O'Reilly: Sarah Palin's Comebeck

The Comeback of Sarah Palin and her political rise. Bill O'Reilly and Beck discuss the direction of the Republican Party and who's its pot leader, and Governor Sarah Palin’s political future.

Josh Painter at Texas4Palin notes:

Glenn Beck told Bill O'Reilly on The Factor that he thinks Sarah Palin is gearing up for a third party run:

We don't think so. We think she wants to take the party back from the Vichy Republicans just like Ronald Reagan did 30 years ago (Back then they were called Rockerfeller Republicans). Of course, returning the GOP to its Reagan roots and making it actually live by the principles spelled out in its platform depends on the Republicans inside the Beltway getting a clue, and so far they are clueless. Time will tell.

We Agree!

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Politico, Blamin’ Palin. Again!

From Taxes4Palin by Josh Painter

The Palin-hatin' media just keeps pouring it on Sarah Palin. The latest example is Politico's distortion of a report that a pro-family group wants to bring her to Iowa. The Iowa Family Policy Center has asked Team Sarah, which has no formal ties to the former governor, to help it raise $100,000 to stage an event on November 21 for which the organization hopes to book Palin to be the speaker. Team Sarah's Bill Collier says that IFPC has already raised $59,000 for the event, and his group is trying to raise another $41,000.

The headline for the Politico piece -- "Sarah Palin's $100K speaking fee has Iowa Republicans wincing" -- gives the impression that the money Team Sarah and IFPC are trying to raise is needed to pay the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate's speaker fees, and the lede is likewise designed to paint Palin as a mercenary of the speakers circuit:

A conservative Iowa group’s effort to lure Sarah Palin to its banquet next month has had an unintended effect: Rather than exciting conservatives about the prospect of a visit from the former Alaska governor, the group’s plan to raise a six-figure sum to bring her to the state has GOP activists recoiling at the thought of paying to land a politician's speaking appearance.

The Iowa Family Policy Center’s effort to cobble together $100,000 for Palin would represent a striking departure from customary practice in the first-in-the-nation state, these Republicans say, noting that a generation of White House hopefuls has paid their own way to boost their party and presidential ambitions.
Were Palin to appear in Iowa on November 21st, it would mark her first trip back to the state since she spoke to a handful of rallies there last fall as the GOP’s vice-presidential nominee. She would offer powerful counter-programming to another major political event that night: The Iowa Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson Dinner with Vice-President Joe Biden as the headliner.

But representatives from other Iowa-based political advocacy groups said they would never consider shelling out money for what many politicians see as a privilege: the opportunity to speak to a room full of sure-fire caucus-goers who often serve as precinct captains and can be instrumental to a presidential candidate’s success.

Jonathan Martin, who wrote the hit piece, then goes on to quote a number of Iowa advocacy group leaders who say that they have never had to pay politicians to attend their events, and they are not about to start now.

There's just one problem with this piece of Politico prevarication. The money the two groups are hoping to raise is not necessarily earmarked to pay Sarah Palin to speak. Major events -- and IFPC says this will be a major event even bigger than the banquet in Indiana where Palin delivered a pro-life manifesto of a keynote speech -- require large venues which can seat thousands of people. Such venues have to be rented, and they don't come cheap. In addition, these events have to have security which is usually provided by hiring off-duty police officers. Other workers have to be contracted to take tickets, run the lighting and sound systems and clean up after the event. Then there are promotional costs for local media buys, printing flyers and the like. Such an event as being proposed by IFPC can easily cost $100,000 or more just to stage, exclusive of any speakers fees which the intended speaker may or may not charge.

And indeed, one has to read all the to the sixteenth paragraph to learn that IFPC spokesman Bryan English told Martin that the effort to raise money was only to secure a venue, pay for lighting and promote the event and that English was "not personally aware of a speaker’s fee." And it's not until the twenty-fourth paragraph that Martin admits:

"There is no indication that the former governor has requested a fee or that her decision whether to attend is being influenced by whether she’ll be paid."

False? Misleading? Distorted? Deceptive? Biased? Anti-Palin? You betcha! That's Jonathan Martin. That's Politico. That's reprehensible. Why is Sarah Palin the only political figure Politico goes out of its way to treat in this manner?

Texas4Palin

UPDATE: Holly Bailey writes for Newsweek

But hang on: did Palin actually ask the group to pay $100K for her appearance? An IFPC spokesman tells Martin he's "not personally aware" of a speaker's fee. "There may or may not be, I don't know," he tells Politico. For their part, the Palin camp tells NEWSWEEK there's no fee. Meg Stapleton, Palin's spokeswoman, tells your Gaggler that Palin "has not requested anything" and that she "does not charge people to campaign for them." According to Stapleton, Palin would instead cover such travel costs through her political-action committee, SarahPAC. Of course, that doesn't mean she's going to Iowa. Palin's book, Going Rogue, is due out Nov. 17, and she's got a major publicity tour planned around that, including a Nov. 16 appearance on Oprah. "We don't believe she will be able to attend with her tightly scheduled book tour, and the group has been told that through formal and informal channels," Stapleton says in an e-mail this morning. "However, it appears that some enthusiastic members are willing to try anything to entice the governor as we look at her schedule."

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Governor Palin And The GOP

Via C4P From Texas4Palin by Josh Painter

The media buzz today will be mostly about one aspect of the endorsement -- Sarah Palin distancing herself from her party. But she has also distanced herself from her potential rivals for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, should she decide to seek it. Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee decided to play it safe, and neither made an endorsement in this race for a congressional seat in Upstate New York. Newt Gingrich -- in the words of the Grail Knight in "The Last Crusade" -- "chose poorly" by backing the liberal Republican.

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With her endorsement of Doug Hoffman, Sarah Palin has taken a stand in solidarity with the gathering storm known as the grassroots movement in this country. The disaffected conservatives, conservative libertarians, common sense independents and blue collar Democrats (aka Reagan Democrats) who are mad as hell and not going to take it anymore always seemed to us to be former Governor Palin's natural base constituency. These are the the people who have turned out for TEA parties and Townhalls across the country, but there are many more of them who were not able to demonstrate, but feel the pain none the less. It's a big step for the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate to take toward earning their trust as the national public figure who best voices their concerns.

As for the Republican Party, its establishment has refused for too long to listen to the rank and file, and now it has officially been put on notice by Sarah Palin. Hopefully, it will finally pay attention to the voices of the people.

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Let us hope that Sarah Palin's bold move will make Steele, NRSC Chairman John Cornyn and especially NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions wake up and smell that conservative coffee being brewed throughout the land. Former Governor Palin may have just taken the first big step toward leading the Republican Party back to its Reagan roots. She has thrown down the gauntlet. Now let's see if she will pick up the banner and hold it so high that the troops will rally around it.

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