by Smitty
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Charles Krauthammer isn’t a huge Ray Stevens fan:
Category: Sarah Palin
Kathy Griffin + Levi Johnston = ?
While you’re pondering that unappetizing equation, watch this video, which Noel Sheppard of Newsbusters gives an “extreme vulgarity” warning:
“She was so famous as Governor, you know, when John McCain picked her after meeting her for ten minutes. And, um, that must have been some b—j–.”
Speaking of which, Levi Johnston sucks:
Kathy Griffin and her pal Levi Johnston are collaborating on a stage show in Anchorage that takes aim at Sarah Palin, the grandmother of Johnston’s love child.
As a general rule, only gay men hang out with Kathy Griffin. NTTAWWT. But maybe Levi’s just desperate enough to . . .
No, there’s not enough brain bleach in the world to erase that disturbing mental image.
(Hat-tip: Unsheathed.)
Analysis Of Lefty Reaction To Sarah On Leno
by Smitty
Dan Riehl has Stewart’s analysis. Riehl on Stewart, emphasis mine:
Any grand conclusions are silly at this point. But as for the Palin versus Romney match up on TV he looks at, he’s spot on. These types of match ups just don’t work well for Romney. Unfortunately, that’s as much about Romney’s trouble connecting with audiences and crowds, as it is about any Palin charm. Someone with a more Romney-like resume and a dash of Palin’s looseness and grassroots appeal might give her a run for her money in the big picture that matters most, assuming she’s serious about running in 2012.
Only Governor Tim Pawlenty comes to mind.
The Recovering Liberal alludes to Stewart, and then shifts to analyzing Lee Seigel from The Daily Beast. Trying to get into the Lefty head, RL finishes:
Siegel concludes that Palin’s mastery will lead to “the joke being on us” (the left) as she ascends the podium at the 2012 Republican Convention” The only thing that might prevent this is others on the thinking left waking up to the very real threat Palin poses to them and instead of continuing down the same, aloof, strident, attack path recognise that they have, in no small part, created a rod for their own back and create a real opposition to her (which oddly has only come from the, condescending, intellectuals on the right). If they don’t, then they should sit back at enjoy her ascent from a purely social observer vantage and wonder at the blindness of their colleagues.
The Left is giving Sarah the stress test they never gave BHO, possibly out of guilt.
The “condescending intellectuals on the right”, fearing the loss of primacy and priesthood to an outsider, pile on.
All this is more ‘feature’ than ‘bug’. If the lady survives the napalm shower, then she’s answered the mail on whether she can become ‘the American Margaret Thatcher’. If she decides to hang out on the fringe, then fair enough. If she decides to run in 2012, then it’s all over but the get-well-soon cards for the opposition, on the left or right.
I commend her sticking to something she knows, energy policy, but think that hydrocarbons are peripheral to the #1 problem we face: the debt/deficit. It remains to be seen whether anything can be done by anyone about that, however.
Letterman Successfully Continues To Avoid Success
by Smitty
The Recovering Liberal has a good read up about David Letterman still spiraling downward as he eats his ratings out, watching Leno clean up with Sarah Palin on in the first week back.
Is there a pattern of commitment to self-destruction afoot? Letterman seems to resemble the POTUS in the negative glide slope department. Soundgarden is probably too dark for this point, but there seems to be a thread of the deliberate afoot: Continue reading Letterman Successfully Continues To Avoid Success →
Good-Bye, Meg Stapleton
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s senior adviser and spokeswoman, Meghan Stapleton, has resigned, POLITICO has learned.
Stapleton has been a Palin confidante since December 2006 and one of the governor’s most trusted aides since she was vaulted onto the national political scene by being picked as GOP presidential nominee John McCain’s running mate.
Stapleton said she resigned to spend more time with her husband and 2-year-old daughter, Isabella. . . .
Since the end of the presidential campaign, Stapleton has been one of only a handful of aides and trusted contacts maintained by Palin . . .
In that time, Stapleton was a key strategic adviser and the pipeline for anyone seeking Palin’s attention, including Republican officials and reporters.
“Pipeline,” my ass. Stapleton was a 12-foot-high brick wall topped with double rows of concertina wire. It’s this way with nearly all politicians of presidential caliber. There will generally be one staffer — usually the chief of staff or campaign manager — who monopolizes access to the candidate, so that no one can gain access without that person’s permission. And trust me, Stapleton went out of her way to ensure that I never got direct access to Palin.
Think of the invitations that Palin turned down — CPAC two consecutive years and the 9/12 March On D.C. — and now think about the invitations that Palin accepted.
Great “strategic adviser,” that Meg Stapleton . . .
