The Texas Primary: Sarah Palin Endorses Ted Cruz for Senate

Josh Painter, posting at Lone Star Conservative and at The Sarah Palin Journal, breaks the good news: Sarah and Todd Palin have endorsed Ted Cruz, Texas Republican candidate for Senator!There are a lot of people interested in this Senate seat, that was held for too long by a woman who finally retired. Ted Cruz is a good candidate, with solid conservative credentials, and will make a good Senator for Texas and for America.

UPDATE 8/3/12: Ted Cruz won the runoff by a whopping 13 points, and is now the Republican candidate for US Senate!

President Obama's Joke is Crude, and Demeaning to American Moms

At the White House Correspondents Dinner Saturday night, President Obama, the President of the United States, made a joke I can't even post it here, on my family-friendly blog.   The text and video can be found at the Washington Post, where they try to laugh off the crudeness by pretending it's always been that way, and that we should just "Relax. Surrender. Try to make the best of it."

When I first saw this, I thought surely someone had made it up as a parody, that it could not be true our President would tell such a joke.

So I went and watched the tape, and heard it with my own ears. Send the children out of the room before listening to this speech - it even opens with the sound of a toilet flushing. The joke I am most disturbed by begins at about 8:40 into the recording.

Yes, I know he always makes inappropriate jokes, and inappropriately about people he doesn't like, but this is indecent.

The joke opens with the line Sarah Palin used: "What's the difference between a Hockey Mom and a Pit Bull?" But the punch line is no part of that original joke.

Instead, the punch line is a disgusting twist on an old locker room joke that most respectable men would not repeat in any form, much less in public - much less in front of a microphone.

The Washington Post described it as "...the one that got a slow-build laugh as the audience took a while to get it". No... they got it alright, the "laughter" was nervous and shocked. The First Lady looked shocked as well. There were some looks exchanged.

What is wrong with him? Does he have no sense of respect for the office or for the American people?

What kind of bubble do his speechwriters and advisors live in that they would allow him to go in public and say such immoral things?

All over America, women who love their children and cheer them on at sports events think of themselves as "Hockey Moms", as well as "Soccer Moms", "Little League Moms", "Softball Moms", "Peewee Football Moms", "Snack Moms", and other "Team Moms".

President Barack Obama used this vulgarity to try to demean Mrs Sarah Palin, a private citizen of the United States of America, a wife, mother, grandmother and a decent Christian woman.

In doing so, he has shown thoughtless contempt and disrespect for every woman in America. And he has shown something about his judgement, not just as President, but as a person that is very disturbing.


4/2/12 Update: Thanks, Pundit & Pundette. for the sidebar link in "Recommended Reads"!

10/10/2016  Update: The Official Transcript - still with the joke intact - is found on the White House Website, under "Briefing Room: Speeches and Remarks"  "For Immediate Release April 29, 2012
Remarks by the President at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner"
and the original video is on CSPAN:


.

Will Someone Please Start A Courageous Conservative Companies List?

 Surely there are companies out there that make their decisions based on actual hard results, instead of caving to the lone nutter planting signs outside their door?

Surely there are companies out there that use actual customer acquisition and retention data to determine where to spend their advertising budgets, instead of trusting the skewed numbers claimed by their naive and progressive young marketing managers?

Surely there are companies out there that have the integrity to refuse to change their business model to acommodate imaginary bullies (and yes, all loud leftist twitter campaigns are imaginary) ?

Surely there are companies out there that understand what REAL statistics say about the conservative majority vs the obnoxious but numerically insignificant left?

Surely there are companies out there that understand the differences between genuine public relations issues and media tantrums - and how to take mature measures to diffuse both without abandoning their principles?

There are opportunities for companies with mature leadership that make rational and effective decisions.  A very large, well-funded, independent-thinking customer base is looking for products and services provided by companies that support traditional American values, the Constitution, Patriotism, Marriage, Private Property, Self-Reliance, LIFE, Freedom of Religion, and frankly, that make rational decisions instead of running scared every time a Stepford organization starts copying and pasting its talking points.

So, like it says in the title: Would someone please start a Courageous Conservative Companies list?

Rick Perry: Texas Will Be One Tip of the Spear Against the Anti-Religious Contraceptive Mandate

Today's Bible verse, in the "Good News for Modern Man" translation:

"...love is not happy with evil, but is happy with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope, and patience never fail."
1 Corinthians 13:6-7



From Newsmax, via Gateway Pundit:

"In an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington on Thursday, Gov. Perry was asked which presidential candidate Texans will support in the state’s Republican primary.

“I’ve endorsed Newt, so I hope that has some impact. We’re looking for the most conservative candidate. Texans by and large are a conservative lot,” he says.

“But any of our candidates are going to be better than Obama. ...

“I think Newt by any measure, from the standpoint of fiscal conservatism, being able to actually operate in that shark tank in Washington, is the most capable individual. He’s balanced a number of budgets before."

Perry went on to give his thoughts about all the other candidates, including Santorum and Ron Paul, and said the contest could easily go "all the way to the convention" before a final nominee is settled on. [side note: Sarah Palin has also made this point: the race is still very, very competitive.]

Then some good news:

"Asked if the states can do anything about the Obama administration’s mandate for religiously-affiliated institutions to pay for employees’ birth control, Perry responds: “I would suggest that the states are going to be filing suit against this administration, probably through Health and Human Services, the issue being that they’re impeding our ability to deliver healthcare because there’s going to be a lot of people losing their jobs because of this.

“I’m very comfortable that attorneys general across the country will file suit to try to stop this administration’s war on religion, and [Texas Attorney General] Greg Abbott will be one of the tips of the spear.”

Read more on Newsmax.com:  Perry: Newt Is Best Conservative to Beat Obama
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now!

Today, It's: Mail Art.

 Well, my candidate has taken his name off the ballot for President. I guess the good news is that at least Texans won't have to worry about who is going to govern our state. Governor Perry, Governor Palin , and Todd Palin have endorsed Newt Gingrich. I will pray they are right, and turn my attention to daily, ordinary life for a while. 

I wander the web like I used to wander bookstores. Each week, some new thing will catch my attention, and I learn about it. Last time, it was Home Bee Keeping. More on that another time, because:

Today, it's Mail Art.

In this month's AAPA bundle (what people did before blogs), the Six Mile Press offering was about Carnegie Libraries. It inspired me, so for February's bundle, I'm making postcards out of a photo I took of the Carnegie Library in my hometown. I had prints made at Walmart.com, will use acetone to erase the corporate printing on the backs, rubber stamps to print "Post Card" on the backs, and stickers to label the front. (I'll add a photo to the blog when the project is done.)

Back to Mail Art. I wanted ideas for "arting up" my project, so went looking. Here are some places I found clever inspiration:

Everyday should be a Red Letter Day…

2012 Graceful Envelope Contest (and archives of past winners)

The Missive Maven

Austin Kleon's Blog, and esp. "How To Steal Like An Artist"

Postcrossing: The Postcard Crossing Project

S-FIMail

Good Mail Day

How fun is this? I may be looking at a new hobby-ette! Or, at least, until something else attracts my attention...

A Speech Worthy of History

Who says there are no statesmen today? One of my favorite bloggers, "Quite Rightly" of "Bread upon the Waters"  (also linked from my sidebar) has embedded Michele Bachmann's speech in which she gracefully steps out of the primaries and back into her role as an elected member of the House of Representatives. Mrs. Bachmann's speech is the stuff of which history is made.

Opening with a reminder that we are "encompassed by a great cloud of witnesses" who've worked throughout hundreds of years to forge American Liberty, Mrs Bachmann reminds us what is at stake, and what we have to lose - and why we must all stand up - stand up - for our God-given, inalienable liberties as embodied in the United States Constitution.

Go listen to it all. It's a beautiful speech, given flawlessly and with heart. I think perhaps it is much the same speech she would have given had it been made under different circumstances, because it is simple truth.  Hearing it inspired me, and it is a speech worthy to be remembered.

