was very cold. As Gobachev’s limo pulled into the grounds, Reagan went outside to meet him dressed in only a business suit, while Gorbachev, a much younger man, was bundled up in a heavy coat and wearing a fur hat. It was a sign of strength on Reagan’s part.

I rarely comment on Sarah’s looks or choice of clothing, just not my thing, but she was absolutely stunning in all black, with a hint of red, and looked like a million bucks compared to the hosts of the show, who looked tired and old. Only Al Roker came close to matching her in the style category.

In between segments Sarah was a good sport and played around a bit for the camera. As they are talking about her upcoming interview, the camera cut to her sitting on the couch surrounded by newspapers. Later they would show her in Matt Lauer’s dressing room, now taken over by her, complete with her name on tape, pasted over his. Here she pretends to be writing notes on her hand with a magic marker, and then she gives Matt some jazz about his hair products.

NBC put together a short video of some highlights from her appearance:

Vodpod videos no longer available.

It’s interesting that she mentions Tina Fey early. Later during the “Professionals” segment the failed HBO movie Game Change comes up. While it’s obvious Sarah has no respect for the people involved, including the actress playing her, Sarah said she thought Tina Fey’s portrayal of her was OK.

All in all it was a good hour for both NBC and Sarah Palin. Sarah was able to take her brand of common sense Conservatism and expose her wit and wisdom to a different audience. It proves that Sarah can do pretty much anything she wants to.

It’s good that she’s engaging the left. The best way to win hearts and minds is to go and do it. As morning shows go, NBC is the biggest, so she had the chance to bring Conservatism to a significant audience. Sarah knows how to use the media to get her message out better than anyone in politics today. I look forward to seeing her doing more in the future.

Timothy Stanley: Sarah Palin was the Strongest Candidate for 2012

By Gary P Jackson

This is obvious to every Conservative, but now Timothy Stanley, writing for CNN, is saying what we all know, Sarah Palin was the best option for 2012.

I’m always suspect when a left wing bunch like CNN puts out something like this, but I must honestly say, there are some over there who have been incredibly fair to the Governor, more so than some of her Fox colleagues in fact.

Timothy Stanley is a historian at Oxford University and blogs for Britain’s Daily Telegraph. He doesn’t get everything right, and of course uses some of the tired old talking points such as Sarah couldn’t name a newspaper during the obnoxious Katy Couric interview, but he is spot on about the fact that Sarah would not only have wrapped the nomination by now, but be taking it to Obama all day, every day.

The Republican presidential primary hasn’t exactly overflowed with talent. In December, it was a roll call of the undesirable Right: Romney, Santorum, Gingrich, Paul, Perry, Huntsman and Bachmann — a list so long and bizarre that Count Dracula could have slipped in on the end and no one would have noticed. Except, as the citizens of Chicago will tell you, the dead always vote Democrat.

Now, we’re down to a final three, discounting Ron Paul, who, I’m guessing, is only staying in the race to collect air miles. Although the talent pool has shrunk, it has gotten no deeper. As Mitt Romney suffers defeat after defeat at the hands of Rick Santorum, whose chances of winning this thing aren’t high, his negatives mount up, and the president looks stronger by the day. The Republican Party is divided and in danger of becoming out of touch.

It didn’t have to be this way. If Sarah Palin had entered the contest, I’d hypothesize two alternative realities. One, she’d have the nomination sewn up by now. Two, she’d be running even in the polls with the president.

What have proved to be problems for the top three candidates wouldn’t have been problems for Palin. For starters, she has none of Newt Gingrich’s intellectual hubris. There’s no way Palin would have promised to put a mine on the moon or suggest arresting judges who make decisions that are too liberal. Her conservatism is far more domestic and down-to-Earth.

