PAGE 142

"There is a special bond and link
forged between rider and horse..."

On p. 142 of GR, Sarah continues her discussion of the early days of her gubernatorial administration. At the top of the page she writes these words "… my administration rode in on the horse of ethics reform."

Simple words!

And yet I believe that, along with many other seemingly simple phenomena of nature, of history, of language, etc. it can be worthwhile briefly to examine these words. The Governor presents an image that we can easily take for granted. Since our eye races in an instant over these ten words (maybe fifteen or so words for the "president," who thinks there are fifty-seven States!)--since the eye darts and dances and dashes past these words, our mind too can easily skip over them.

There has existed from ancient, ancient times a close relationship between man/woman and horse. While it is undoubtedly true that the advent of the Age of the Automobile has brought great benefits to humanity, I think that we may have lost something precious too in the diminished relationship between man and horse.

Does not the ability, nay the ART, of riding a horse, and riding it well, help to create and consummate certain special qualities in the human soul, and even body? To be sure, race-car drivers, for example, are a very brave and bold and daring bunch (long live the memory of Dale Earnhardt, Sr.!!).

Still, I believe that there is a special bond and link forged between rider and horse. We can observe this in historical figures, such as General Robert E. Lee and his magnificent war-horse Traveller, and in the fictitious and yet eternal and deathless Gandalf from Tolkien and his stalwart, incomparable steed Shadowfax.

Remember too the splendid photo of the Governor on HORSEBACK at the Reagan Ranch from a couple or so years ago. It is, IMHO, one of the most beautiful photos of a LADY whose photos are always beautiful. It is in the current SarahPAC calendar for the month of October.

A true heroine and ethics reformer like Sarah, who passed through her "apprenticeship" of reform in Alaska--her preparation, God willing, for greater and mightier deeds on the national level—a true reformer like the Governor will have to be mounted upon a mighty "horse": A horse of daring; a horse of swiftness; a horse of elan; a horse of dauntless and fearless and noble charges into the thick and thunder of the ferocious and fearsome conflict.

If our BATTLE CAPTAIN Sarah Palin decides to vault into the saddle of a Campaign 2016 for the White House, if she unsheathes her "terrible, swift sword," legions and legions of American Patriots stand ready to follow her into the fray.

IMHO—and it is truly just my OPINION:

SARAH waits on the Word of the Lord and on the word of the American People (=results of the 2014 election) …

America, in turn, post-2014, will wait on the Governor's word ...

If you sound forth the clarion call to battle, Governor, we shall come flocking in our MILITANT MILLIONS to your STANDARD AND BANNER OF WAR!!!


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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