The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Accusations of Coyness from Dan Riehl

Posted on | February 7, 2010 | 38 Comments

by Smitty

A Sarah Palin quote, and Dan’s reaction:

This weekend, it’s Nashville, but in March, I’ll head to Searchlight, Nev., for the kickoff rally at the Tea Party Express III. In April, I’ll be in Boston for a Tea Party gathering there. Across the country, tea-partiers will be sharing our vision for America’s future, a vision that promotes common sense solutions to out-of-control spending and an out-of-touch political establishment.At the very least, it strikes me as a bit coy for Palin to suggest the movement doesn’t need a leader, while looking as though she’s planning to become it at the same time.

Oh, come on, Dan, do the math. She’s already seen the Left go nuclear on her for having the temerity to accept a VP nomination. She’s hanging back from an explicit grab at the ring for the same reason you may, and I do: holding the current position is preferred.

I see her as a less toad-like Fred Thompson (for whom I voted in the VA primary, dig the guy): she can lurk on the fringe, helping the overall situation, while avoid getting thrown in the grinder without sufficient demand. Last night’s speech was very much a paint-by-numbers play to the audience. She did NOT say something like:

The sad truth, Americans, is that Progressivism has drunk your milkshake. The free states delegating powers to a central government to handle foreign policy and inter-state issues has turned into an imperial nightmare. We’re broke. Our children are broke. Our grandchildren, not so financially good.

The Tea Party movement has to coalesce on fixing the system. That means gettin’ on a 10th Amendment bulldozer and leveling a few executive departments. That means our broke States taking care of their citizens, not the Federal government. That means breaking all of the Federal Reserve banks, and selling souvenirs to make up for the devastation carried out on the dollar by placing vast power in the hands of the few. That means restoring the rightful three-tier government upon which this country was founded.

There is no need for recrimination. The whole country, actively or passively, played along with the Progressive experiment the last century. If it had worked, fine. But. It. Has. Been. Disaster. So we can continue to elect Pollyanna-ticians and pile up the ruin, or we can set about a gradual, orderly, reconstitution of what made the country great.

This is not the easy road. The elderly and so on will have to be protected by the improvements. They’ve been swindled. But what we’re going to do is force political leaders to make responsible decisions. To disabuse themselves of the notion that they are better than their constituents. To forge transparent programs at the appropriate level of government so that there is actual accountability. To ensure that generations cannot simply steal from the next generation.

We’re simply not at the point where a Sarah Palin could speak in that manner, if indeed she has the interest. It’s too early. The opposition too unethical to do anything but nuke the messenger. And the electorate, sadly, too brainwashed and cowed to do more than play along.

No, she has to build to that sort of speech for some time, if ever. So for now, boy, you get the coy. Enjoy.

Update: (h/t Instapundit) Kleinhelder saw no coyness whatsoever.  Was that a speech, or a Rorshach test?

Update: Moe Lane ‘lanch!

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Category: Sarah Palin

Comments

  • Katherine Lambert

    Dear Stacy:
    I have misjudged you. Put off by your Rule #5 blasphemy, your playing into Ace’s dipping porn, nevertheless I have stopped at your website often to get your shoe leather reports. Your tech guy let you down BIG on streaming of the Scott Brown victory speech.
    That speech above is fantastic. If you were running for dogcatcher or King of the World I would vote for you based on it alone. It is right up there with Reagan’s Time For Choosing (we were in a gentler age then – no dipping and crap). I am printing it out and pasting it on my refrigerator to be heartened and warmed when I go to check what the enemy is up I don’t bother with the tentacles of HuffPo or The DailyKos I go straight to the head -the progressive website The Real News http://therealnews.com/t2/ which at this moment has Sarah with Dick Cheney on the cover. I will feel that we have a new Stonewall Jackson in our midst here on the Rascal side of the revolution. From now on you sir are Stonewall Stacy who famously said
    Once you get them running, you stay right on top of them, and that way a small force can defeat a large one every time… “Only thus can a weaker country cope with a stronger; it must make up in activity what it lacks in strength. Who could not conquer with such troops as these?
    My troops may fail to take a position, but are never driven from one!”
    Ride on Stacy! Ride On!

  • Katherine Lambert

    Dear Stacy:
    I have misjudged you. Put off by your Rule #5 blasphemy, your playing into Ace’s dipping porn, nevertheless I have stopped at your website often to get your shoe leather reports. Your tech guy let you down BIG on streaming of the Scott Brown victory speech.
    That speech above is fantastic. If you were running for dogcatcher or King of the World I would vote for you based on it alone. It is right up there with Reagan’s Time For Choosing (we were in a gentler age then – no dipping and crap). I am printing it out and pasting it on my refrigerator to be heartened and warmed when I go to check what the enemy is up I don’t bother with the tentacles of HuffPo or The DailyKos I go straight to the head -the progressive website The Real News http://therealnews.com/t2/ which at this moment has Sarah with Dick Cheney on the cover. I will feel that we have a new Stonewall Jackson in our midst here on the Rascal side of the revolution. From now on you sir are Stonewall Stacy who famously said
    Once you get them running, you stay right on top of them, and that way a small force can defeat a large one every time… “Only thus can a weaker country cope with a stronger; it must make up in activity what it lacks in strength. Who could not conquer with such troops as these?
    My troops may fail to take a position, but are never driven from one!”
    Ride on Stacy! Ride On!

  • alwaysfiredup

    Personally, I saw bunnies. Or was it a butterfly? Those inkblots are so coy.

  • alwaysfiredup

    Personally, I saw bunnies. Or was it a butterfly? Those inkblots are so coy.

  • http://datechguy.wordpress.com datechguy

    Sarah Palin at the Boston Tea Party WAHOOOOO!

  • http://datechguy.wordpress.com datechguy

    Sarah Palin at the Boston Tea Party WAHOOOOO!

  • Pingback: Moe Lane » The speech was a Rorshach test, Smitty. #rsrh

  • Scott

    Dan is in the throes of walkback from Sarah Palin. First, he was a big supporter, but as she identified less with the Republicans and more with the Tea Party, his support for her began to dwindle. You can graph the increasing severity of his attacks by her increasing involvement with the Tea Party.

    We are seeing the same thing with Redstate, but Erickson is being more cautious, I think, in case Sarah becomes bigger than he thought. His post on the Tea Party in Nashville complains about the amateur factor of Nashville, and the $550 attendance fee keeping out the common folk, though he is justifiably proud of his role in the upcoming CPAC meeting, $750 attendance fee, which seems like it would inconvenience the common folk by $200 more.

    So Sarah ain’t gonna attend CPAC. The “profit motive” that Erickson and Dan complain about at Nashville is perfectly okay when hitting up FedEx for a couple of million. CPAC leadership can blast and damn Palin with the same stupid attacks as MSNBC, but she needs to snap into shape and toe the party line.

    Everyone, including Dan and Erickson, can talk about the dangers of the creeping RINO virus, and the party apparatchik moving the Republican Party toward Demo Lite, but Sarah is a threat that must be met and defeated. Recognizing that there have been years of stupid leadership by McCain, McConnell, Boehner and even Bush on economics is less important than the possible replacement of the Republican Party.

    So what has the Republican Party given us lately? Scozzafava, Crist, Fiorina and her demon sheep. It’s time for the Republican Party to get some discipline.

    Flashback to the 2008 election. How many Republicans were livid with those who thought that a time in the wilderness would help the party? A lot. A whole lot. The defeats were disastrous. Yet in less than a year, the Republican Party realized that their leadership was full of crap, and change has started. It still has a long way to go, but the rank-and-file Republicans are at least looking for the road back. I’m betting that a lot more Tea Party discipline will help the Republican recovery, or give us a more conservative party. Either way, it works for me.

    “I voted for the Chick.”

