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SyndicateTime to Reassess the Playing Field
By Robert Ringer - Tuesday, November 24, 2009
By Robert Ringer
I love Sarah Palin! That’s the good news. The bad news is that I, and millions of others who love the ex-governor of Alaska, have been greatly disappointed by her recent interviews.
In my previous article, I pointed out how Palin missed many golden opportunities to put her libertarian-centered conservative principles on display in her interview with Sean Hannity. Then, shortly into the first segment of her interview with Bill O’Reilly, it was obvious that she was going to offer more make-nice filibustering.
I received a lot of feedback from readers who share my concern about Palin’s unwillingness to speak out boldly. Two examples:
“I am a very hopeful advocate for Sarah Palin. Your article was spot on. Sarah must take the gloves off and bear her fangs. If she does not do this she will follow the hapless John McCain into oblivion. How can this message reach Sarah Palin? It must happen.” — Patrick A.
“Great article! I love Sarah, and I hope she reads this! I really believed she’d be a lot gutsier. We need a FEARLESS firebrand! — Susan N.
It appears that Sarah Palin has presidential aspirations. But it also appears that she learned little from her experience with John McMush and his “handlers.”
The Be-Careful-What-You-Say Strategy apparently is contagious. Why else would Palin be so cautious when she has the opportunity to show the world who she really is? Just as BHO can no longer blame the depression on George Bush, neither can Sarah Palin continue to blame her lack of interview effectiveness on McMush’s handlers.
When O’Reilly asked her what she would do about Putin and Russia, Palin mumbled something about “working with our allies.” Say what? How about, “I would immediately install an antiballistic missile-shield system in Eastern Europe — without discussing it with Putin.”
O’Reilly then asked her what she would do about Iran’s drive to build a nuclear bomb. Palin mumbled something about “imposing sanctions.” Gosh, I never heard that one before. Alert the media: Sanctions don’t work! Russia, China, et al don’t cooperate when it comes to sanctions, and the rulers of sanctioned countries don’t give a hoot if their own people suffer. “Imposing sanctions” is right out of the Politico Babble Bible — right along with “Mideast Peace Process,” “eliminate fraud and abuse,” and “get the economy moving.”
I’ve given the Palin matter a lot of thought, and can come up with only three possibilities for her disappointing play-it-down-the-middle approach in the interviews she’s done thus far on her book tour:
Possibility Number 1: Finally free of the constraints that were placed on her during the presidential campaign, she may have fallen into the hands of a new group of Inside-the–Beltway handlers who are taking her down the same losing road — a road that, until the advent of the tea parties, gave a power seeker the best chance of getting into Washington’s elite Political Criminal Club.
Possibility Number 2: The second possibility is that Palin is making her own decisions, which is scary to think about, because it would mean that her judgment is lousy. The only way she could so badly misjudge the mood of a majority of Americans is if she is either ignorant or woefully lacking when it comes to accurately perceiving the world around her. As I said, scary to think about.
Possibility Number 3: Lastly is the possibility that I hate to even consider: What if Sarah Palin is not a fearless, gun-toting, corruption-fighting, in-your-face libertarian-centered conservative? What if she’s just another politician? Let us not forget that last March she appointed former Planned Parenthood board member Morgan Christen to the Alaska State Supreme Court, which assured that the Court would lean left on issues such as abortion and gay marriage.
The first two possibilities are correctible mistakes, so let’s focus on number three. When I was young and single, I dated one particular girl (“Cathy”) for about three years. I liked almost everything about her — physically attractive, intelligent, and kind. But she had one other trait that I tried to ignore: She was an emotional train wreck.
Put another way, she wasn’t who I wanted to believe she was. She was not a gal who was physically attractive, intelligent, and kind. She was a gal who was physically attractive, intelligent, kind — and a nutcase. I finally realized that I was deluding myself into trying to make her into something she was not, and I got out of the relationship.
Which brings me back to America’s love affair with Sarah Palin. Is it possible that she’s just another Cathy and that we’re all trying desperately to make her into something she is not? Let’s hope that isn’t the case. After all, it hasn’t been that long ago that she called the Democratic healthcare bill “evil.” That is the fresh voice that Americans hunger for.
More likely, some establishment types got to her and convinced her that moderation was the road to the White House. Sure worked well for John McMush, didn’t it?
As I said in my previous article, if Sarah Palin has presidential ambitions, she should do the exact same thing she would do if she were focusing only on money: Speak out boldly and without fear.
If Palin wants to learn how to do that, she might study some ultra-knowledgeable females who aren’t shy about speaking the truth — say, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham, and Monica Crowley, for starters. Even Congresswoman Michele Bachmann doesn’t worry about offending people when she speaks out — which is often.
Here’s today’s free message to Sarah Palin: If you’re really serious about running for high office, I suggest you step back and reassess the playing field. Americans are mad! And the last thing in the world they want to hear are long-winded verbal meanderings filled with clichés like “the average, everyday, hard-working American.” We already have the world’s biggest B.S. artist in the White House, and he gives us all the verbal fluff we can handle.
Governor Palin, like millions of other Americans, I want to believe that you’re for real. But if you’re not willing to step up to the plate like the heavy-hitting gals I named above, I, along with millions of others, are eventually going to give up on you. If you’re trying to play to the so-called moderate crowd (read, moderate liberals), your political career is over.
Wouldn’t it be sad to watch the prim and proper Peggy Noonan clique gloating and saying, “I told you so?”
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ROBERT RINGER is a New York Times #1 bestselling author and host of the highly acclaimed Liberty Education Interview Series, which features interviews with top political, economic, and social leaders. He has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business, The Tonight Show, Today, The Dennis Miller Show, Good Morning America, The Lars Larson Show, ABC Nightline, and The Charlie Rose Show, and has been the subject of feature articles in such major publications as Time, People, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Barron's, and The New York Times.
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11 Responses to “Time to Reassess the Playing Field”
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I like her too – and those interviews just may have done us all a justice – albeit disappointing – and that is that she “move on through” and we say “next”! That’s been the problem with the republican party thus far – worried more about being politically polite than being honest about their stance. Palin should stop deciding what it is she thinks we want to hear – speak her truth and let us decide. