The Return of Sarah Barracuda

Sarah Palin is back, and how. AP reports:

Sarah Palin defended Wisconsin's governor at a tea party tax day rally Saturday, telling hundreds of supporters that his polarizing union rights law is designed to save public jobs.

Of course, the AP then goes on to trash Palin by innuendo and try to slant the story in favor of the lefty union trolls and thugs who inevitably showed up to trash the Tea Partiers. (And note: the AP puts Tea Party in lower case, another one of the hundreds of not-so-subtle, smarmy, casual digs anybody who's not on the left has to endure on almost a daily basis.

Dan Riehl has a little better idea than AP as to what's really going on here. Unlike the "professionals," Riehl has more than a clue as to what this story is really about: leadership.

It's ironic to watch so many so called establishment Republicans who seem to want to be leader of the free world dance their way around the more serious political battles of our time. They criticize, they pontificate, or editorialize, yet from ObamaCare to a budget deal, they're also careful to not too directly engage. The same can be said of them for what has played out in Madison, Wisconsin over the past month.

Whether it's talking about death panels, or blood libel, to now showing up in Madison - that's not former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. As I said to a friend and colleague tonight, wherever the current battle is, that's very often where you can find Palin. One of the first requirements for leadership is to show up out front. No one will ever accuse Palin of not doing that. Doing so also has an interesting side benefit for any would be leader. When you lead, people tend to follow and support you, even if not at first.

Riehl's commentators are interesting, too, although as usual they're invaded by the usual assortment of (probably) paid lefty trolls who trot out the tired blame-Sarah meme--you know, the one where she's a coward and a quitter for resigning as Alaska's governor. Which, as they well know, she did to prevent all the Democrat-supported frivolous lawsuits against her from bankrupting her family--which was their intention.

One commentator ("Judas Priest") runs with this, picking up the cudgels and letting loose the best anti-left diatribe I've seen in months. It's on Riehl's site, but I'm reproducing it in full here to save you some time.

You Liberals are terrified - TERRIFIED OF PALIN. You know full well she didn't abandon her governor seat, she was hit by so many frivolous lawsuits from the Left that she couldn't function as governor and do the will of the people. So cut the crap with your lies!
You want to talk about abandoning? OK, let's have at it - Obama abandoned YOU. And your silence SCREAMS hypocrisy!

GE pays no taxes. Silence from the Left.Obama takes us to war #3. Silence from the Left.
Sarah Palin called a t***. Then a c***. Silence from the feminist Left. Economy in shambles. Silence from the Left.
Foreign policy a disaster. Silence from the Left. Pump prices have doubled under Obama. Silence from the Left.
Food/clothing prices skyrocket. Silence from the Left. Over 30 Czars. Silence from the Left.
Obama loses Democratic party over 700 seats. Silence from the Left. National debt has risen to 1.4% of a Quadrillion dollars. Silence from the Left.
NPR busted in full bias. Silence from the Left. GTMO still open. Silence from the Left.
2 wars still on, one with record death toll. Silence from the Left. All Democrat Congressional and Senate representatives are millionaires, multimillionaires, or billionaires. Silence from the Left.
Obama ignores nuclear disaster now reaching our shores. Silence from the Left. Obama delivers oil rig contract to Soros-owned Petrobas so they can drill for oil in gulf and sell it to us. Silence from the Left.
Hundreds of waivers delivered to Big Corporations and unions for Obamacare exemptions. Silence from the Left.

Palin IS NOT running the country, neither is Bush or Reagan or Beck or Nixon or Limbaugh or the Koch brothers. OBAMA is. And he's doing a damned terrible job of it as his recent 41% approval rating is showing. So go back to HuffPo and tell them you need better talking points. And a better candidate next time. This one and his Liberal policies are Epic Fail. 

I have nothing more to add.

Geraldine Ferraro Dead at 75

Frankly, I rarely share a tear for a Democrat these days, but I was sorry to hear of former 1984 Democrat VP candidate Geraldine Ferraro's passing at the fairly young age of 75. According to Fox News:

Ferraro died at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she was being treated for blood cancer, a disease she battled for 12 years, her family said.

Although she lived on the left side of the aisle, I always thought Ferraro conducted herself with class and dignity, particularly during the real estate scandals her husband was involved in--scandals that didn't help when they were uncovered during the 1984 campaign and with which Ferraro was clearly not involved.

After the Reagan victory in 1984, Ferraro mostly retreated from campaign politics, although she briefly tried to run for the Senate in the late 1990s, being bested, alas, by the absolutely dreadful Chuck Schumer who will probably plague us 'til the end of days.

Ferraro was pilloried by the press for her honest observations about the Barack Obama bandwagon in 2008. Unfairly labeled a "racist" for preferring female candidate Hillary Clinton, she backed out of active campaigning for the candidate after the uproar.

Interestingly, the always forthright (and more than equally maligned) Sarah Palin offered a classy valedictory today, lauding the efforts of Ferraro in breaking the political glass ceiling for both Clinton and Palin:

"She broke one huge barrier and then went on to break many more," Palin said in a statement. "The world will miss her. May she rest in peace and may her example of hard work and dedication to America continue to inspire all women."

Right answer. Let's end it there.

WTF = WIN?

The Obama crew tried to add some pizazz to the President's State of the Union address earlier this week by coming up with what they'd hoped would be an inspiring new slogan, "Winning the Future." The acronym for this faux-brilliant ideal is WTF, of course, and you web fanatics know what that stands for. It's kind of funny that, even in Washington's alphabet-mad environment, Obama's back-bench of policymakers and speechwriters didn't head this colossal goof off at the pass.

When you leave yourself as wide open as they did, you can always expect your opponent to drive a truck through the opening. And Sarah Palin, bless her little much-maligned heart, was the first to pounce. Her reaction demonstrated not only her communications savvy. It also turned the Democrats' constant ridicule of herself, her intelligence, and her family right back on them, making the administration and the media look like a bunch of fools. (Story, video, and lotsa comments on Hot Air right here.)

It's interesting to think back to another political alpha-slogan that was strangled in its crib. That was back in 1974 during the Presidency of Gerald Ford. Beset by a rampant inflation, Ford was under pressure to do something, anything. So his administration conceived of a lame, ill-defined program to "Whip Inflation Now." It was nothing more than a slogan really, but hey, you got a swell "WIN" button if you joined the party.

Alas, the party was short-lived. Media, politicians, academics, everyone trashed this silliness, the President's own party included. WIN died a quick, nearly painless death. (Bet one of those buttons would fetch a few $$ today.)

Obama's ill-conceived and insincere promise to seriously cut the Federal budget--all the while promising even more programs--was nuts to start out with as his earlier economic efforts have been. Palin's wit and timing quickly put an end to it by obliterating its slogan.

While I still think the media has bloodied Palin too badly for her to run a credible campaign in 2012, you have to give this energetic woman a lot of credit here. Her political instincts are swift and sure. She spotted the opportunity and wasted no time going for the political jugular. It's clear her old school teammates didn't call her Sarah Barracuda for nothing, no matter how the media loves to sneer and smear.