Sarah's "Team"

There is a great video over at Conservatives4Palin today. It is an add for "ProjectGOPink," a conservative women's group that will be meeting in Washington, D.C., on November 17-19. Sarah has been invited to speak, but has not yet indicated whether she will do so.

The video was made by Pass Code Creative, which made Sarah's PAC videos, and it has her input all over it. It is another indication of what I think is a conscious strategy on her part. If she had run for president, the media would have made the election all about her. As it is, she is transforming the attention directed at her, diverting it to other conservative women, who will take the next step to getting our country back on track. Sarah is ensuring that the movement to do that is broad-based. She has always said that this movement is not about her; it is about all of us. Remember, she is a team player. Steve Bannon's movie shows how she gave credit to the members of her administration.

Picture credit: MoreThings

Mama Grizzly

I just came back from a short trip to Washington, D.C. One of my favorite places to visit there is the National Portrait Gallery, which shares quarters with the newly named Smithstonian Museum of American Art. It was at the latter that I saw this painting by the artist W. Herbert Dunton (1878-1936). The painting is entitled Fall in the Foothills. Dunton worked in the Southwest, principally Taos, but I thought of the Alaskan Mama Grizzly when I saw this painting. (Here is a much better image of the painting.) I wonder if Sarah has seen this? She would certainly like the Museum of American Art.

They'll have to find a new line of work

As disappointed as I am, these two people are one reason why Sarah's decision may have been wise. There has been too much of a media circus around her for the last three years. Hate-filled cable personalities have filled their programs with invectives about her. They trashed her, but couldn't get enough of her. McGinniss is even taking credit on his website for chasing her out of politics. Ha! There went his book sales.

I have had a disagreement with my husband about Tina Fey. It shows you how little I know about popular culture, because I said no one would ever have heard about Tina Fey if she hadn't had her gig imitating Sarah. He insisted that she was a well-known commodity. Whatever the case, if Sarah had run, Tina Fey would have been front and center stage for the next year and half and into the future. No more Emmies for you, no more public adulation. Good by, Tina, and good riddance.

I can't help thinking that some of this media circus went into Sarah's calculations. She realizes that her message -- and we all know what it is -- would simply become beside the point.  We have to keep in mind that Sarah has not only always exceeded expectations, but she also defies them. Thus, the pundits who say she is finished now, has shot her wad, will have no further role, etc. are simply projecting their own desires. Howard Kurtz, who today opines that her role as a serious political broker are over, doesn't get Sarah. If you listened to her words in her interview with Greta last evening, her intention is not to be a power broker. She is going to lead in the "fundamental restoration of America." It is not the political class and its hangers-on on which she has set her sites. She is going to go directly to the people. Go, Sarah, go!

I guess she won't

I always suspected that she didn't want to run, but in the end I thought she would because, well, who else is there to support? The candidate in the lead -- Mitt Romney -- doesn't fully embrace conservative goals. I have a feeling that Rick Perry threw her off of her plans by jumping in. She may not think the office of the president, as long as it is Republican, is essential. More important is to get a rock-solid conservative House and Senate and also fill up the governorships with conservatives.

We love you, Sarah, and look forward to your next move.

Will she or won't she?

There is some nervousness about Sarah's interview with Greta last night, especially at Conservatives4Palin. Again, I want to emphasize what I said yesterday: Sarah Palin is not conventional. There are several things that should be mentioned in connection with what seemed her hesitations last evening.

First, as I have written earlier, I think she may not want to be president and would prefer to let someone else carry the torch. She has said, however, that she would step in if she didn't see a candidate likely to beat Obama. With all due respect to Hermann Cain, I don't think he is that candidate. He has lots of expertise as a businessman, but none in government, a different beast. Sarah knows this as well: she has actually run for office and won.

Second, as far as not needing a title, Greta very wisely challenged Sarah. There is a difference between having dinner with the prime minister of Israel and telling him that the American people love his country and sitting down at the table as president of the U.S. with all the actors and players, thus in a position to further Israel's interests. Sarah is not so innocent and naive as not to know this herself.

