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March 8, 2011

Why, despite the MSM/Dem complex’s earnest efforts, Sarah Palin remains wildly popular among conservatives

NRO reports March 7 that Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Peter Fitzgerald issued the following letter in response to the minority party senators who are currently shirking their constitutional duty by vacationing in Illinois (and occasionally lobbing demand-laden press releases across the border):
March 7, 2011
Sen. Mark Miller
Parts Unknown, IL

Dear Senator Miller,

Thank you for your hand-delivered letter with an offer to meet, in Illinois, about the business and future direction of Wisconsin.

Let’s set aside how bizarre that is for a moment.

As you know, this legislation is designed to finally balance the state budget, prevent layoffs and create jobs in the real world. There are hundreds of thousands of unemployed or underemployed Wisconsinites, and at least 1,500 more whose jobs are in the balance because of your media stunt. We all deserve better than this.

In the meantime, members of your caucus have been meeting with the governor’s staff, talking to the media, trying to find a way back to Madison, and contradicting your message in public. In case you don’t remember, you were present yourself at one of those meetings with the governor’s staff. Your grasp of reality, and control of your caucus as minority leader, continues to amaze me.

As you know, your opportunity to compromise and amend the bill was on the floor of the state Senate. As you know, you forfeited that right and opportunity when you decided to flee the state instead of doing your job.

Your stubbornness in trying to ignore the last election and protect the broken status quo is truly shameful. While we wait for you and your colleagues to finally show up, Senate Republicans continue to stand ready to do the job we were elected to do, here in Wisconsin. I hope you are enjoying your vacation, and your vacation from reality.

Sincerely,

Scott Fitzgerald
Senate Majority Leader
CC: Governor Scott Walker
This letter is positively dripping with awesomeness.

Wisconsin Republicans are doing an awesome job of playing political hardball with their wayward colleagues.

Woefully few Republicans have the guts to do this on the national stage.  Sarah Palin is one, and I'm convinced that this accounts for a good portion of her popularity among the conservative base.

Ironically, this seems to be precisely the quality that makes establishment Republicans squirm.  Are they even capable of putting forth candidates who will refuse to let the MSM/Dem complex walk all over them?

5 comments:

Bill589 said...

With more politicians like Palin and Walker, we just might be able to restore our country to the principles and practices that made it great in the first place.

Palin said something like, ‘As goes Wisconsin, so goes our republic.’ This may be true.

Here’s one for Walker winning, and President Sarah Palin.

Anonymous said...

I hope she doesn't run. If she does I hope she doesn't win the nomination. She is not very impressive as a leader, in my opinion. We have plenty of Republicans to choose from that have proven themselves as executives (Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former Utah governor and departing ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty). She didn’t take that opportunity to govern. In my mind she either had something to run from as governor of Alaska or she couldn’t handle the heat. Either one is a problem for a presidential candidate. Instead of sticking with her job as governor of Alaska she made a TV show?

Stephen

Tim said...

Hi, Stephen -

You bring up some of the negatives that countless others have raised regarding Sarah. These points are baseless or distorted (do you even know what was happening in Alaska at the time she decided to resign?); you seem to have bought into the Dem/MSM complex's narrative regarding her tenure as governor.

Regardless of her negatives (real or imagined), you need to understand what I believe is her greatest positive -- she preaches Reaganite conservatism, she appears to actually believe it, she doesn't apologize for it, and she defends it against all comers.

You hope she doesn't get the nomination? Great -- tell me which other candidate aggressively champions conservative principles as well as she does. I'm not sure that any of the guys you mentioned have the moxie required to keep the Dems from walking all over them. The Dems see this as a blood sport, and too many of our guys are trying to be collegial.

If some such alternative really exists, and they have the name recognition necessary to get some traction in the primaries, you might see some defections from Sarah's legions... but I don't see that yet.

Anonymous said...

I don’t know if I have bought the Dem/MSM complex’s narrative or not. I have come to my conclusions while watching Fox News occasionally, listening to Rush, reading columnist like Thomas Sowell, George Will, Pat Buchanan, and even David Brooks, watching the local news, reading the newspaper and checking in with Drudge. I watched her interviews during the campaign and listened when she resigned. She asked people to trust her that she was making the right decision for Alaska and her family. Maybe it was best for Alaska, it was certainly best for her family (but it seems awfully shortsighted to only realize after winning the governorship and accepting the nomination for VP that those decisions might not be good for her family). So it was good for her family, it was good for Alaska but it hasn’t made her more prepared as an executive. She may have been a more experienced executive than Barack Obama but come on just because the other side picks unqualified candidates doesn’t mean we should. Just my opinion, I hope if she runs and wins that I am wrong.

Stephen

Tim said...

Thanks for clarifying, Stephen. I understand what you're saying now.

Here's the deal: Perhaps she's damaged goods, as you (and many others) think. But, like I said, nobody else out there is giving voice to the worldview of the conservative legions, while refusing to soft-pedal or apologize for that worldview.

If another strong voice comes along that can capture the hearts and minds of rank-and-file true conservatives, your worries are over. Who, then? Michelle Bachmann is starting to drop hints that she's going to jump in. What do you think of her?