Dear Mr. Cain

Dear Mr. Cain,

In the Methodist Church basement last night, a bipartisan group of older Texas ladies decided that we do not care who any candidate for President sleeps with. Or actual President for that matter. We are not interested. What we are interested in is the actual issues that affect the whole country. We expect the President to do his job without regard to his outside activities. And one of those jobs is cutting Federal spending.

Now, we probably aren't all fans of yours. We were too polite (and separated by political chasms) to discuss, there in the basement, which candidates we might support.  BUT whether Republican, Democrat or Independent, we do agree on those two points.

We would suggest that you, and other candidates, refrain from allowing the ridiculous "news media" to determine who We the People get to vote for. The only polls that will tell you whether the voters want you or anyone else to represent us, are the voting booths on election day.

I do not normally blog about things we discuss in church gatherings, so we won't mention any names or places, but I would be surprised if this opinion isn't also shared by many other "bipartisan groups" around the country.

Sincerely,

"Concerned Voter"

De-Occupy Wall Street

Speaking of toil, there's a new Facebook group, and even though I have withdrawn from most FB activity, I like it!   

"De-Occupy Wall Street"

My favorite comment so far, from the administrator: 

"Create a job if none are available... that's what we do in the land of the free. There is no crying in freedom...only an open market."


Thanks to my FB pal for sharing it. :-)

Texas Accent? What Texas Accent?

A few years ago, I was in California for a large meeting in the company I worked for. I'm an Okie who lived in the Permian Basin most of my adult life. So my soft Oklahoma drawl is overlaid with a layer of West Texas twang. Whenever I visited the corporate offices in Silicon Valley, it wasn't unusual for people to follow me around listening - not so much melodious as a novelty, I expect.

Among the international staff attending this day-long meeting was a woman from our South Korean office. She commented to me during one session that she was having trouble following the speakers (all from the West Coast), due to their accents. She said she had to translate from English to Korean in her head and their pronunciation made this a real challenge.

We were staying at the same hotel, and had dinner together that night. Mindful of what she had told me earlier, I tried to speak slowly and distinctly. At one point I asked her directly if she was able to understand
me ok?

She laughed and said "I went to school at UT. I learned to speak English in Texas. You sound normal to me!"

The University of Texas at Austin ranks consistently in the top 10 US schools educating international students every year. Foreign students at UT focus especially in science and engineering fields. Texas A&M has the second highest international enrollment in Texas. Texas universities have the 3rd highest population of foreign student enrollments in the country, following only California and New York. They come from all over the world, and top home countries for these students are South Korea, India, China, Mexico, and Taiwan.

I keep seeing articles where people opine that Texas accents are some kind of drawback to a successful political campaign.

They should be remindful that such an attitude toward regional dialects is not only inaccurate and based on faulty comparisons, but also is likely to seem awfully provincial on the world stage, where, to a high percentage of international graduates, this is the normal American accent.



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Sarah Palin Goes To The Fair: Inspiration From the Original Midwest Bus Tour

Via Texans for Sarah Palin:




America is the most awesome country! Thank you, Sarah Palin, for telling anyone who wants to listen just how great our everyday world is in the USA.

Rick Perry is In: No More Vacuum on the Republican Side of the Presidential Race

There are a lot of people who make superior governors, congressional representatives or senators, but who are not presidential timber - at least not in the current climate. Tim Pawlenty has just stepped aside from the presidential race. I admire Herman Cain and hope he will do well this go round, perhaps building toward a successful candidacy later on (or a senate run - Cain would be a top notch Senator), but he's missing the crucial "head of government" experience that I believe voters will require for the next couple of decades.

Now that Rick Perry has stepped up to the plate, we have a candidate to get excited about. I'm thrilled, and yesterday was a zippity doo dah day here: we got 2 1/2" of glorious rain, and Governor Perry announced with an amazing and inspiring speech.

Perry has been a truly good governor. He represents everybody, and pretty much he's a WYSIWYG kind of man. He believes what he says, and he stands up fearlessly for what he believes. He has a sense of humor, and doesn't take himself too seriously. He can look after himself, and has no pity for evil men who harm innocent people.

He's an unapologetic Christian, and willing to show it.

He used to be a conservative Democrat, like me and a whole bunch of other Texans. In 1989, he walked over to the Republican bench. So did many of us in response when the Democrat Party finally went insane after the 2000 elections. He puts his values and his State before any party. [8/16 Correction: My badly constructed sentence originally implied Perry became a Republican in 2000. Edited to clarify.]

He knows there's a solution to every problem and thinks outside the box. Every once in a while he's had a boneheaded idea, but once the electorate clarified that for him, he was willing to take "no" for an answer from the citizenry. He's not still trying to sneak those things in under cover of something else, like so many politicians. That's humility at work.

Rick Perry really likes people, and has friends among all sorts. He can talk with anyone because he's really interested in the person. When he went to Los Angeles in June to speak at a "United For Life" event raising funds for a new women's clinic, the mostly Hispanic crowd of 5,000 gave him a standing ovation.

Rick Perry will be our next President. I've only one possible caveat, and that would be a Sarah Palin candidacy.

If Sarah Palin should decide to run this year, how cool would that be to have TWO fabulous candidates, both of whom would represent Real America, from which to choose?

That's what our elections are supposed to be about: about choosing the best of a great lot. It gives me renewed hope to know we still have such people with the courage to run.

Governor Palin is the only person who can compete with Governor Perry, but as I have posted elsewhere, I've long had a suspicion that she was waiting to make certain the candidate void was filled before issuing a final decision - and now that Perry has agreed to run, it may no longer be essential that she do so this year.

(In fact, and I have nothing to base this on but a gut feeling, I would not be surprised to learn years from now that Palin, Perry, and Trump have coordinated for some time.)

My thinking about Sarah Palin as a leader is that she works on the shortest distance between two points. I believe her current goal is to help us restore the US federal government on a broad spectrum to trustworthy representation for America's future wellbeing, and that doesn't stop with the presidency, in fact it doesn't even start there. As the debt limit capitulation showed, the rehabilitation of Congress has only just begun.

So, I believe that whether she decides to run for President or not will depend on whether she & Todd feel she can best accomplish these things from within the oval office, or whether with Perry firmly holding the fort there, she would then be free to turn her remarkable skills of influence toward other essential steps.

Sarah Palin's campaign has already started, and is moving along famously. The question now is which campaign it is!

~~~

8/16 UPDATE: I've added a few links to this post that lead to good information about important questions, and will add more from time to time.

More on The Undefeated's Strong Attendance and Better-Than-Expected Box Office Grosses

 UPDATE 7/18/11: Box Office Mojo is reporting a full Opening Weekend Gross of $6,513 per theater for The Undefeated.  The gross of $65,132 brings the movie in at #15 on the list of highest grossing opening weekend for political documentaries released since 1982.
 ------
Competing against opening day of the long-awaited final chapter of Harry Potter - which exploded all first day records of any film in history -  "The Undefeated" still filled theaters in most of its markets with audiences who cheered and gave standing ovations for the indie straight-up documentary about Sarah Palin, grossing an average of $5,000 per theater over the weekend through Saturday.

Harry Klady in Movie City News reports The Undefeated's estimated Friday-only grosses at $2870 per theater (ARC reported today $5000 per theater through Saturday). To understand how The Undefeated's turn out compares, listen to what Klady says about Harry Potter's amazing gross: "Regardless, selling 50% of all available ticket inventory to a movie on more than a dozen screens on any day is a mammoth achievement. Don’t think I am undercutting the success of the film by rolling out these numbers. I’m just trying to offer up something that might not be the same 3 paragraphs on this that everyone is writing this morning. A different angle. But 50% is HUGE. Especially now.

"Over the years, I have developed the habit of checking in with busy urban theaters to see how many shows the big openers are selling out. You rarely see those sell-outs more than an hour in advance of anything but the 1 or 2 prime-time Fri/Sat screenings anymore, even in the most popular theaters."

Box Office Mojo lists Weekend Grosses for the top movies, along with the number of theaters screening them and the per-theater average gross. It will give you a good perspective on how much, per theater, any film might be expected to make on a given weekend. For example, when Atlas Shrugged opened, it averaged $5,640. This weekend, Winnie the Pooh averaged $3,326, Transformers Dark of the Moon averaged $5,425.

Box Office Mojo also has a chart listing political documentary grosses since 1982. Here's the link to opening weekend.   Michael Moore's "Capitalism A Love Story"? It grossed $4,623 its opening weekend, back when people still had money to go to the movies.

So The Undefeated is performing very nicely, no matter whose numbers you compare it to!

PS One more update:  Here's a great article on Nielson's site called "Beyond Opening Weekend" that may be useful to learn more about how movies earn money for their distributors and the theaters that show them - the most profitable are those that audiences keep going to see long after opening weekend is gone. And The Undefeated appeals to exactly the demographic that can make that happen.

The Grosses ARE IN: The Undefeated Grosses $5000 Per Theater

The grosses are in, and "The Undefeated" grossed an average of $5000 per theater through Saturday night!

Victory Film Group reports:

ARC Entertainment Announces Strong Opening for "The Undefeated," with Multiple Sold-Out Runs and Vocal Audience Support

  
SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 17, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- ARC Entertainment, the distributor of “The Undefeated,” the film about Gov. Sarah Palin’s rise from obscurity to national prominence, announced today that through Saturday night the film had a stronger opening than expected with the large markets trending towards weekend per screen averages above $10,000 driven by multiple sold-out runs.  The film had accumulated approximately $5,000 per screen through Saturday night. Unique in the theatrical feature world, The Undefeated was rushed to select digital theatres in only 3 weeks, and was marketed almost entirely through social media and grass roots efforts, with virtually no traditional media spend.  With the strong initial showing, the film is going to a wider release footprint later this month, with details being announced soon.

The film opened in 10 markets on Friday including Atlanta, GA, Dallas, TX, Houston, TX, Denver, CO, Phoenix, AZ, Orlando, FL, Indianapolis, IN, Kansas City, MO, Oklahoma City, OK and Orange, CA.

“We are extremely pleased with the audience reaction, which has been over-the-top enthusiastic and very passionate, including standing ovations at most screenings,” said Trevor Drinkwater, CEO of ARC Entertainment, the film’s distributor. “We expect word-of-mouth to keep ticket sales strong and we will definitely expand the film to a wider national audience.  With merely three weeks of preparation and a virtually non-existent traditional advertising spend, the film did exceptionally well. ” .

“We have been told the theaters in Phoenix, Atlanta, Denver and Indianapolis moved  the film to bigger screens to accommodate oversized crowds. Because of high-ticket sales, the Phoenix theater put ‘The Undefeated’ on two screens during one showing to accommodate demand,” stated Andy Badolato, VP Marketing and Business Development of Victory Film Group and Associate Producer of “The Undefeated.”

