The Other McCain

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People Who Like Sarah Palin Liked Her Iowa Speech; Ace of Spades, Not So Much

Posted on | September 3, 2011 | 130 Comments

Sarah Palin gave her big speech in Indianola while I was at lunch today with Da Tech Guy. However, I got a sort of live feed on the event via a series of text messages from Tea Party activist Tiffiny Ruegner.

“No doubt she’s campaigning,” Tiffiny texted, and at the end: “Finished. Didn’t announce. . . . You’ll get the story in New Hampshire.”

The part elided (“…”) involved the suggestion that perhaps Palin did not announce her presidential candidacy at Indianola because of her displeasure with the bungled organizing of the rally. So Tiffiny’s theory is that Palin will announce Monday at the Manchester rally, and I pass that along as an interesting theory to consider.

Doug Brady at Conservatives for Palin has a comprehensive round-up of the speech, including the complete video:

Here’s Jennifer Jacobs of the Des Moines Register:

Although this audience of like-minded conservatives passionately urged her to run, Palin during her 40-minute speech did not say whether she will seek the Republican nomination for president.

Here’s Alex Pappas of the Daily Caller:

“The reality is we are governed by a permanent political class,” Palin said to applause from a rain-soaked audience in Indianola, “until we change that.”
The crowd at the Tea Party for America’s “Restoring America” event ate it up. She was interrupted during her speech to chants of “Run, Sarah, Run.”

And here’s Scott Conroy of Real Clear Politics:

Sarah Palin still isn’t a candidate, but in an aggressive bid to lay down her marker in the 2012 Republican presidential race, she delivered a speech here Saturday that was as confrontational toward the Republican establishment as it was aimed at President Obama.
Despite her high-profile endorsement of Rick Perry during his 2010 gubernatorial primary fight, Palin used thinly veiled language to leave little doubt that she sees the Texas governor and national front-runner for the Republican nomination as part of the problem.
“Some GOP candidates, they also raise mammoth amounts of cash,” Palin said. “We need to ask them, too: What, if anything, do their donors expect from their investments? We need to know this because our country can’t afford more trillion-dollar thank-you notes to campaign backers.”
Again and again, Palin urged her audience to confront “the permanent political class,” “crony capitalism” and “the good ol’ boys,” whom she said she took on as governor of Alaska.

The idea that Palin may enter the 2012 field because of her dissatisfaction with Perry’s campaign is intriguing, but I’ll save that for another post. For now, let’s consider Ace’s idea that Palin’s just jerking everybody around:

[A]fter the encouragement of interest, and the cultivation of speculation about what that “major announcement” might be, it was a very standard-issue and not-particularly-important or novel stump speech.
Some might find this sort of coyness and games-playing “brilliant” or the like. I don’t.
Some may claim she “played a trick on the media.” Yes, the media. And everyone else too. . . .
Who’s being pranked here? The media in attendance were all paid to be there. Their travel arrangements were comped. They’ll get back their vacation day. And it was either covering this or covering Jon Huntsman.
What about everyone else?

You can go read the whole thing. Ace seems to be more or less on the Perry bandwagon at this point, so a bit of Palin-vs.-Perry drama may be shaping up . . . But as I say, that’s another post.

The “paid to be there” factor was part of the reason I didn’t go to Indianola. If I had thought she was going to announce, I might have made the trip. But I’d already spent 10 days in Iowa, whereas I hadn’t been to New Hampshire yet, so this trip seemed to me the better bargain for the tip-jar hitters. It’s cheaper, because I can crash on Da Tech Guy‘s sofa and ride with him, rather than paying for a hotel room and renting a car.

Florida, on the other hand . . . but let’s not get ahead of the story.


Comments

130 Responses to “People Who Like Sarah Palin Liked Her Iowa Speech; Ace of Spades, Not So Much”

  1. Bob Belvedere
    September 4th, 2011 @ 8:04 pm

    Language, Pagan, there are ladies present.

  2. Anonymous
    September 4th, 2011 @ 8:12 pm

    I don’t know where you get your information, but you need a new source.  Regarding her bus tour, she made it clear that it would be multiple legs with breaks in between.  Regarding the so-called Paul Revere gaffe, it’s been documented by historians that she was right- Revere did warn the British, once Revere rode through the towns, bells were rung and and muskets were fired.  Regarding the “big announcement” in Iowa, neither Palin or her people said that she was going to make a “big announcement”.  That was fabricated by the media.

    Apparently you’re the type of person who doesn’t question what the media feeds you.  You might want to think about that.

  3. Bob Belvedere
    September 4th, 2011 @ 8:14 pm

    I think that’s the first time anyone has ever called Donald a Nancy-Boy.

  4. ThePaganTemple
    September 4th, 2011 @ 8:20 pm

    If we listened to what the media tried to spoon-feed us, we’d end up with Huntsman, or maybe even Ron Paul, whom they delight at hyping up. What kind of person asks a politician in an interview what kind of newspaper she reads? They did the same to Bush, I think. They should answer, I look for material that reports the hard facts and the truth, as opposed to your brand of dissemination and propaganda.

  5. Datechguy's Blog » Blog Archive » Stacy McCain in Massachusetts & NH
    September 4th, 2011 @ 4:31 pm

    […] as Stacy was commenting on Palin (along with the Lonely Conservative and Ace) and composing his next post, (it’s […]

  6. Just a conservative girl
    September 4th, 2011 @ 9:09 pm

    What I consider cult like is when Palin supporters surf the net for every negative thing said about her and attack the person who said it.  That isn’t just supporting a candidate.  Paul supporters do exactly the same thing.  People have the right to dislike a person or candidate within a certain party and shouldn’t be called names because they do.  To me that is cult like. 

  7. Anonymous
    September 4th, 2011 @ 9:49 pm

    Well three out of four times, Ace, Mataconis, Moran, etal, not too mention Politico are either ‘incomplete’ or maliciously wrong, that doesn’t stop it from being circulated from here to Brisbane and back again

  8. Anonymous
    September 4th, 2011 @ 10:17 pm

    What is now history was once current events. Nixon and his administration are still the Gold Standard for felony abuse of power and the felony cover up that followed. If he hadn’t resigned he would have been convicted in the senate. If Ford hadn’t preemptively pardoned him he would have been charged and convicted in a court of law. A record number of his minions were convicted and served time in prison. Most of them for perjury and obstruction of justice.

  9. alwaysfiredup
    September 4th, 2011 @ 10:43 pm

    She has said plainly that she will decide by the end of September.  I would go with that.

  10. alwaysfiredup
    September 4th, 2011 @ 10:47 pm

    Like Stacy and Dan, I think she’s waiting to see how Perry does. Actually, I think she’s waiting for people to realize he’s not teh awesome, but it’s the same thing.

  11. alwaysfiredup
    September 4th, 2011 @ 10:52 pm

    She looks like someone who is considering a campaign, Jimmie.  I don’t see it as capricious at all.  There are others still considering whether to get in and no one says they look capricious.  

    The only people I’ve found who care that she hasn’t declared is people who support other candidates.  I understand this is because they need to know her plans in order to counter her or use her.  I don’t care about those needs at all and I’m sure Sarah doesn’t either.

  12. alwaysfiredup
    September 4th, 2011 @ 11:31 pm

    This Palin supporter happens to follow a lot of blogs and comment at several.  I do not “surf the net for every negative thing said about her.”  I would imagine the majority of supporters are the same.

  13. alwaysfiredup
    September 4th, 2011 @ 11:48 pm

    “But some still believe she can overcome all the problems even if no one else has been able to.  They never have any specific reasons she would be able to do this, or any rationale for their belief at all beyond blind faith in the power of her personality.”

    Ridiculous ad hominem.  If you really think no Palinista ever backs up their arguments then you aren’t paying attention.  

  14. Deetz
    September 5th, 2011 @ 2:27 am

    Adobe,

    errrrr, Fast & Furious.

    Your standard has been raised by a body count, on both sides of the border.

    tD

  15. Anonymous
    September 5th, 2011 @ 3:56 am

    I’ve no doubt that when and if properly investigated Zero and his minions could establish a new Gold Standard for criminality. I fully expect him to give himself and his varlets a blanket pardon on his way out.

  16. Anonymous
    September 5th, 2011 @ 4:17 am

    One of the primary states, either Michigan or Missouri I think has a filing deadline in late Oct. She’ll have to commit before Nov. (obviously she can’t afford to blow off a state primary) and she wouldn’t use a filing be her announcement.

  17. RichG.inIN
    September 5th, 2011 @ 8:54 am

    Sarah Palin would/will not need big donations fron the millionaire/billionaire/corporate people/companies. Think about this, and this is only a hypothetical idea: Sarah Palin has over 3,230,000 plus people following her on Facebook. If each one of those 3,233,000 plus people each send $400 after she officially announces her campaign either sending that $400 all at once or say $40 per month for the next 10 months that’s $1,293,500,000 for bot primary and general election races. The maximum any one individual is allowed by law to donate is $2,500 per year. She would equal or easily beat the $1,000,000,000 amount Obama has been bragging about raising.

