Conservatives and Sarah Palin

James Lewis has an excellent article in today's American Thinker entitled "Sarah Palin's Charisma."

http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/12/sarah_palins_charisma.html

Under the name of "Motown Mike," I posted the following in the comments section:

Leftist attacks on Sarah Palin are to be expected; I am concerned about the uninformed slights from conservatives:

“She’s a quitter. Look what she did with her governorship.” Oh? Did you read her book to learn why? Did you hear what she said on the day she announced her resignation? People don’t understand that people like Sarah actually say what they mean.

“She has no experience.” In 2008, Governor Palin’s experience outweighed Obama’s. And she’s been politically active since, credited with lifting several dozen Republicans to victory in the recent election.

“She has no gravitas.” Is that what you mean or is it that maybe you really have an issue with a president who is a beautiful and feminine woman? True, she’s not an intellectual. But unlike many Ivy League posers, she is smart.

“She’s another Barry Goldwater.” Please. It’s not 1964. That’s Democratic retrothinking -- that we live in those days of three TV networks, dominant Time and Newsweek, strong unions, and everyone shopping at Sears and grabbing their lunch pails to trudge off to work at Ford or put on their suits to go downtown to a sterile office. Times have changed. Besides, Goldwater never Twittered.

“The media will eat her alive.” When? She’s been beating them at their own game: she coined the term “death panels” and now leftists like Paul Krugman are using it. And when David Letterman went after her daughter, Momma Grizzly did a pretty good job of making him look like a dirty old man.

“She’s not electable.” That is the key question. And within the past week or so she herself said she is studying that issue. That’s political realism. That’s the mark of a real leader.

Just Tryin' to Help

We’ll sexually molest you
Choose your health care
Regulate food on your plate
Yes, we would dare.

Pick your light bulbs
Regulate your toilet
All for your protection
Don’t you know it?

Why, you say,
Are you such a wrecking crew?
Why, we’re the government.
We’re here to help you!

The Day After

It’s dark along Wildcat Creek this morning. Why am I up at 5:30 when I didn’t get to bed until 1:30 a.m. following the Republican election night party at the Clarion Inn in Fayetteville, Arkansas? Easy to answer: my mind is swirling with all the events of the past 24 hours. And the past year.

Like others in the Tea Party around the country, there are a lot of things to be happy about regarding yesterday’s election. And some disappointments. Locally, people for whom the Cutest Community Organizer to Whom I Am Married and I actively campaigned -- Justin Harris and Charlie Collins --won seats in the Arkansas legislature. But Jim Keet, for whom we actively worked for governor, lost big-time to incumbent Mike Beebe. But in context, yesterday was exceptional for Republicans in Arkansas, long a one-party state: new U.S. Senator, several new House members and major gains in the legislature. This morning, the critical office of secretary of state remains too close to call, as are those of lieutenant governor and land commissioner. Political blogger Jason Tolbert thinks they’ll all go Republican.

Across the nation, it was a Republican night. But a lot of people didn’t vote for Republicans, mind you, they voted against Democrats. That needs to change: some of us are working to make the Republican Party more worthy of receiving votes.


Creek of Consciousness

This was the first election in which most or all of the people I voted for were people that I had personally met…Indeed, one of the great things about our political activism of the past eighteen months has been all the great people we have come to know…Meanwhile, Dan Wolschon, my friend since junior high days, and I were texting each other yesterday from our respective places as poll watchers – he in Michigan, me in Arkansas. He became a Tea Party activist earlier this year…Today, the term “We the People” has a stronger meaning...This year’s campaigns and activism got me out of the cocoon of Northwest Arkansas and its cities. Sometimes those of us who live here in Walmart-Tyson-J.B. Hunt-land are unaware of the charms of the rest of this state. There are some delightful people around the state and Hot Springs in the spring is beautiful!...I’m hooked – political trips to Little Rock have made me a fan of What-a-Burger in Russellville...Last night, when it looked like Charlie Collins was going to win his legislative seat by 90 votes, he turned to the Cutest Community Organizer to Whom I Am Married and said: “You’re probably the one who got me those votes.”…Why am I writing this -- I’ve only had four hours sleep. How write can I sentence that sense makes? -- Zzzzzzzz.

The Autumn Election

The late-day sun comes streaking across Wildcat Creek much earlier now as the days become shorter. It’s warm in the Ozarks, but the cold weather is coming. A sure sign yesterday was all of the wasps trying to find a way into the house – they know it will soon get cold. Lots of firewood stacked on the porch, waiting for the chill. Winterized the pump house today. The cold is coming…

The Cutest Community Organizer to whom I am married is full of energy, humor and songs tonight. “You’re glad the campaign is over, aren’t you?” I say. She doesn’t respond, but I know it’s true. Barbra has been a one-woman campaign machine this year: going door-to-door campaigning for Justin Harris and Charlie Collins for state representative and Jim Keet for governor. Last week she called a campaign office so she could get a rebuttal for an opponent’s sleazy attack ad. Then she called a local talk show to personally make the rebuttal because the candidate who was attacked couldn’t or wouldn’t put up a defense. And she’s been spending spare hours at Republican headquarters making phone calls. Saturday I drove her around our rural precinct as she handed out cards for Keet and for John Boozman for U. S. Senator and Steve Womack for Congress. It’s been a long year: it began for me last November when Randy Alexander asked me to manage his campaign for U. S. Senate. No way I could do that, given my day job, but I ended up as a part-time communications guy for him. Then came fall and Barbra and I worked in various campaigns – Barbra more than me as her day job is only part-time.