Over the weekend reports also documented the strong ticket sales and enthusiastic audience reaction.  Reuters reported, “It may not be ‘Harry Potter,’ but another film featuring a bespectacled protagonist is racking up strong pre-sales before its national roll-out this weekend.”  AOL’s Patch reported, “Reactions from filmgoers attending the screening were overwhelmingly positive.”  The Brisbane Times of Australia reported, “‘The Undefeated,’ a documentary tracing Sarah Palin’s rise to political power, has opened in US theatres to overwhelmingly positive opinion.”

“ARC Entertainment and its digital distribution partner Cinedigm did an incredible job opening weekend,” said Stephen K. Bannon, the film’s writer and director. “This was a high risk bet- a national release in ten disparate markets with only three weeks preparation supported solely by social media. What would have taken months and cost millions in P & A, ARC Entertainment and Cinedigm accomplished within a month with negligible costs. This film will find its audience because of its appeal and our savvy distribution partners.”

Update: Be sure to also read the follow up on this post: " More on The Undefeated's Strong Attendance and Better-Than-Expected Grosses "

The Undefeated is Box Office Golden!

Are you fortunate enough to be near a theater showing The Undefeated? Gosh I wish I were! I'll have to wait, but if you have the chance, get your tickets early, as it is thrilling packed houses in all of its markets.
Pretty impressive for any indie movie - and even more for a political documentary!

Here's a sample from Texans For Sarah Palin:

"Atlanta, GA 'The Undefeated' is Number 1 in theater out performing 'Transformers'...

"4pm showing of 'The Undefeated' ends with five minute standing ovation in Atlanta!

"Atlanta - 7pm showing of 'The Undefeated' sold out 3 hours in advance!"

Now Showing in Grapevine TX, Houston, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, Orange California and selected other cities throughout the nation. Go to The Undefeated Official Website to find the latest booking schedule. 

America Called - It's Time For Your Run, Rick Perry.

Like Mrs Palin, Rick Perry is worthy of our forefathers - he holds true to all the best values that keep America strong and great as the land of opportunity and leader of the free world.  I could have sworn I saw a mention somewhere recently (will link when I find it again) that Sarah Palin had met with Perry to encourage him to run for President. (UPDATE I still can't find the link. Perhaps I dreamed it?) Ah well, if it were true, that would be consistent with her strategy as I understand it:  to restore America we must elect representatives who are citizens first and politicians only tangentally.


  He would be a meaningful and legitimate candidate for the highest office in America. Beholden to none, putting the country's best interests first, accepting his authority as a citizen, and taking responsibility himself instead of passing the buck.

If Rick Perry runs, he will not only capture the nomination, he will be our next President. A president who would represent ALL Americans with integrity and backbone.

Mrs Palin Goes To Washington

Heh. Gotta love the Drudge Report's headlines:

"PALIN ROLLIN'...

"Media confused..."

Texas For Sarah Palin has Mrs. Palin's dispatches from Mount Vernon, and, of vast importance, the National Archives. When we need to know the truth these days, it is essential to go to the source documents and read them for ourselves, rather than relying on fifth-hand interpretations. Our Sarah seems to agree when she says "These are nonpartisan, valuable historical tools we all need to see, read, and absorb to learn the truth about our past, so we can move forward successfully."

Read it all here.

God bless the woman. She doesn't have to run - I'd love to vote for her but she doesn't need to - her greatest power is the innate and inalienable power every American Citizen shares: the power to govern ourselves via the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Musing on Walt Whitman, Sarah Palin & American Archetypes

Walt Whitman wrote of America in this excerpt from "Song of the Broad Axe" in Leaves of Grass, the 1871-1872 edition. The Civil War had just ended.

Notice how modern the verse sounds.

After the describing new and independent, self-reliant civilization that was the building of America, after a cadence for the tribulation of civil war and an ode to Europe's bloody history, he began to speak of the future, and the rebuilding of America - and of the resurgence of archetypal American Timber itself:

"The voyage of those who sought a New England and found it—the outset anywhere,
The settlements of the Arkansas, Colorado, Ottawa, Willamette,
The slow progress, the scant fare, the axe, rifle, saddle-bags;
The beauty of all adventurous and daring persons,
The beauty of wood-boys and wood-men, with their clear untrimmed faces,
The beauty of independence, departure, actions that rely on themselves,
The American contempt for statutes and ceremonies, the boundless impatience of restraint....
...

" What do you think endures?
Do you think the great city endures?
...

"The great city is that which has the greatest man or woman;
If it be a few ragged huts, it is still the greatest city in the whole world.
...

"The shapes arise!
Shapes of the using of axes anyhow and the users and all that neighbors them,
Cutters down of wood, and haulers of it to the Penobscot or Kennebec,
Dwellers in cabins among the Californian mountains, or by the little lakes, or on the Columbia,
Dwellers south on the banks of the Gila or Rio Grande - friendly gatherings, the characters and fun,
Dwellers up north in Minnesota and by the Yellowstone river— dwellers on coasts and off coasts,
Seal-fishers, whalers, arctic seamen breaking passages through the ice.
...

"The shapes arise!
Shapes of factories, arsenals, foundries, markets;
Shapes of the two-threaded tracks of railroads;
Shapes of the sleepers of bridges, vast frameworks, girders, arches;
Shapes of the fleets of barges, tows, lake and canal craft, river craft.

"The shapes arise!
Shapes of doors giving many exits and entrances;
The door passing the dissevered friend, flushed and in haste;
The door that admits good news and bad news;
The door whence the son left home, confident and puffed up;
The door he entered again from a long and scandalous absence, diseased, broken down, without innocence, without means.

"Her shape arises,
She, less guarded than ever, yet more guarded than ever;
The gross and soil'd she moves among do not make her gross and soiled;
She knows the thoughts as she passes—nothing is concealed from her;
She is none the less considerate or friendly therefore;
She is the best beloved, it is without exception, she has no reason to fear, and she does not fear.
Oaths, quarrels, hiccupped songs, smutty expressions, are idle to her as she passes;
She is silent—she is possess'd of herself—they do not offend her;
She receives them as the laws of nature receive them — she is strong,
She too is a law of nature—there is no law stronger than she is.

"The main shapes arise!
Shapes of Democracy, total—result of centuries;
Shapes, ever projecting other shapes;
Shapes of turbulent manly cities;
Shapes of the friends and home-givers of the whole earth,
Shapes bracing the earth, and braced with the whole earth. "

I ran across this when trying to whittle down the bookshelves. Whitman personified the self-possessed naivete of the "can-do" American as the mythic mother, the queen that shares democracy with abandon: the Lady Liberty herself.

Walt Whitman would have loved Sarah Palin! The passionately patriotic "poet of the Civil War" was an expansive feminist of the old school:

"Where women walk in public processions in the streets, the same as the men,
Where they enter the public assembly and take places the same as the men"

He'd have loved her plain speaking, her artless assumption of her true place within our common life, her unabashed recognition of the unique magnificence that is America.

Walt would have understood why Sarah Palin resonates so powerfully with so many Americans: not because she is like us or stronger or braver or wiser (although she is all of those things), but because she reminds us all that we are too - that our American heritage is to be the archetype our own selves: this is who we are.

She's proved it. And if she can do it, we can do it too. We need not cast about for heroes: they are here in our own hearts.

What it means to be American is to be people who look within and find the shape of the leader that is in each of us. And then we go forward into a confident and egalitarian future for us all. That's the direction Sarah points toward, that's the continuing frontier that America will always win.

Yes, I think Walt would be very proud that America is still being shaped today by the likes of Sarah Palin.

A Leader Shows the Way: Sarah Palin goes to Israel

Via Professor Jacobson at Legal Insurrection (good blog, linked from my sidebar), comes Andrew Sullivan's important points about Sarah Palin's common links with other great women leaders such as Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir, and Elizabeth I, and thoughts on her upcoming visit to Israel (more at Texas for Sarah Palin).

Palin's trip to Israel is vital, and I believe, will in future be seen as a decisive event. She needs no election to serve as an effective ambassador for Americans like me who love Israel, and who hold great hopes for a blossoming future of true liberty for all people in the coming years.

Sarah Palin is in good company with her support for the Jewish homeland:

"Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy. Peace for Israel means security and that security must be a reality. "
Dr Martin Luther King Jr

"Israel was not created in order to disappear - Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom."
John F. Kennedy

"Today we should all recommit ourselves to ensuring that the miracle of a Jewish state endures forever."
Sarah Palin, 2010

Sullivan's article at The Atlantic is illustrated with the ill-fated Celtic Queen Boudicca, but the image above is Lady Liberty herself, here depicted in her WWI era garb as the ardent American defender of the Armenians against the 20th Century's first genocide.

"The Wisdom of Palin": Common Sense Leads to Firm Ground

Courtesy of Texas for Sarah Palin, comes a compelling excerpt. Here's just a hint:

"Over the course of the last couple years, Sarah Palin has written or spoken on just about every matter facing us as a nation, and in each of these, reveals that her choice, is the simple, common sense one. There's no need of complex policy papers, or "complex, theoretically driven schemes" to solve any of them....."

