PAGE 115

On p. 115 of GR, Sarah continues with her discussion of the 2005-2006 campaign for the Governorship of Alaska. Around the time of the August, 2006 primary vote, she participated in a debate against incumbent Governor Frank Murkowski and John Binkley. She writes, "Back and forth they [Murkowski and Binkley] went until the moderator couldn't get a word in edgewise.

"We switched to more serious topics like gross versus net oil taxes, but they kept their claws out. I sat back in my chair and let them bicker.

"Then, just as their ears turned red and they had to come up for air, I leaned forward and let the mom in me flow out. 'Come on, guys,' I said, 'I really think Alaskans deserve a better discourse than this.' I spent a couple of moments turning down the volume of their spat, then pivoted back on message. It was another good night for us.

"It wasn't the last time I'd find that there's no better training ground for politics than motherhood. At one point during the general election, motherhood became the focus of a unique line of questioning. In my responses to a series of debate questions on abortion, I remained consistent and sincere, explaining how personal and sensitive the issue is and that good people can disagree.

"But the debate moderator decided to personalize his hypotheticals with a series of 'What if …' questions. He asked:

" 'If a woman were, say, raped …'

" '… I would choose life.'

" 'If your daughter were pregnant …'

" 'Again, I would choose life.'

" 'If your teenage daughter got pregnant …'

" 'I'd counsel a young parent to choose life … consider adoption,' I answered.

"I calmly repeated my answers to all of his 'what-ifs,' then looked pointedly to my right and my left, to one opponent, then the other. Then I returned to the moderator and said, 'I'm confident you'll be asking the other candidates these same questions, right?' Of course, he didn't."

Besides the obvious fact that Sarah was singled out for nasty special treatment, for nasty grilling, on the abortion question, what can we learn from this magnificent passage from GR?

First, Sarah stands by and on her principles. These principles are like a solid rock, a firmly constructed platform or launching pad from which she is able to launch herself forward into battle.

Second, she is a great strategist and tactician.

Let us consider this second point first.

I believe that her debate with Murkowski and Binkley was a microcosm of today's National Debate. I think that the Governor's macro-strategy in the war for America may be similar to the tactics that she executed on the night of the Murkowski/Binkley confrontation.

Just as in the 2006 debate she bided her time, just as she waited … and waited … and waited, just as she allowed her two opponents to rip and tear into each other, and then, and then, at just the right and the ripe moment, in one brilliant and bravura-filled stroke, set herself apart from both of them, so I think that she may allow all of the politicos from the GOPe and the Left to rip away at each other, and then, at the precise and perfect moment, strike with a pithy and powerful stroke that will begin to win masses of Americans to her battle standard of Constitutional Liberty!!

The Democratic and Republican Establishments are two sides of the same counterfeit coin. At the very moment when millions of her fellow citizens will be saying to themselves, "THIS is all we have for 'leaders'???!!!!"--at just that instant, America's gold double-eagle coin will reveal, by virtue of a searing and scintillating contrast, what a REAL leader, what a REAL stateswoman, what a REAL patriot looks like!!

As to the first point that was made above, it is the Governor's fidelity to her conscience, to her heart, to her principles that will make her and her POTUS candidacy appealing to millions upon millions of disaffected Americans, and especially to folks who have DROPPED OUT of all participation in the political process, due to disgust at BOTH Parties.

People respect guts; they respect sincerity; they respect the REAL DEAL.

Ronald Reagan won vast, wide, and deep support and affection from the American People because, even when some individuals disagreed with him on SOME PARTICULAR issues, in GENERAL they sensed that he was real; that he meant what he said; that they could TRUST him!!!

I think that it will be the same for our dear Governor.

ESPECIALLY ON THE ISSUE OF LIFE, NO ONE IN AMERICA TODAY HAS MORE CREDIBILITY THAN SARAH.

She doesn't defend life with just WORDS alone (but words can be very good, very powerful, very efficacious); but, beyond words, the Governor brought her precious little Trig into this world.

Guys, she is REAL; she is an expert tactician; she is a master strategist.

I am filled with hope in these late-winter days of February, as we wait and pray, wait and pray, wait and pray to see what the Lord has in mind for America and for Sarah.

Nature is preparing to awaken, to arise; springtide is knocking and knocking at the threshold and at the door. So I believe our beloved country is about to rise up in righteous rebellion against the evil and self-pampering, self-serving, traitorous Permanent Political Class.

I believe that, after the horror-filled years of barack hussein obama, the Chicago and Saul-Alinsky political thug, hypocrite, manipulator, liar, and would-be destroyer of America and of the West, glory is just around the corner.

POST TENEBRAS, LUX--After Darkness, Light!!

POST NOCTEM, AURORA--After the Night, Dawn!!!


Read It For Yourself:

Read It For Yourself:

Other Great Sarah Books:

Other Great Sarah Books:

Palin Essentials:

Palin Essentials:

Credits:

All sidebar photos are from Wikimedia. I have tried to post all royalty-free images or to get permission, but in a few cases I could not locate the original source of a photograph or find a way to ask permission.


Contact info: bbrianus@gmail.com.

Other Great Going Rogue Reviews:

Jedediah Bila:

"Palin’s inviting first-person narration that is sometimes whimsical, often confident, and always patriotic...Going Rogue is truly one of those reads in which you put the book down after your eyes graze the final lines and you somehow feel like the writer is someone you’ve known all your life."
John Ziegler:

"I was simply blown away by Going Rogue on almost every level. For many reasons, this is by far the best book and greatest literary achievement by a political figure in my lifetime..."
Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata:
"Her book washes away all doubts that any reader might have had about her readiness to be president. She comes across as exceptionally bright, dedicated, and passionate about public service. Her moral compass is strong, pointing true North in this case. And she has a wicked sense of humor."
Don Surber:
"Conservatives know why Palin is still standing — and standing taller today than those who tried to bring her down. What does not kill you makes you stronger. Thank you, Tina Fey."

Sarah Palin is Coming to Town

Review by Stanley Fish:

When I walked into the Strand Bookstore in Manhattan last week, I headed straight for the bright young thing who wore an “Ask Me” button, and asked her to point me to the section of the store where I might find Sarah Palin’s memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life.” She looked at me as if I had requested a copy of “Mein Kampf” signed in blood by the author....

A few days later...I had begun reading Palin’s book, and while I wouldn’t count myself a fan in the sense of being a supporter, I found it compelling and very well done....

First, the art. The book has an architectonic structure that is built around a single moment, the moment when Palin receives a call from John McCain inviting her to be the vice-presidential candidate of the Republican party. When we first hear about the call it is as much a surprise to us as it was (at least as reported) to her, because for six pages she has been recounting a wonderful family outing at the Alaska State Fair. When her phone rings, she hopes it might be a call from her son Track, a soldier soon to deploy to Iraq, but “it was Senator John McCain asking if I wanted to help him change history.”

And that’s the last we hear of it for 200 pages. In between we hear a lot about Wasilla, high school, basketball, college, marriage, children, Down syndrome, Alaska politics, the environment, a daughter’s pregnancy. The re-entry of John McCain into the narrative on page 208 introduces Palin’s account of the presidential campaign and its aftermath, especially her decision to resign the governorship before the end of her term....

Paradoxically, the effect of the neatly spaced references to the call is to de-emphasize it as a dramatic moment. It is presented not as a climax, but as an interruption of matters more central to Palin’s abiding concerns — her family, Alaska’s prosperity, energy policy. (She loves to rehearse the kind of wonkish details we associate with Hillary Clinton, whom she admires.)

Indeed, it is a feature of this narrative that events we might have expected to be foregrounded are elided or passed over. Palin introduced herself to the nation with a powerful, electrifying speech accepting McCain’s invitation to join the ticket. It gets half a sentence (“I gave my speech”)....

The only event that receives an extended discussion is her resignation. It is important to her because as an act it reflects on her integrity, and she has to be sure (as she eventually was) that she was doing it for the right reasons.

Resigning was a moral act for which she was responsible. The vice-presidential candidacy just happened to her; her account of it reads like an extended “what-I-did-on-my summer-and fall-vacation” essay.

For many politicians, family life is sandwiched in between long hours in public service. Palin wants us to know that for her it is the reverse. Political success is an accident that says nothing about you. Success as a wife, mother and citizen says everything...

I find the voice undeniably authentic...It is the voice of small-town America, with its folk wisdom, regional pride, common sense, distrust of rhetoric (itself a rhetorical trope), love of country and instinctive (not doctrinal) piety.

It says, here are some of the great things that have happened to me, but they are not what makes my life great and American. (“An American life is an extraordinary life.”) It says, don’t you agree with me that family, freedom and the beauties of nature are what sustain us?

And it also says, vote for me next time. For it is the voice of a politician, of the little girl who thought she could fly, tried it, scraped her knees, dusted herself off and “kept walking.”

In the end, perseverance, the ability to absorb defeat without falling into defeatism, is the key to Palin’s character. It’s what makes her run in both senses of the word and it is no accident that the physical act of running is throughout the book the metaphor for joy and real life. Her handlers in the McCain campaign wouldn’t let her run (a mistake, I think, even at the level of photo-op), no doubt because they feared another opportunity to go “off script,” to “go rogue.”

But run she does (and falls, but so what?), and when it is all over and she has lost the vice presidency and resigned the governorship, she goes on a long run and rehearses in her mind the eventful year she has chronicled. And as she runs, she achieves equilibrium and hope: “We’ve been through amazing days, and really, there wasn’t one thing to complain about. I feel such freedom, such hope, such thankfulness for our country, a place where nothing is hopeless.”

The message is clear. America can’t be stopped. I can’t be stopped. I’ve stumbled and fallen, but I always get up and run again. Her political opponents, especially those who dismissed Ronald Reagan before he was elected, should take note. Wherever you are, you better watch out. Sarah Palin is coming to town.

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