PAGE 128

Palin and Tom Irwin

On p. 128 of GR, Sarah continues her account of her brave gasline team, and the stand that some of them had made against Governor Frank Murkowski before she came to gubernatorial office.

She writes, "Evidently, my friend Tom [Irwin] had told Murkowski one too many times that the secret gasline deal he was negotiating with Exxon-Mobil, BP, and ConocoPhillips violated the state's Constitution. Among other things, his approach relinquished state sovereignty, and would unwisely lock in tax rates for decades into the future despite volatility in the markets.

"Murkowski didn't like being questioned. Tom loved his state too much to be part of something that would ultimately hurt it. So he did what I had done when faced with my AOGCC decision--he left so he could be effective elsewhere. Tom went home to Fairbanks, and the rest of the Magnificent Seven also found other jobs."

While it would be fruitful to reflect here upon the Governor's courageous and momentous decision of July, 2009, her heroic resignation from the job she loved, the Governorship of Alaska, an act similar to those of Tom Irwin and the other members of the Magnificent Seven, I would like to follow a different path and thread of thought this morning on the above passage.

I would like to focus on these words, "Murkowski didn't like being questioned" and on these, "Tom loved his state too much to be part of something that would ultimately hurt it."

What a seemingly simple, and yet in reality stark and world-shaking contrast we behold here between two different kinds of souls, between two worlds of the mind, between two universes of the spirit.

There are people who manifest a …

WILLINGNESS to acknowledge their errors and mistakes, and an

UNWILLINGNESS to do wrong.

And there are people who manifest an …

UNWILLINGNESS humbly to acknowledge their errors, their mistakes, their sins, and a …

WILLINGNESS to do wrong.

The proud and purblind Murkowski is a type and an example of one of these species of individuals. He "didn't like being questioned." Also, he was willing to take his State down a bad and dangerous path.

Tom Irwin, by contrast, refused to be party to actions that he deemed and judged to be nocent and noxious to his State. While it is not made explicit here, it may safely be assumed that, in accordance with the moral symmetries traced above, Tom Irwin would be willing humbly to acknowledge faults and errors on his part.

In this connection, I am reminded of the great King David. Yes, he sinned grievously by sending Uriah to the front lines to be killed, and then taking Uriah's wife, Bathsheba, for his own.

But what sets David apart from legions of others, what makes him an immortal, is that, when the prophet Nathan confronted him with his great sins, the King did not "kill the messenger," he did not have the prophet murdered to quiet his own conscience--the sort of action that so many other kings and other mighty ones of this world have taken.

No, he confessed his sins, and his soul lived… he became a Hero of the Lord for All Times!! IMHO, his VICTORY OVER SELF was greater than his victory over GOLIATH!

Now, we are confronted today, in Washington DC, by a criminal gang that has NOT followed the path of the brave Tom Irwin, who refused to be party to evil schemes. Further, unlike King David, they are refusing to acknowledge the wickedness of their ways in these stirring and momentous days, when a true prophet is hurling their sins and their delicts and their crimes in their teeth!!

These people, from barack obama on down, are rather like Frank Murkowski.

First, they were willing to do great evil.

But we all err sometimes; even David sinned greatly.

Yes, but today, when a veritable PROPHET OF TRUTH FOR AMERICA IN OUR TIME, SARAH PALIN, HAS ARISEN TO DENOUNCE THEM …

Will they repent; will they acknowledge their criminal and treasonous acts???

Will they say, "mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa"???

NO.

Like Frank Murkowski, they do not like to be questioned.

David, the eternal Servant of the Lord David, bowed his kingly head before the TRUTH OF THE LORD, as enunciated by the Prophet of the All-Highest. He refused to murder the Lord's messenger.

obama and his thugs, by contrast, will continue trying to smother and extinguish the voice of America's prophet of the twenty-first century.

They will not succeed. All that they will do is to complete the process of extinguishing their own benighted souls.

Guys, Sarah sent the proud Frank Murkowski and his political gang packing in 2006.

The Lord willing, she will boot the obamunists and their RINO fellow travelers out of power, starting in 2014, and culminating in 2016!!!

Our voices, our hearts, our swords for SARAHAMERICA!!!!


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.

  © Blogger templates Sunset by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP