41 Responses to “You Betcha: Palin Endorses Rand Paul in Bitter Kentucky GOP Senate Primary”

1. Chuck Cross
   February 1st, 2010 @ 01 13

   At least she’s on the winning side of the feud.

   OH!

2. CrustyB
   February 1st, 2010 @ 01 19

   I can see Sarah aligning with Rand’s views on taxes and the Federal Reserve but not his opposition to the war in Iraq and the Patriot Act. Maybe the ophthalmologist thing got to her.

3. Chuck Cross
   February 1st, 2010 @ 01 41

   Most of the anti-Rand commentary I have seen stems from distortions of his positions by his opponents. They make him out to be some sort of Dove, but he would have went into Afghanistan, and would have forced our leaders to a Declaration of War with Iraq (you know, that pesky U.S. Constitution we often side-step).

   To me, there is a big difference between disliking a candidate because his positions suck (frankly I’m pro-Constitutional Conservative which is Rand), and distorting/attacking because you like the other guy.

   For that matter, I agree with Bill Johnson on most of his positions, but his his double-barrel double-0 buckshot smear campaign painting Rand Paul as some dope-smoker/pro-choice advocate turned me off to him completely.

   I think Buckley was right (in the linked blog post from 1/26), but the blood feud is going to keep a lot of people home unless the partisans take a sober look at the positions, and not what the pontificators want you to believe. Sarah Palin clearly gets it.

4. Patrick
   February 1st, 2010 @ 01 50

   AllahPudit, Ed and Michelle are having a 2 day company-wide meeting.

   See here:

   http://hotair.com/archives/2010/02/01/welcome-our-guest-bloggers-to-hot-air/

5. anginak
   February 1st, 2010 @ 02 11

   This may come across as not serious enough or glib or whatever, but…. you can’t make everyone happy all the time.

   Shit, I’ve been unhappy since early November 2008.

6. uberVU - social comments
   February 1st, 2010 @ 02 19

   Social comments and analytics for this post…

   This post was mentioned on Twitter by rsmccain: You Betcha: Palin Endorses Rand Paul in Bitter KY Sen. Primary: http://bit.ly/ciB2lg [] @Allahpundit’s head just exploded #tcot…

7. Wondering Jew
   February 1st, 2010 @ 02 33

   Agree entirely with Chuck’s comments. Rand Paul is a great candidate. Bill Johnson seems fairly solid on many issues, but his smearing of Rand (plus the fact he has no tractions in the polls) disqualifies him. Trey Grayson is a hackish Mitch McConnell puppet.

   It is very encouraging to see an alliance between the Palin and Paul supporters. I don’t agree with either of them on everything, but both represent a welcome challenge to the worthless Republican establishment.

8. Angela Thorn
   February 1st, 2010 @ 02 41

   Lisa Graas has apparently jumped off the Palin bandwagon as a result. http://texas4palin.blogspot.com/2010/02/rand-paul-camp-claims-confirmation-of.html?showComment=1265050230567#c122144894205598269

   Her “Palin” Twibe (which I subscribed to and was HUGE by Twibe standards) has been deleted as well.

9. John
   February 1st, 2010 @ 02 58

   It’s likely more of an “ignore it and it didn’t happen” type of treatment for Allahpundit and co.

10. Old Rebel
    February 1st, 2010 @ 03 17

    Over at LGF, poor Charles Johnson is hissyfying over this endorsement, slamming Rand Paul as a “paleo-nutjob” because of his opposition to the illegal USA PATRIOT Act, torture, and Neocon “nation-building.”

11. Lisa Graas
    February 1st, 2010 @ 04 10

    Sarah Palin has sold out to the money machine in defiance of Reagan conservatives in Kentucky. Johnson is supported by Sue Jaycox who organized the first Louisville Tea Party and also Debra Tennison, who heads up the Central Ky Tea Party. I know a lot of things I can’t report publicly. Just watch what happens. Her credibility has just been destroyed in Kentucky. Her base will abandon her and the Paulites, who hate her anyway, won’t be supporting her for president either. Too bad. I guess it’s a good thing for her that Kentucky isn’t that important in presidential elections. She can afford to stab us all in the back and it won’t hurt her chances too much. She can now rake in money from Campaign for Liberty people. It’s all going to be a lucrative investment for her, I’m sure.

    I *can* report that the Palin Twibe has been deleted along with all feeds and Facebook group. The blog is open to authors only and will be deleted in one week to give authors time to copy any content they may want to keep. The Palin Twibe account will be deleted in one week, as well.

12. The Javelineer
    February 1st, 2010 @ 04 46

    Two words: aw yeah!
    Three more: audit the Fed!

    I’m a proud paleo-conservative. I know. I know. Who really thinks the Founders were basically right? Who still thinks people can govern themselves without “experts”? Who could possibly think that most big business activity isn’t capitalist but mercantilist? Me, that’s who. And lots of other people, like Rand Paul.

    There’s a very revealing aspect to all of this, beyond the election. The paleo-conservative’s vision is substantially different from the neo-conservative’s. Where does Palin really stand, then? Interesting.

    Palin is getting more, and more attractive to me. I didn’t think it possible.

13. Bob Belvedere
    February 1st, 2010 @ 05 14

    Stacy: What’s this about Smitty: Playing For The Other Team???

14. Old Rebel
    February 1st, 2010 @ 05 15

    Javelineer,

    Obama’s turning even more folks into paleoconservatives than the Neocons.

15. Sarah Palin Endorses Paul!
    February 1st, 2010 @ 05 29

    [...] You Betcha: Palin Endorses Rand Paul in Bitter Kentucky GOP Senate Primary Maybe she did this just to make Allahpundit’s head explode: [...]

16. Stupid Move – Sarah Palin Endorses Rand Paul | Political Byline
    February 1st, 2010 @ 05 34

    [...] Riehl World View, AmSpecBlog, The Other McCain SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Stupid Move – Sarah Palin Endorses Rand Paul", url: [...]

17. K~Bob
    February 1st, 2010 @ 05 49

    They’re doing backflips over this at freeper-land. Not.

    Boy does she get under the skin of people that want her to do things the way they want ‘em done. My guess is she’s met with the man and finds his positions more in line with conservatism.

    So far the only people who are leaving her bandwagon seem to be people who prefer leading their own. No great loss there.

18. theCL
    February 1st, 2010 @ 05 50

    Lisa,

    I understand that your heart is in the right place, but your description of Rand Paul’s anti-abortion stance comes straight out of a left-wing play book!

    Please disagree, but don’t misrepresent. If the right continues to fall into this cheap tactic nonsense, the country is gone for good.

    God help us all!

19. Eric
    February 1st, 2010 @ 06 11

    Lisa spent the last week claiming that Rand Paul’s people were liars for insinuating this endorsement was coming.

    An apology would be the conservative thing to do. You know, personal responsibility and all that.

20. Miss Sharon
    February 1st, 2010 @ 06 25

    Commonsense pragmatism? Shrewd coalescing of the populist anger?

21. I.B. Wright
    February 1st, 2010 @ 06 43

    lisa g’s post makes her sound like a whiner.

    don’t like whiners.

    hey lisa. just represent your candidate and stop whining.

22. Tim
    February 1st, 2010 @ 07 01

    Lisa has been caught lying before on blogs.She claimed she didn’t spam for Bill Johnson will mutliple Google Accounts (a violation of Google TOS) then later admitted to it.

    Plus she says she supports amnesty, bailouts, etc.. which are anti-tea party anti-conservative positions.

23. NKYguy
    February 1st, 2010 @ 07 02

    Lisa (aka Whiner),
    Love the “take your ball and go home” mentality…Pub/tea blood feud in KY means the dem wins by the skin of a Johnson whiner’s teeth.

24. ol_dirty_/b+/tard
    February 1st, 2010 @ 08 42

    Can we please lay off Lisa? We can disagree without trashing her. She’s been a staunch supporter for a long time. I like Palin’s endorsement but I also still like Lisa.

25. Dave C
    February 1st, 2010 @ 08 43

    http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/2/1/832853/-Palin-Twibe-has-been-DeletedLOL

    Getting ugly out there.

26. Lisa Graas
    February 1st, 2010 @ 08 52

    Tim writes: Lisa has been caught lying before on blogs.She claimed she didn’t spam for Bill Johnson will mutliple Google Accounts (a violation of Google TOS) then later admitted to it.

    Tim, you are a LIAR. I comment under my own name everywhere with the exception of HotAir where I comment as ‘gocatholic’ and I NEVER EVER hide my identity. You are a liar.