    These folks are invested in the R

  • Scott

    Dan is in the throes of walkback from Sarah Palin. First, he was a big supporter, but as she identified less with the Republicans and more with the Tea Party, his support for her began to dwindle. You can graph the increasing severity of his attacks by her increasing involvement with the Tea Party.

    We are seeing the same thing with Redstate, but Erickson is being more cautious, I think, in case Sarah becomes bigger than he thought. His post on the Tea Party in Nashville complains about the amateur factor of Nashville, and the $550 attendance fee keeping out the common folk, though he is justifiably proud of his role in the upcoming CPAC meeting, $750 attendance fee, which seems like it would inconvenience the common folk by $200 more.

    So Sarah ain’t gonna attend CPAC. The “profit motive” that Erickson and Dan complain about at Nashville is perfectly okay when hitting up FedEx for a couple of million. CPAC leadership can blast and damn Palin with the same stupid attacks as MSNBC, but she needs to snap into shape and toe the party line.

    Everyone, including Dan and Erickson, can talk about the dangers of the creeping RINO virus, and the party apparatchik moving the Republican Party toward Demo Lite, but Sarah is a threat that must be met and defeated. Recognizing that there have been years of stupid leadership by McCain, McConnell, Boehner and even Bush on economics is less important than the possible replacement of the Republican Party.

    So what has the Republican Party given us lately? Scozzafava, Crist, Fiorina and her demon sheep. It’s time for the Republican Party to get some discipline.

    Flashback to the 2008 election. How many Republicans were livid with those who thought that a time in the wilderness would help the party? A lot. A whole lot. The defeats were disastrous. Yet in less than a year, the Republican Party realized that their leadership was full of crap, and change has started. It still has a long way to go, but the rank-and-file Republicans are at least looking for the road back. I’m betting that a lot more Tea Party discipline will help the Republican recovery, or give us a more conservative party. Either way, it works for me.

    “I voted for the Chick.”

    These folks are invested in the R

  • Scott

    Sorry about lousy editing for that last line. Early in the morning, coffee hasn’t kicked in, a little too excited and disgusted by people that I think I respect, all that kind of thing. It won’t happen again until next time.

  • Scott

    Sorry about lousy editing for that last line. Early in the morning, coffee hasn’t kicked in, a little too excited and disgusted by people that I think I respect, all that kind of thing. It won’t happen again until next time.

  • Joe

    I wish Fred ran a better campaign, because he was the best candidate in the bunch, by far.

    <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/hitchens-attacks-gore-vidal-for-being-a-crackpot-1891753.html&quot;?And off topic, but Hithchen bashing Gore Vidol is always fun.

  • Joe

    I wish Fred ran a better campaign, because he was the best candidate in the bunch, by far.

    <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/hitchens-attacks-gore-vidal-for-being-a-crackpot-1891753.html&quot;?And off topic, but Hithchen bashing Gore Vidol is always fun.

  • Joe
  • Joe
  • Scott

    Ok, now I’m pissed as hell. Dan is talking about Palin possibly being 0 for 2 if Paul Rand loses. So I guess the 0 for 1 is NY-23. If I remember correctly, until Sarah got involved, Hoffman was a distant third in the race. After her endorsement, he almost won the race, and taking into account the recent voting irregularities, may have actually won. Dan is being a prick.

  • Scott

    Ok, now I’m pissed as hell. Dan is talking about Palin possibly being 0 for 2 if Paul Rand loses. So I guess the 0 for 1 is NY-23. If I remember correctly, until Sarah got involved, Hoffman was a distant third in the race. After her endorsement, he almost won the race, and taking into account the recent voting irregularities, may have actually won. Dan is being a prick.

  • ern

    I think your characterization of the speech as a kind of Rorschach test is pretty accurate. The pundits most focused on politics as electoral outcomes can only see her speech as a preparation for 2012, etc. I tend to take political speeches at their word. If someone promises something, I expect them to deliver. When they are contradictory, I learn that the one giving the speech is mendacious. Palin has been remarkably straightforward on these questions. I don’t see any reason to think her lying outright, which is what Riehl seems to imply. She’s far more effective in a non-elected position, and so far I think she knows this. If she changes her mind about running, so be it. But for now there’s no reason to distort everything she’s saying through that particular lens.

  • ern

    I think your characterization of the speech as a kind of Rorschach test is pretty accurate. The pundits most focused on politics as electoral outcomes can only see her speech as a preparation for 2012, etc. I tend to take political speeches at their word. If someone promises something, I expect them to deliver. When they are contradictory, I learn that the one giving the speech is mendacious. Palin has been remarkably straightforward on these questions. I don’t see any reason to think her lying outright, which is what Riehl seems to imply. She’s far more effective in a non-elected position, and so far I think she knows this. If she changes her mind about running, so be it. But for now there’s no reason to distort everything she’s saying through that particular lens.

  • http://www.sixmeatbuffet.com Brian

    Lewis Lapham call your office.

    The thing is that A.C. Clownheider, who Instapundit gobbles down nutfulls of his milkshake on a daily basis, has been calling Tea Party people racists, teabaggers, nativists, bigots, etc. for over a year and half now.

    That he doesn’t like and has never liked Sarah Palin is no news flash considering that he’s a Trig Truther who’s spent so much time up Sully’s ass that you’d think he was the one who responded to the RawMuscleGlutes ad. He’s a hardcore Democrat who has played this faux-Paleoconservative stance that won him over the Nashville Liberal Media (i.e., the only Nashville media) because he only criticizes people on the right.

    He’s a “conservative” who bashed Bob Corker (of all people) as a racists and voted for arch-conservative Harold Ford, Jr. who he still pimps to this day.

    So there’s grain of salt for anything coming out of Klanheider’s mouth about Tea Partiers or conservatives in general.

  • http://www.sixmeatbuffet.com Brian

    Lewis Lapham call your office.

    The thing is that A.C. Clownheider, who Instapundit gobbles down nutfulls of his milkshake on a daily basis, has been calling Tea Party people racists, teabaggers, nativists, bigots, etc. for over a year and half now.

    That he doesn’t like and has never liked Sarah Palin is no news flash considering that he’s a Trig Truther who’s spent so much time up Sully’s ass that you’d think he was the one who responded to the RawMuscleGlutes ad. He’s a hardcore Democrat who has played this faux-Paleoconservative stance that won him over the Nashville Liberal Media (i.e., the only Nashville media) because he only criticizes people on the right.

    He’s a “conservative” who bashed Bob Corker (of all people) as a racists and voted for arch-conservative Harold Ford, Jr. who he still pimps to this day.

    So there’s grain of salt for anything coming out of Klanheider’s mouth about Tea Partiers or conservatives in general.

  • guest

    Refresh my memory, how many times in her Tea Party speech did Gov Palin say the Tea Party movement is about The People and that there is no Tea Party leader?

    Fascinating; Scott Brown(I’m joyful he won the seat) stated that the Tea Party movement had little influence upon his winning the race.

    Shortly thereafter Mitt Romney sent out a fundraiser letter stating how he helped Scott Brown win.

    Perception of proprietary politics is rather misleading.

  • guest

    Refresh my memory, how many times in her Tea Party speech did Gov Palin say the Tea Party movement is about The People and that there is no Tea Party leader?

    Fascinating; Scott Brown(I’m joyful he won the seat) stated that the Tea Party movement had little influence upon his winning the race.

    Shortly thereafter Mitt Romney sent out a fundraiser letter stating how he helped Scott Brown win.

    Perception of proprietary politics is rather misleading.

  • Jack Okie

    Smitty, I almost swooned reading your speech that Sarah could not give. There seems to be a growing perception that the 10th Amendment needs to be respected. I look for some serious push-back from Oklahoma, Texas and other like-minded legislatures. The 10th Amendment figures to be a factor in our upcoming races for governor and attorney general here in OK.