  18. RichG.inIN
    September 5th, 2011 @ 9:25 am

    I am not saying that everyone posting comments here is gullible but everyone needs to turn the tv off when the news comes on with political stories. There is way to many people in this Country that refuse to think for themselves and let the mainstream media do thinking for them. No wonder this Country is in the mess that it is in right now. To many lazy and gullible people. The egomaniacal MSM thinks they are the authority on politics. They think they know who is best to be POTUS then subliminally tell us we must vote for the Candidate they think is best. Wake up America!!! Pull your heads out from where the sun does not shine and think for yourselves.

  19. RichG.inIN
    September 5th, 2011 @ 9:38 am

    It is apparent that you are gullible and believe everything the egomaniacal news media tells you about Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin is not manipulating the people by not having formally announced her Candidacy yet. She is ripping the MSM a new one for manipulating her into making her decision on their terms. She will announce only on her terms not theirs or ours. She said we will know what her decision is before the end of September.

  20. Owen
    September 6th, 2011 @ 4:20 am

    What’s up with all the “true conservative Republican” nonsense and “anyone who disagrees with me on anything is RINO!”? If this is the best your people can do, stick to voting for the Prez of your 6th-Grade class and let people who can actually reason make the decisions.

  21. Owen
    September 6th, 2011 @ 4:30 am

    No, you look immature and impatient. She said when she’s going to announce, and it isn’t now.

    Do you stil do the “Are we there yet?” thing to your folks?

  22. Owen
    September 6th, 2011 @ 4:37 am

    If she’s making a lot of you crazy, you all need to get a better grip. She’s said repeatedly what she’s going to do — and I keep hearing “Gosh, I was sure she’d …”

    Can’t you people listen? Does anyone here have an attention span that care be measured in integer minutes?

  23. Owen
    September 6th, 2011 @ 4:39 am

    See my comment above.

    BTW: Do you think Rudy is being coy? I hear he hasn’t decided yet.

  24. Owen
    September 6th, 2011 @ 4:43 am

    Very nicely put. Thanks – you just saved me a lot of time.

  25. Owen
    September 6th, 2011 @ 4:54 am

    Ace is playing poli-analyst and that is not his strong suite. He’s falling into all the obviously traps. He and many other political junkies are so busy gaming this election, they’ve lost sight of what elections are about.

    Practically, what Ace thinks or writes matters little, especially now. But it bugs me that he (and so many others) have so little faith in the democratic process. He feels that this election is so critcal that it absolutely MUST go the right way — and he is correct.

    But he should have the sense to know thattrying to game this will not work! Especially by him — he’s just lousy at it.

    People need to decide this one straight up, and I hope that, given recent history, they will do that. Not in blog comments of course – that’s too much to expect – but in the real world.

  26. Owen
    September 6th, 2011 @ 5:03 am

    This is exactly the kind of gaming mentality that screws everything up. “I know what everyone is thinking so I need to blah blah blah.”

    Can’t you see that this plays straight into Obama’s advisors strategy? The only way they can win is by convincing people EVERY Republican candidate is “unelectable”.  Here you are doing their job for them

    Get a grip! Support the candiate you think is best – not who you think everyone else thinks is best. Simple. Democratic.

    Leaving the gaming to the WoW players…

  27. Owen
    September 6th, 2011 @ 5:12 am

    All you are saying is that Palin has some supporters who are internet junkies and go overboard. So what? What percentage of her supporters do they represent? 1 in 10? 1 in 1,000,000? What?

    The internet is not the real world. It is not even decent representation of the real world. As a rule, internet society lacks civility, rationality, and capacity for critical thinking.

    If that’s your evidence, you are concerned with internet junkies, not Palin supporters.

    BTW: have you attended her events and met her supporters in person?

  28. Anonymous
    September 6th, 2011 @ 8:58 pm

    If you actually read what I wrote, you did not understand it.

  29. Anonymous
    September 6th, 2011 @ 10:06 pm

    That would be Congress (owned and operated by the Democrats) who sold out the South Vietnamese, by refusing to provide the supplies and air support that Nixon had promised when he withdrew the troops.

    I’m not claiming that Nixon is a conservative in the sense that we use the word these days. At best, he was a national-defense populist. But he didn’t deserve half the crap that was piled on him by the media.

  30. Anonymous
    September 6th, 2011 @ 10:44 pm

    The Democrats may have hastened the inevitable results. But the stated purpose of the treaty was for us to leave Southeast Asia with “Honor”. The actual purpose was to simply get out. Both Nixon and Kissinger new full well that at some point we would abandon South Vietnam.