Now we’re on the precipice. Tuesday will tell. The Big Election. We’re working as poll watchers in Fayetteville: Barbra in the morning, me in the afternoon. I look over the list of poll watchers in our county and see that about half of them are Tea Party members. The Tea Party is what got us involved in politics, just like so many others around the country. It’s hard to say what will happen Tuesday: the news media predict a Republican blowout but given their loss of credibility one wonders if they’re just saying that to make conservatives stay home. It’s sad when you no longer can believe what you see or hear. But it doesn’t matter: we’re not as dumb as they think we are.

Some say Tuesday will be like the Republican victory of 1994. I don’t think so. I’m hoping it will be more like 1980. I remember election night that year, when Ronald Reagan blew the doors off the elite’s conventional wisdom.

It was amazing. It was thrilling.

Please, Lord, do it again.

However, assuming victories for conservatives Tuesday, our work will just begin. We got into this mess because so many of us were asleep.

No more.

The day after Election Day we go to work…

The Silent Tea Party

So I’m on my riding mower taking care of biz on part of my rural 2 ½ acres when a pickup truck pulls in the driveway. An old man gets out. I drive the mower over to him, shut down the engine and we begin to talk.

“Tell your wife I went and voted in the school board election,” he says. "She was right, there was nobody there, no line. I got in real easy.” The man is our neighbor down the road. The Cutest Community Organizer to whom I am married has been out talking to the neighbors, getting them to vote, encouraging them to support good candidates. Cutest Community Organizer has designated herself as our local precinct captain. That’s remarkable, since our county Republican Party does not have precinct captains, but that doesn’t stop her. The man said he had followed her advice: “Tell her I called the courthouse about an absentee ballot.” (his health is not very good). “They said they’d mail me one, so I imagine I’ll get that in a few days.”

Enjoying a beautiful Ozark morning, the man and I talked politics. Despite the health problems that have caused him difficulty in going to vote, he is knowledgeable about political personalities and what’s going on. Finally, having solved all the world’s problems, we wound up our conversation. Said the man: “I’m a Tea Partier. I’ve never been to one of their meetings, but I’m a Tea Partier.”

A Tea Partier. But he’s never been to a meeting or been to a protest. A silent Tea Partier. How many others like him?

A few days later, some of our local Tea Party people met at a local steak house with a coalition of other Tea Partiers from around the state. After the meeting, several of us hung out in the meeting room, enjoying dessert when a young man came in and began bussing the tables. I don’t remember who started it, but we got into a conversation about politics. He demonstrated keen knowledge of what is going on. He talked of issues, voiced knowledgeable criticisms, and said he liked the Tea Party.

A potential Tea Partier? But he’s never been to a meeting or been to a protest. A silent Tea Partier? How many others like him?

Today, Cutest Community Organizer went through the drive-through of a local fast food place. As the teenage boy serving at the window gave her change and a receipt, he slipped her a piece of paper. Taped to the paper was a printed question: What is your opinion of the Obama healthcare bill? Cutest Community Organizer pointed thumbs down and drove off.

Don’t know if this young man is associated with the Tea Party. Or if he’s ever been to a meeting or a protest. Is he a silent Tea Partier? How many others like him?

The Silent Tea Party.

It speaks November 2…

Creek of Consciousness

Difficult for me to write lately: demands of day job plus working in several conservative Republican campaigns, including those of Arkansas legislative candidates Justin Harris and Charlie Collins, plus efforts toward the Washington County Tea Party...The Cutest Community Organizer to whom I am married and I took training in poll watching, which we plan to do on election day. Voter fraud in Washington County is not as rampant as in other places in Arkansas, but the local Republican Party uses it as a get-out-the-vote technique. Still, the more eyes watching the better…At a coalition of Tea Parties meeting last week, we heard horror stories about efforts elsewhere in Arkansas to stamp out grassroots conservative activism. In one Arkansas county, when Tea Party members show up to monitor local meetings of the Quorum Court (Arkansas’ version of county commissioners), extra police are called. Hmmmm. Concern about the threat of those dangerous Tea Partiers or a bit of good old fashioned Arkansas intimidation?...We also heard about an effort to fine a Tea Partier $5,000 for alleged violation of election laws. The Tea Party member bought radio time on a political issue that was less than the $500 threshold requiring election registration. The radio station decided to provide free promotion announcements about the Tea Partier’s political program. The stations free promos are now being assigned value, and are being considered part of the Tea Partier’s donation. And of course the total value is now above $500 and the Tea Party member is accused of breaking election law. Absurd…Another Tea Party activist spoke of receiving a death threat.

What a Country!

Somebody named "Norseman" posted the following on an American Thinker report that the government sent 89,000 Social Security stimulus checks to dead people or people in prison:

These are the same people that are going to run our healthcare system and determine if we live or die. The good news is that even though government run health care will kill me, I will still get paid. What a country!