27. Lisa Graas
    February 1st, 2010 @ 08 54

    For the record, I was going to support Rand Paul until I interviewed his campaign manager and campaign coordinator and was appalled by what they told me.

    I just love the “whiner” comments. If they only knew. Sigh.

28. forgodsake
    February 1st, 2010 @ 09 16

    Lisa, Rand is going to win anyway whether you like it or not and whether you cry about it. no one cares.

29. Something tells me the Classic Liberalis happy about this « The Daley Gator
    February 1st, 2010 @ 09 16

    [...] You Betcha: Palin Endorses Rand Paul in Bitter Kentucky GOP Senate Primary Maybe she did this just to make Allahpundit’s head explode: [...]

30. Shock and Awe Day for the GOP : The Other McCain
    February 1st, 2010 @ 09 27

    [...] Bill Johnson or Trey Grayson, I’m sure they’re scratching their heads. Personally, I was surprised she’d get involved in such a bloody three-way feud.Meanwhile, as Pat Austin notes at Not One [...]

31. Why Is Sarah Palin Endorsing Ron Paul’s Son? « Calvin Freiburger Online
    February 1st, 2010 @ 09 54

    [...] and do something stupid.  But sadly, that’s exactly what just happened with Sarah Palin.  Via the Other McCain, she has endorsed Rand Paul in Kentucky’s GOP primary for the 2010 Senate [...]

32. ml
    February 1st, 2010 @ 10 36

    What is Palin thinking? Why she endorsed Rand Paul? Palin must be another Rino’s just like Sen. John McCain and former Gov. Mitt Romney.

33. The Javelineer
    February 2nd, 2010 @ 04 45

    Lisa, I’ve read your blog posts on Rand Paul and Ron Paul. Most of them overreach.

    Ron Paul calls for the disestablishment of the CIA. You infer that this means Ron Paul wants to eliminate all foreign intelligence gathering. That’s false. He wants to eliminate a hopelessly corrupt, unaccountable, and ineffective agency – and then replace it with something that works and is accountable. You’re just wrong on the facts. You say the idea is kooky. I watched the CIA wage an undeclared war on GW Bush. You must have been distracted, at the time.

    But just think about this one thing: the CIA can’t keep secrets! I advocate putting all intelligence gathering into DIA. Under the UCMJ, leakers can be shot for treason and the entire system is under a unified, accountable command structure.

    Rand Paul thinks we should consider moving Gitmo detainees back to their home countries. You think this “basically denies that we are at war” and entails releasing the inmates back onto the battlefield. This is false. In fact, your beloved CIA conducts rendition which is nothing more than sending inmates back to their home countries to face much more harsh interrogations than allowed by US detention facilities. Sending people to prisons back in their home country is hardly putting them “back into the battlefield.”

    You also state that the Gitmo detainees are POWs. This is false. They are unlawful combatants who are not eligible for POW protections. The US, being a benevolent nation, has granted most detainees treatment as though they are POWs. You have the same mistaken reading of Geneva as the most radical European leftists.

    Lisa, apparently some people here have lied about you. That’s unwarranted. Kindly give others the same treatment in your analysis.

34. Lisa Graas
    February 2nd, 2010 @ 07 19

    Video of Bill Johnson at the Reagan Rally 01/31/10

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1pHQO1kJ0I

    He’s going to win this race because he has a strong conservative spine and the people LOVE him.

35. Mike Wallace
    February 2nd, 2010 @ 09 41

    Rands rise in the polls guaranteed this race would receive a national focus. The Pauls are a very well known enigma. They exist and raise political funding outside of the normal process of favors and connections. Politicians want to be them & at the same time are unsure of supporters who cannot be transferred or mollified. Palins endorsement is of course controversial, because she is. In 2008 She was on record of favorable opinions of older Paul.

    Both Pauls have spent a lifetime advancing the philosophy of liberty laid out in the Declaration of Indep. They know that the Const. is a framework for protecting those liberties by restraining Gov & that every act of expanding gov undermines that. Anyone that promotes liberty like that understands two points. To respect liberty you MUST respect life, & to have rights you MUST have the ability to assert those rights by force (military) otherwise you have no rights. To the chagrin of some, rights also come with the responsibility to be justified in using force to defend them.

    Rand gets the intent of the Const and the need to be strictly limited on legislation he would like to advocate vs what on the surface looks good but ultimately undermines the intent of the Const.