UPDATE: Doug Brady at Conservatives for Palin:
All of us at C4P thank Meg for the dedication and hard work she has done on Governor Palin’s behalf.
Thanks for the politically tone-deaf incompetence, too, Meg!
Sarah Palin Mobbed in Daytona
She’s more popular than Danica Patrick!
When NASCAR president Mike Helton acknowledged her as a special guest, she got the largest ovation from the room, packed from the front to the back with drivers, team members, support personnel and onlookers.
After sitting through the meeting, Palin could not get out the door. Fans mobbed her, asking for pictures and autographs. Her 12-person entourage, comprised of track security, a policeman, friends and spokespeople, tried to get her to the door and to her next appearance. But Palin could not help herself, and kept signing and posing for pictures.
Remember this, next time someone tells you Palin is a political liability for Republicans.
Speaking of hot chicks in Daytona, you should make plans to attend Bike Week Freedom Rally, organized by my friend Rhonda Welsch. It’s Feb. 27-28 at the Volusia County Fairgrounds. Lt. Col. Allen West will speak and “Take Our Country Back” singer Chris Cassone will perform.
A Tea Party rally in Daytona during Bike Week? Don’t you think I should be there for that?
Ron Reagan Jr. Acts Like A Colossal Goon
by Smitty (h/t Gateway Pundit)
My hat is off to Pamela, again, this time for tolerating the insufferable Ron Reagan, Jr. What a Solomon to Rehoboam transition for that family. Nancy, you love your son, I’m sure, but the same mouth that knows Governor Palin “hasn’t got a thought in her head” is entirely too quick to slice Pamela off at the ankles for “not having met my father.”
What a contemptible, cretinous performance by the son of a great American. Wikipedia says that he’s been lurking on MSNBC and Air America. The reasons are obvious. Sadly, I’d say his career has already peaked.
I’ll paraphrase an Onion horosocope I saw at some point in the past:
Junior, you’re your own man, and no one can tell you what to do, but you’ve really got to quit snorting all that Drano.
Update: Linked by Da Tech Guy, who still needs support to make CPAC.
Update II: Another Black Conservative: “PDS zombie Ron Reagan was feeling particularly butch.”
Fallout From Sarah Palin’s Kentucky Senate Endorsement of Rand Paul
For several weeks, I’ve been in communication with Lisa Graas, a Kentucky conservative who operated the PalinTwibe feed on Twitter, with nearly 4,000 followers. Lisa is a Sarah Palin supporter who also 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 Adam Loving, Twibes creator, to allow Karen Allen to refound the Palin Twibe. He has graciously agreed to make sure it happens. Karen will also take over the Palin Twibe blog and associated Twitter account and I will be training her how to manage the feeds and the Twibe itself.
It is not my intention to undermine Sarah Palin in an unfair manner as others have done when they have withdrawn support, though I will not be silent regarding my differences of opinion with her. Be warned. Like Sarah Palin, I won’t pull any punches.
Read rest of that. Having blogged about the bitterness of the Kentucky Senate primary, I was surprised that Palin made an endorsement in that race. She defended the endorsement in her interview with Chris Wallace on “Fox News Sunday” :
WALLACE: You recently stirred up some controversy as you often do, even when you endorsed Rand Paul as the Senate, he’s running in the Senate primary in Kentucky the GOP Senate primary. And Bill Kristol, your long-time supporter was upset with you because one of the things he pointed out, Paul wants to close Guantanamo. He wants to send the detainees back to Afghanistan. He wants to repeal the Patriot Act. He wants to do away with any federal role in either gay marriage or drug laws, leave it to the states. Why would you support a guy like that?
PALIN: Because he’s a federalist and he wants the states to have more say and as we respect the 10th Amendment in our Constitution, he wants the states to have more say in a lot of these issues. But nobody is ever going to find a perfect candidate. There are things that I don’t agree with Rand Paul, and yet his domestic policies for the most part, I do agree with. He wants limited government. He wants the Feds to start taking their hands off states issues and I respect that and I’m proud to support him. Again, never finding a perfect candidate, no doubt he disagrees with me on a whole lot of issues. But proud to support him and others whom I can believe in.
In a Ron Paul Forum thread about this, someone posted a video in which Palin says Ron Paul is “cool. He’s a good guy”:
It seems that Palin has a libertarian streak that some of her supporters hadn’t reckoned with, and takes her “maverick” brand seriously. Meanwhile, Lisa Graas noted this interesting poll on the Kentucky Senate primary:
Trey Grayson 27%
Bill Johnson 23%
Rand Paul 21%
Undecided 29%
Clearly, the GOP establishment candidate Grayson has failed to gain support from a majority of Republican voters in Kentucky. The primary isn’t until May, so this story will play out for a while.