She’s also more disciplined than Santorum. Although we’ll probably be talking about them into the next century, Palin’s only two serious public gaffes in 2008 happened when she was unable to name a newspaper and was stumped by the Bush doctrine, both slips a product of ignorance. Santorum, on the other hand, is guilty of knowing his own mind all too well, offering unwelcome opinions on everything from the evils of hard-core pornography to the racial politics of the Trayvon Martin tragedy.

Compare the response Palin gave to questions about her attitude toward evolution — “I think it should be taught as an accepted principle, and I say that also as the daughter of a schoolteacher” — with Santorum’s claim that Satan … has attacked America.

It’s Palin who seems to have a better sense of the limited role that faith should play in politics and a better idea of when to keep her mouth shut. Moreover, she would never tell a journalist that he was talking “bull***t,” even if she did congratulate Rick Santorum for doing so. Contrary to the media narrative, even at her most accident-prone, Palin has always been a classy, well-choreographed performer.

Lacking the foibles of Gingrich and Santorum, Palin would have been a far more effective anti-Romney candidate because her strengths accentuated Romney’s weaknesses. Romney is known as the Etch A Sketch candidate; Palin is aggressively authentic. Romney is seen by many as a moneyed elitist; Palin is the conservative class warrior, happy to slam the “crony capitalism” that benefits both big labor and big business. Romney’s limitations have been revealed, one by one, in the course of the primary campaign; Palin was well-vetted by the press in 2008 and has nothing left to say or do that would surprise us.

Love her or loathe her, we all know who Palin is. Her weaknesses, being old news, wouldn’t have dominated the primary narrative like Bain Capital or Seamus the dog, made famous by his terrifying ride atop Romney’s car. Palin would have spent the past three months attacking her opponents. Then she would have turned her guns on the president.

While it’s reasonable to speculate that Palin could have gathered a much stronger anti-Mitt coalition earlier — and broken out as the GOP front-runner sooner — it’s probably a bigger stretch to say that she would be running stronger against Obama right now.

The last national polling done on a hypothetical Palin candidacy was in September, and that showed the president beating her by double digits. Daily Kos did the math and gleefully calculated that Palin would win just seven states in November, and even Mississippi would be a tossup.

But those polls asked the public what they thought of a candidate who hadn’t declared, who wasn’t representing herself in the debates and who was still solely defined by the 2008 race. Guesstimating how well she would have done had she entered the 2012 contest is tough, but considering that at least some polls show both Romney and Santorum within a few points of Obama despite all their problems, it’s not unreasonable to presume that Palin would run just as well.

Subtract Santorum’s gaffes or Romney’s elitism, and she might even do a little better. Polls suggest that many voters agree with Romney’s approach to the economy but think he lacks empathy for the struggles facing the middle-class. Were she in the race, you can bet your bottom dollar that Palin wouldn’t score so low on compassion and authenticity.

Most important, Palin has the character and reputation necessary to break out of the Republican Party’s demographic prison. In matchups with Obama, Romney’s core vote is financially comfortable seniors. He pulls even among all men and folks aged 35-54.

The Republicans desperately need a candidate who can appeal to lower-income voters, who can rally men, who can gain women’s votes, who can bring out conservatives in large numbers and who can appeal to a younger demographic. All these things happened in the 2010 midterms, when the GOP made inroads into blue-collar households and middle-class suburbs on a policy platform virtually embodied by the Alaskan maverick.

The GOP needs a Tea Party candidate — either Sarah Palin or someone very like her. Alas, it’s going to have to wait until 2016 to get its rogue.

As Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich continue the race for the GOP nomination, their only hope being a brokered convention, Palin supporters look to that same idea of a brokered convention as a chance to have what amounts to a do-over, a chance to get it right.

As recent polling shows, Sarah has a far higher approval rating than any of the actual candidates. As Stanley points out, the Republican Party is in dire need of a unity candidate, one who can bring everyone in the party together, while appealing to independents and blue dog democrats. Sarah Palin is the only one who can pull that off.

We may, indeed have to wait until 2016, but then again, maybe not. These are interesting times we live in.