Third, her secrecy regarding her intentions is a good sign: it means her opponents do not know where she stands. She keeps her cards close to her chest. That is an excellent operating position when you consider the opponents she will face as president of the U.S. Obama gave away everything from the get-go, telling our enemies what he would do. And guess what? We are weaker now not only as a nation but also as an international player. Sarah Palin will not telegraph and certainly not proclaim loudly in advance what America's game plan is.

Fourth, RichardNC mentioned something very important in a comment on Conservatives4Palin: Sarah has to have all her ducks lined up perfectly. Otherwise, her enemies will exploit any "technical" mistake she makes by filing suits with the FEC.

Finally, I would say that she has never said she would not run. If she decides, she will be whole-hearted. And because she will be whole-hearted, she will win. Thus, her answer to Greta: Of course, she can beat Obama.

Keep the faith!

The pundits and Sarah Palin

Last evening I listened to Steve Bannon's interview with Shoshanna Walsh. She had the good fortune to travel around with Sarah during the McCain-Palin run, and wrote a book with Scott Conroy, Sarah from Alaska. Bannon treated her quite respectfully, raving about her book. I read it standing up at a local Borders when it came out. It seemed to me rather thin, but, since Sarah Palin remains a phenomenon, Shoshanna Walsh has a job, with a specialty reporting on Sarah Palin.

Listening to Walsh, however, I was struck by how inarticulate she was. Well, she is young and is at the start of a career as a pundit. What was clear is that she really knew very little about Sarah Palin. For starters, she was puzzled that Sarah is threatening to sue Joe McGinnis and his publisher. In Walsh's view, this will only give McGinniss publicity and help his book sales. So, Walsh takes a conventional, cautious position. But Sarah is not conventional, and, when necessary, she doesn't do caution.

What I am trying to say is that, despite having spent a lot of time with Sarah Palin and written a book about her, Walsh really has no more understanding of her than any other person in the LSM. I am not singling out Shoshanna Walsh in order to beat up on her, but what she reveals is that the LSM does not get Sarah Palin. Thus, today's piece in The Washington Post, concerning Sarah's "second tier status." The Post is judging her by conventional standards, which is exactly the way that the more articulate pundits evaluate her and her chances, for instance, Charles Krauthammer or George Will. They are all so used to being in an echo chamber, repeating variations of the same pieties, that the only difference between them is the smoothness with which they express themselves. Shoshanna Walsh still has a long way to go, but she is on the right track to being a conventional, mediocre pundit. For the rest of us: Keep the faith.

Presidential candidate Sarah Palin in South Korea; addendum

I woke up at 4 a.m. with a brilliant scenario dancing in my head. It caused me to rethink some of the my recent reflections on when/how/whether Sarah Palin will announce for president.

For a long time I have thought that she really does NOT want to run. Yet, she has always said that if there is not a good candidate, she would jump in. It is becoming clear that there is no such candidate. She also indicated (I think it was to Greta) that, if she announces, no one will miss the announcement. Recently she has said that the coming election will be different from anything before.

Until last night I thought she would not announce before her trip to Korea, as doing so would upstage the other speakers -- and she is too much of a modest person to do that. In the wee hours of the morning, however, it struck me that there could be no better way to position herself for 2012 than to go to Korea as an announced candidate for president of the U.S. The South Koreans -- and the Japanese and Taiwanese and so on -- would take this as a sign of the importance of East Asia to America. The media coverage would be immense, more so than if she goes as "former governor of Alaska and Republican vice-presidential candidate." Her speech would be broadcast all over the world, and it would absolutely knock the socks off of everyone in the U.S.

As Sarah has said, no one will miss her announcement, perhaps on the Bob & Mark show, after which she boards the plane and flies over the Arctic Circle to Korea.

ADDENDUM: And how priceless won't it be to watch the flat-footed LSM trying to get a flight to South Korea!