Sarah Para Bellum...

[BTW. For some reason, this image is a bit fuzzy here. Click it for a better view.]

I am mostly a Sarah Palin fan. She was absolutely the salvation of McCain's disastrous campaign last year. The Left hates her with a passion that I cannot remember. Tina Fey's rendition of Palin was cutting, and David Letterman is just a jerk (and he's earned my turning away from him).

That said, I don't quite know how to take Palin. She lives her convictions, but I'm often not quite sure what those convictions are. Last year, she was invited/scheduled to be at the NRA convention here in Phoenix, but then decided not to appear. It appears that her treatment by the media (Couric and Gibson, but others too) has made her very controlling of how she meets them. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but in some way makes her a politician saying nothing just like all the rest of them.

Anyway, I want to like her, and think that at this point, if anyone can get the Tea Party movement to coalesce in one direction, it will be Palin, if she's willing.

h/t: A blog new to me that is a bit snarkier than I try to be, but being snarky is sometimes fun too. Pierre Legrand's Pink Flamingo Bar.

Sarah Palin's Resignation....

Back when John McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate, I thought: "Perfect. Someone who is a real conservative--not some 'Maverick'--and who actually lives her principles." Then, when McCain suspended his campaign over the economic crisis, I thought that it was over (and I think I commented somewhere to that effect.).

[As a digression, and on later reflection, based on this very open and compelling video, maybe suspending the campaign was prudent. Note the timeline here...the run on the bank Kanjorski speaks of happened Sept. 15, and McCain suspended his campaign Sept. 24.]


Anyway, I remember thinking that when McCain pulled that stunt, prudent or not, that he was done.

Regarding Palin's future, I was really pumped when the NRA announced it was honoring Palin with a specially made .50Beowolf M4. I thought: "That's it. She's running, and she's running as an in-your-face conservative." However, after she demurred from attending, I then thought "OK. Maybe that's a smart move. Why make half of America suspicious of you?"

So anyway, today, when Palin announced her resignation, I had that same sort of feeling that I had when McCain suspended his campaign. Maybe she's just trying to put an end to these ceaseless and baseless attacks on her and her family. For that reason alone, I can understand the resignation. But as a political move, I'm not so sure. Maybe this is a totally out-of-the-box approach that she'll find that this will work for her--I certainly hope so. But she may have shot herself in the foot here too.

The cost of not showing up...

The other day, one of the lesser stories on the intertubes was the one about Sarah Palin being disinvited from an anti-Iran rally after Hillary Clinton backed out and the Obama campaign would not send Biden. The reasoning here was that the organizers were trying to de-politicize the event.

It seems that, contrary to that wish, the rally turned out to be a political event anyway.

[Note: Thanks to those coming in via Exurban League. Those fellas run a first-class, and local site, and I'm not sure what I've done to rate their link. Lately, I don't post all that often (watching my investments dwindle, and we have a daughter getting married soon), but I'll try to be worthy of their support. In that vein, if you care to see one of my rare uber-posts, and especially if you're interested in Arizona, here is something I did last year on Havasu Falls.]

Suddenly...

...I am more proud than ever of my Norwegian roots.



h/t The Weekly Standard via Ace.

WARRIORS!!!!

(Click here).

OK. Back to your regularly scheduled intertubes. More later.