  • Jack Okie

    Smitty, I almost swooned reading your speech that Sarah could not give. There seems to be a growing perception that the 10th Amendment needs to be respected. I look for some serious push-back from Oklahoma, Texas and other like-minded legislatures. The 10th Amendment figures to be a factor in our upcoming races for governor and attorney general here in OK.

  • Beto

    If she’s so Gung Ho Tea Party…..
    Why is she promoting Rick Perry?

  • Beto

    If she’s so Gung Ho Tea Party…..
    Why is she promoting Rick Perry?

  • Ad rem

    Scott..

    Nothing like waking up to the smell of fresh coffee and good common sense. Bravo!

  • Ad rem

    Scott..

    Nothing like waking up to the smell of fresh coffee and good common sense. Bravo!

  • rod stanton

    Smitty
    IO think Dan is mad about something she did or did not do. His comment seems to be the disingenuous remark of a jilted lover/ I watched he on PJTV last night and again on CBS this morning. The speech was the best speech I have seen in 23 years( or at least as good as the convention speech 8/08) and was well received by the people there; including Glenn and Helen.
    Today the lefties – both in the GOP and the MSM – attacked it with unbridled ferocity – which shows that they also think she did very well and are afraid she will run and *WIN* in 12!

    i read Dan this morning as I visit his blog almost every day. I thought he had his nose out of joint then and still think he has a problem he is nor telling us about.
    Rod Stanton
    Cerritos, Cal

  • rod stanton

    Smitty
    IO think Dan is mad about something she did or did not do. His comment seems to be the disingenuous remark of a jilted lover/ I watched he on PJTV last night and again on CBS this morning. The speech was the best speech I have seen in 23 years( or at least as good as the convention speech 8/08) and was well received by the people there; including Glenn and Helen.
    Today the lefties – both in the GOP and the MSM – attacked it with unbridled ferocity – which shows that they also think she did very well and are afraid she will run and *WIN* in 12!

    i read Dan this morning as I visit his blog almost every day. I thought he had his nose out of joint then and still think he has a problem he is nor telling us about.
    Rod Stanton
    Cerritos, Cal

  • http://anotherblackconservative.blogspot.com/ Clifton B

    Great Scott! Dude, you read my mind perfectly! This whole issue about paying to go to the convention was the biggest load of sh*t I ever heard! The convention was no different than a weekend college seminar on how to organize. If it were a college seminar we would all be expected to pay. This whole idea that because it is grassroots it should be free reeks of hippy BS!

    I am also quite glad you called out the duplicity of those pushing the whole money issue. From the get go, I always thought those who initially made an issue of it, were more concerned about their own agenda than the Tea Party or Sarah Palin. They have tied their fortunes to CPAC and the traditional Republican pathways to the nomination, as such they are fearful of losing their prominence and influence should a new avenue to the nomination develop and you know what, that is their problem no ours.

  • http://anotherblackconservative.blogspot.com/ Clifton B

    Great Scott! Dude, you read my mind perfectly! This whole issue about paying to go to the convention was the biggest load of sh*t I ever heard! The convention was no different than a weekend college seminar on how to organize. If it were a college seminar we would all be expected to pay. This whole idea that because it is grassroots it should be free reeks of hippy BS!

    I am also quite glad you called out the duplicity of those pushing the whole money issue. From the get go, I always thought those who initially made an issue of it, were more concerned about their own agenda than the Tea Party or Sarah Palin. They have tied their fortunes to CPAC and the traditional Republican pathways to the nomination, as such they are fearful of losing their prominence and influence should a new avenue to the nomination develop and you know what, that is their problem no ours.

  • Pingback: The Speech Sarah Palin Should Have Given

  • http://www.haemet.blogivists.com Roxeanne de Luca

    If Sarah had an iota of common sense, sh would stay far, far away from Boston in April.

