I was intrigued - and not a little amused - to see the reaction to Sarah Palin's address at the 100th anniversary celebrations of Ronald Reagan's birth, sponsored by the Young America's Foundation. I thought she gave an excellent speech, but it (and she) have been panned by the usual suspects, who can't seem to find it in them to say a single kind (or even truthful) word about her. The Washington Times' report is typical: the newspaper reported something of what she had to say, then immediately quoted a left-wing commentator (who happens to be the late President Reagan's son, unfortunately) dissing her in a way completely unrelated to the occasion and/or to her words. Here's an extract.
America is on a "road to ruin" because of misguided policies in Washington and needs to get back in step with the values of Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin said at an event honoring the former president’s legacy.
The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee delivered a stinging critique of Washington during her speech Friday, part of the national celebration marking the centennial of Reagan’s birth on Feb. 6.
. . .
"This is dangerous. This is insane," she said. "This is not the road to national greatness, it is the road to ruin."
She alluded to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address last month, saying it amounted to a statement that "the era of big government is here to stay".
Palin was asked to talk about Reagan’s 1964 speech, "A Time for Choosing", which he gave on behalf of then-Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. In it, he talks at length about the dangers of high taxes and encroaching big government, as well as the necessity of strong national security.
She said the stark choices the nation faces are not unlike those Reagan talked of in the 1960s, only the economy of today is worse, from home foreclosures to high unemployment.
She said Reagan saw the danger of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society
"We could choose one direction or the other, socialism or freedom and free markets," Palin said.
Palin received a roaring ovation, but Reagan’s son told The Associated Press in an interview that he doesn’t see anything in common between his dad and the former Alaska governor, who was invited to speak by the event’s sponsor, the conservative Young America’s Foundation.
"Sarah Palin is a soap opera, basically. She’s doing mostly what she does to make money and keep her name in the news," Ron Reagan says.
"She is not a serious candidate for president and never has been," said Reagan, a political independent whose politics lean left. programs, and "he refused to sit down and be silent as our liberties were eroded by an out of control, centralized government that overtaxed and overreached in utter disregard of constitutional limits."
There's more at the link.
Note Ron Reagan's complete divergence from the topic under discussion. Ms. Palin wasn't running for President, and her speech wasn't a campaign event: yet he instinctively smeared her in terms that ignored the nature of the event or her words there, and dismissed her as a 'serious candidate for president'.
It's pathetic. The Left are so frightened of her that their knee-jerk reaction is to try to put her down at every turn.
Andrew Coffin points out that the media have completely misrepresented Ms. Palin's speech.
The [New York] Times account is simply not accurate. Here’s the amazing thing about yesterday’s events: they were as much about Gov. Palin coming to Santa Barbara to soak up the spirit of Ronald Reagan as they were about her delivering a keynote address. And on top of that, she was incredibly gracious with her time.
. . .
Governor Palin and her family spent hours at the Ranch on Friday. She met with Young America’s Foundation president Ron Robinson and Vice President Kate Obenshain. She heard personal accounts of the President’s life at Rancho del Cielo - the Ranch in the heavens - from trusted Reagan friend and confident Dennis LeBlanc and former Secret Service agent John Barletta. After touring the grounds, Governor Palin even mounted a horse - confident in the saddle - and rode the very same trails the President loved with Agent Barletta. She had asked if it would be possible to ride, wanting to experience the Ranch as Ronald Reagan did.
. . .
Governor Palin went out of the way in her speech to not lay claim to the mantle of Ronald Reagan. "Many people today are looking for the next Reagan. But he was one of a kind, and we won’t see his like again," she said later in her speech, but it’s his principles and values to which we must lay claim.
. . .
Fast-forward to later that evening, following a speech in which Governor Palin spoke convincingly of her appreciation for the experience she had at the Ranch. The New York Times got this part right - the Governor was immediately whisked out of our main ballroom to an upper floor when she finished her remarks. But she wasn’t on her way out. Instead, the Governor had agreed to individually meet and pose for a photo with each of our 325+ guests that evening. When she walked into our Reagan Ranch Center Exhibit Galleries, a group of college students flown in from around the country for this special weekend was already waiting for her. They broke out into spontaneous applause as she entered the room, the Governor rushing right in to begin shaking hands and learning names. One young man sheepishly asked if he could have a hug from the Governor - and, of course, she willingly obliged.
The Times reporter Jeff Zeleny could have asked about any of this, but chose not to. Or perhaps he was just disappointed that he didn’t get his hug.
Again, there's more at the link.
I'm not at all sure that Ms. Palin has what it takes to be President of the United States . . . but if the Left continues to display such pathological loathing (not to mention abject terror) of her and her positions, they might just persuade me that she's worth a try! After all, if you can come to know someone by their friends, you can come to know them even better by their enemies!
If the Left wants me to think twice about Ms. Palin, they're going to have to take a long, hard, honest look at her positions, principles and policies, and respond to them openly and intelligently. If they engage in serious debate, I'll listen to them, and take them seriously. If they instead indulge in polemics and tantrums, and toss their toys out of the political pram at the mere mention of her name, I can't and won't take them seriously at all. They don't deserve it.
(Oh - for those wanting more information, Ms. Palin's speech has been posted to YouTube. I highly recommend that instead of allowing others to shape and form your opinion of it, and her, you watch Part One and Part Two of her speech for yourself, and then make up your own mind.)
Peter
4 comments:
Two years now of unrelenting, venomous personal attacks, and she seems to be standing up quite well.
This is a tough woman, far more resilient than the resident.
There is a tern in debate, it escapes me now, but it has to do with the fallacy of attacking the truth of a statement, based on who said that statement. The left is all about personal attacks,
I love how whenever she opens her mouth.
The leftists go into mindless rantings of stupidity and show their versions of "discourse" and civility".
The Left will tell you whom they fear most---and it isn't Romney nor Huckleberry nor any other members of the 'Pub establishment.
WV: derge Used by those of the left too stupid to spell dirge.
Instinct is a curious and barely-understood thing.
Birds and fish find their migratory routes by instinct. Almost all the Earth's creatures know food from threat by instinct. And the Left, which eschews logic and reason in favor of instinct and emotion, knows that Sarah Palin WILL destroy them.
If you ask them why they screech and fling feces at the mere mention of her name, they'll never be able to give a coherent answer. They just know that this PTA Mom from Nowhere, AK is the ruin of all their insane schemes.
They indulge in a narrow, insular circle of mutual reinforcement. She connects with the builders, the entrepeneurs, the warriors...in short, the backbone of America.
They despise this country. She stands for it, proudly and unapologetically.
They see America as nothing special. She knows different.
They consider themselves part of a bipartisan ruling class. She knows we were never meant to have one.
Remember the abuse heaped on Reagan: He's nobody, he's a B-movie actor who played second-fiddle to a chimp, he's inexperienced...he doesn't know how the game is played.
Translation: He's not a Beltway Insider. We can't manipulate him, so we can't possibly allow him to attain office. You stupid voters can't seriously think YOU have any say in how this country's run!
You may not be sure of her, my friend, but I am. Sarah Palin has been ten steps ahead of the Left since the end of the '08 elections. She's shown herself to be an absolute virtuoso in the strategy department, playing the new media like a cheap fiddle and making the LSM look like the fools they are. She is exactly what America needs, and if she decides to run, I'll see her in the White House if it takes the last ounce of my effort.
JMNSHO. :)
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