Fallout From Sarah Palin’s Kentucky Senate Endorsement of Rand Paul

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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It is not my intention to undermine Sarah Palin in an unfair manner as others have done when they have withdrawn support, though I will not be silent regarding my differences of opinion with her.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.

Cue Your TiVo Now: Allen West Will Be On ‘Fox & Friends’ Monday

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According to the press release, the Iraq war hero and FL22 congressional candidate will be on shortly after 6 a.m. ET Monday.

I also understand from Rhonda Lee Welsch (whom I profiled for the American Spectator in December) that Lt. Col. West (whom I profiled for the American Spectator in June 2008) will be a speaker at the Daytona Bike Week Freedom Rally Feb. 27-28.

Speaking of military men running for Congress, after Friday night’s Alabama GOP meeting in Montgomery, I introduced Marine veteran Rick Barber to my old friend Matt Chancey.

Also Friday night in Montgomery, Ali Akbar and I had a good conversation with Navy veteran Les Phillip, who’s running in Alabama’s 5th District:

UPDATE: CPAC Director Lisa De Pasquale on Twitter:

@rsmccain I can’t believe you didn’t mention that @AllenWest2010 is speaking at #CPAC10

An oversight, now corrected. If you haven’t signed up yet to attend next week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, what are you waiting for?

Rule 5 Sunday

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by Smitty

Rule 5, Superbowl Edition. I’m going to come out of the closet as a slack-jawed, un-American loser and admit that I’m burned out on football. I simply cannot expend time in blocks that large watching overpaid prima donnas in tight pants grasp after each other in public. Call me a Commie, but it takes all of my stamina just to sit through the Army/Navy game. Maybe I’m doing it wrong. Continue reading Rule 5 Sunday →

Super Bowl: Colts Will Stomp Saints

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When making football prognostications, it is important to be bold. One team will win and one will lose. Don’t be mealy-mouthed about it. There’s a 50% chance of being wrong, but who cares? Go for it.

The Colts have Peyton Manning. The veteran quarterback will make the difference.

Who dat going to stomp the Saints? Indianapolis, 34-21.

Accusations of Coyness from Dan Riehl

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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. Continue reading Accusations of Coyness from Dan Riehl →

Everybody Loves a Pretty Girl

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Dan Collins at Piece of Work in Progress notes that David Horowitz seems to be stocking up in the Rule 5 department. Meanwhile, here is my friend Ali Akbar with two young lovelies at the Alabama GOP meeting Friday night in Montgomery:

I’m pretty sure this was after Ali ordered a round of Jack Daniel shots for the table — an offer that I had to refuse. I swore off whiskey after an unfortunate incident with Mr. Daniel in 2000.

Politics and Mardi Gras Beads in ‘Bama: Rick Barber Campaigns in Millbrook

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Bailey Barber greeted us at the front door of her family home Saturday morning with ecstatic news. “We’re going to a parade,” announced the 6-year-old daughter of Republican congressional candidate Rick Barber.

Retail politics requires a relentless press-the-flesh effort on the part of the candidate, and Barber hit the streets Saturday. After attending a morning conference of 2nd Congressional District officials at the annual state GOP meeting at Montgomery’s Renaissance Hotel, Barber learned (via Facebook) that there would be a pre-Mardi Gras parade in the Elmore County town of Millbrook.

Despite cold, windy weather, hundreds turned out on Main Street in Millbrook for the parade, with children collecting the beads, trinkets and candy thrown by parade participants. Bringing along his daughter, Barber walked the route, handing out cards and shaking hands.

Barber talks to a Millbrook voter. “I’d love to have your vote June 1,” he told voters, referring to the date when he’ll be facing off against Montgomery City Councilwoman Martha Roby in the Republican primary. Here are three short videos, beginning with the fire trucks that led off the Millbrook parade, and Bailey scrambling to grab some Mardi Gras beads thrown by the firemen.



Democratic Rep. Bobby Bright — the “Blue Dog” congressman whom Barber hopes to defeat in November — rides in a truck in the Millbrook parade. Bright spotted Barber shaking hands in the crowd and was heard to say, “I see him over there.”

Barber points out a float in the parade to his daughter.

By the time the parade ended, Bailey sported an impressive collection of Mardi Gras beads.

How many votes did her dad collect? It’s hard to say, but there is ultimately no substitute for the old-fashioned politics of meeting voters one-on-one and asking for their votes. For all the advances in communications — TV ads, phone banks, e-mails, etc. — Americans still like to see candidates doing this kind of retail campaigning. Anyone who watched the Scott Brown campaign in Massachusetts knows what a difference it made that Brown spent weeks driving his truck from town to town, shaking hands with voters, while his opponent . . . didn’t.

(Cross-posted at Right Wing News.)