    In fact, she and the Tea Party Express ought to let us do the same thing we did last year: put on a great event, with local celebrity-types (talk show hosts, professors, think tank leaders, etc.). What we particularly NEED to do, this time around, is to focus on state-wide issues; we don’t have another Senate seat open until 2012, but we do have 2010 elections for almost every seat in the state.

    That’s not going to happen, though. These people made it clear to the Boston Tea Party that they were going to walk right in the day before we had planned our own event (having had a permit for Boston Common since, oh, October), put on their own speakers, and block us out. Their one small concession to the fact that there is a vibrant, engaged Tea Party in our state is to say that we (i.e. some of the leaders) could have a grand ten minutes to speak.

    A few days ago, I brought this up with a gentleman who has spoken at two of the previous Tea Party events. He first suggested that we put our local party on the 13th, but, when I mentioned that Sarah was coming through to speak, his face fell.

    No one seriously thinks that the Greater Boston Tea Party can manage to put on its own event this April, but I suspect that they’ll still want us to put together a network of activists who can effect change on the local level. It’s sort of like regulating businesses to death, then expecting them to produce jobs….

    Sarah will be there on the 14th, but she’s not going to be in Massachusetts to convince people to join our local meetings, to work with Michael Graham’s candidate development schools, to go out knocking on doors or phone-banking for our provincial Massachusetts elections, or to focus like a laser beam on the problems that are specific to our state – problems that will be there long after she and her rock concert entourage leave town.

    If they want to come through and do their own thing, fine, but usurping our local group in the name of grass-roots activity is complete bullshit.

  • http://www.haemet.blogivists.com Roxeanne de Luca

    If Sarah had an iota of common sense, sh would stay far, far away from Boston in April.

    In fact, she and the Tea Party Express ought to let us do the same thing we did last year: put on a great event, with local celebrity-types (talk show hosts, professors, think tank leaders, etc.). What we particularly NEED to do, this time around, is to focus on state-wide issues; we don’t have another Senate seat open until 2012, but we do have 2010 elections for almost every seat in the state.

    That’s not going to happen, though. These people made it clear to the Boston Tea Party that they were going to walk right in the day before we had planned our own event (having had a permit for Boston Common since, oh, October), put on their own speakers, and block us out. Their one small concession to the fact that there is a vibrant, engaged Tea Party in our state is to say that we (i.e. some of the leaders) could have a grand ten minutes to speak.

    A few days ago, I brought this up with a gentleman who has spoken at two of the previous Tea Party events. He first suggested that we put our local party on the 13th, but, when I mentioned that Sarah was coming through to speak, his face fell.

    No one seriously thinks that the Greater Boston Tea Party can manage to put on its own event this April, but I suspect that they’ll still want us to put together a network of activists who can effect change on the local level. It’s sort of like regulating businesses to death, then expecting them to produce jobs….

    Sarah will be there on the 14th, but she’s not going to be in Massachusetts to convince people to join our local meetings, to work with Michael Graham’s candidate development schools, to go out knocking on doors or phone-banking for our provincial Massachusetts elections, or to focus like a laser beam on the problems that are specific to our state – problems that will be there long after she and her rock concert entourage leave town.

    If they want to come through and do their own thing, fine, but usurping our local group in the name of grass-roots activity is complete bullshit.

  • guest

    Massachusetts is one of the reasons why the Kennedy clan has the power to run America into the ground-too many Blue Union Sanctifiers preaching from their Cathedrals have sold their soul for few measly pieces government silver.

    Perhaps if Ivy-Inbred idiots manufactured in Massachusetts ended their social justice tyranny then there would be no need for a Tea Party movement.

  • guest

    Massachusetts is one of the reasons why the Kennedy clan has the power to run America into the ground-too many Blue Union Sanctifiers preaching from their Cathedrals have sold their soul for few measly pieces government silver.

    Perhaps if Ivy-Inbred idiots manufactured in Massachusetts ended their social justice tyranny then there would be no need for a Tea Party movement.