Go see the rest. Then read the complete article "The Wisdom of Palin" by weholdthesetruths.

This paragraph points out the consistency of Sarah Palin's approach to governance. Sarah's responses to questions, events and solutions are grounded in the solid bedrock of American Ingenuity, American Optimism, and premised on protecting those fundamental tenets of American Exceptionalism: the God-given rights of every person to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This consistency is filled with common sense that allows her to focus on next steps and adjust her stride at any point to account for the unexpected without being thrown off course. Because her center of gravity is secure, we can be confident in her balance. And we, the ordinary sharp smart adaptable People Yes, can follow her with ease - because her path is our own natural route.

Not everyone is capable of seeing where she is going, though. Those who can't generate their policy on yesterday's events until they get today's poll results aren't able to predict Sarah. They keep trying to reclaim the past, while she sets her course for Tomorrow. Her feet are on solid ground. But they've chosen to stand on sifting sand.

Why Sarah Palin Makes Us Proud: Naturally Compassionate Love

The night Nicolas was born (not premature but a month before we expected him), I held a Home Interiors party. My guests left at 9:00, we got to the hospital at 9:30, and he was born at 9:45. Following his birth announcement, his next mention in the newspaper was on the front page: he was the "baby" in this sentence about my appearance at a public hearing on water rates: "....addressed the City Council with baby in arms..."

For Ethan's birth, we went to a midwife, and both of us came home about 4 hours after he was born. I did miss the Parks Board meeting that afternoon, but went grocery shopping the next day.

So when I read that Trig was a month earlier than expected, and that Sarah, at a conference in Texas, went ahead and gave her speech after her water broke, that sounded like something I thought I might have done.

Sarah Palin treats ordinary things as though they are ordinary things, and giving birth is an ordinary thing for a woman to do. She doesn't allow the commonplace to become novel. Instead, she treats ordinary people as worthy of her time because that is the gift of life: each ordinary person and ordinary task is worthwhile.

And because she lives this way, her actions reflect the most natural compassion there is: a mother's own everyday priority of mingling love with the necessary tasks.

And so Trig is a baby who takes his place in the midst of the family like any other baby, and like so many large families he has a nephew his own age to grow up with, and that's that. While Sarah understands all the things people love to talk about and worry about and gossip about, when it comes down to the wire, Sarah Palin rejoices in the great goodness these babies bring to
the world.

And whether they agree with her politically or not, the great majority of mothers in the world recognize their own approach to family in Sarah: to whom a child is a child is a child that needs what all children need: love, direction, care, a place in the family, the blessing of his parents.

Some years ago, Ryan T. Anderson wrote a parable for First Things that illustrates this manner of living:

The Parable of the Good Soccer Mom

"You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself."

" Consider the Parable of the Good Soccer Mom: An embryo fell into the hands of ambitious scientists after she was left over in the freezer of an in vitro fertilization lab.

" A molecular biologist happened to be journeying through the lab. Seeing that the embryo was very small and didn't look like other human beings, he decided that it was not a human being. And he passed to the other side of the lab and left the embryo for his colleagues.

" Likewise a moral philosopher came to the place and launched into an exposition of human embryology and developmental biology. He concluded that the human embryo was a whole human being at the very beginning of her life. ...... [B]ut the embryo could feel no pain or pleasure and exhibited no consciousness of any type, and so the philosopher concluded that the human embryo had no moral status and possessed no rights. And he, too, passed to the other side of the lab and left the embryo to the tender mercies of the scientists.

" But a Soccer Mom who came upon the embryo was moved by both scientific fact and right moral reason.... [So] The Soccer Mom rescued the embryo, transferred her to her womb, and cared for her."

The most loving approach to life is unsentimental. It sees reality as matters of fact. Compassionate love rejoices in the present and in the future. It remembers the past but understands life looks forward. Love focuses on health and on creating and keeping health within the realm of reality.

When Sarah Palin came onto the national stage, she brought a family with her that affirmed these kinds of choices. When faced with embryos some in the world would define as "inconvenient", Sarah's actions said here's a reality that love will make good. And she not only followed her heart: she followed her beliefs.

That's healthy. That's pragmatism. That's transformative. That's normal.

And that's one reason that Sarah Palin is a Great American.




Photos: from the Sarah Palin Information Blog Photo Gallery