36. Chuck Cross
    February 2nd, 2010 @ 10 02

    Sad.

    All of us probably agree on 95% of issues (5% disagreement on Pro-America vs. Pro-Global foreign policy view), yet conservatives will fight over word-smithing by inter-party foes as a reason to hate a candidate.

37. William R
    February 2nd, 2010 @ 11 36

    Time for conservatives to return to their roots. There’s nothing conservative about preemptive war and nation building. The GOP has lost its way with this bellicose foreign policy. On Jan 17 1961 President Eisenhower used his farewell address to the nation to warn the American people about the military industrial complex. Today we’ve got so called conservatives wanting to start another war with Iran. Never mind we are stuck in two wars right now. Why not make it three. As Ed Crane founder of the CATO institute recently wrote, “it is time for the GOP to dump these faux conservatives”

    http://www.amconmag.com/article/2010/mar/01/00040/

38. Morning Whip, Feb. 2, 2010 - Medary.com
    February 2nd, 2010 @ 12 45

    [...] but Palin has a fairly wide libertarian streak, as do many western conservatives . . . You Betcha: Palin Endorses Rand Paul in Bitter Kentucky GOP Senate Primary Reverse Scozzafava: Republicans Can Pick Up Special Election House Seat in Hawaii We want you to [...]

39. The Javelineer
    February 2nd, 2010 @ 01 58

    Lisa Graas wrote, “He’s going to win this race because he has a strong conservative spine and the people LOVE him.”

    Well that’s a good reason to be happy. A people’s representative should represent them. If he’s a strong conservative, even better!

    Still, none of that goodness will justify Lisa’s factual errors.

    Chuck Gross wrote, “conservatives will fight over word-smithing by inter-party foes as a reason to hate a candidate.”

    This dispute is not over word-smithing, but over factual errors. There is a crease in the Republican Party. It’s a crease, not a rift, because as you point out there is substantial agreement among the caucuses. These creases divide paleo-conservatives, neo-conservatives.

    The disputes between the two camps is not trivial, as Chuck seems to think. While there is 95% agreement, the issues at dispute are quite substantial.

    Neo-conservatives like big government; paleo-conservatives want a strictly limited government. Neo-conservatives are comfortable with government interference in society; paleo-conservatives want society to develop free of a “tyranny of experts.”. Neo-conservatives are supply-siders; paleo-conservatives advocate consumer sovereignty. Neo-conservatives accept the radical changes of the New Deal; paleo-conservatives want to roll back the entire edifice of the administrative state.

    Chuck, if we can’t achieve agreement let us achieve clarity. Let us know each other’s position. Only clarity is a basis for cooperation on the 95% area of agreement.

    Because Lisa Graas overreaches and distorts rather than clarifies, her approach will yield only discord.

    We’re conservatives. We tell the truth and deal with facts as best we can. We don’t make stuff up.

40. Chuck Cross
    February 3rd, 2010 @ 09 50

    @ Javelineer – I appreciate the thoughtful feedback. A point of clarification. I do not think most conservatives are neo-conservatives — most certainly not a 50/50 split. In my view, there are facets of their ideology that leak into conservative philosophy that contribute to your “crease,” and that is predominantly their views on foreign policy. If you had a distribution of conservatives, with paleo-conservatives as the right-tail, neo-conservatives the left-tail and most conservatives in the middle, the gravity, until recently, has been stronger in the neo-conservative direction.

    Neo-conservatives are recognizing this in their increasingly loud shoutdowns of the other end of the spectrum, using their 1960’s tactics to paint the paleo-conservatives as Isolationists. The paleo-conservatives, having been bested in the 80’s and 90’s, are already grumpy, but find their message at least being listened to and mentioned in the press. I believe that is so partially due to it being in-line with the founding fathers original intent .

    Facts and musings aside, it really comes down to who delivers their message better. I give the advantage to the neo-conservatives, as they are masters of manipulation when it comes to painting their opposition as anti-troops/anti-america (when in reality the polar-opposite is true).

41. Fallout From Sarah Palin’s Kentucky Senate Endorsement : The Other McCain
    February 8th, 2010 @ 02 39

    [...] supports Bill Johnson in Kentucky’s GOP Senate primary, and was extremely disappointed by Palin’s endorsement of Rand Paul in that primary. Now Lisa has announced she’s pulling out of PalinTwibe:I have decided to ask [...]

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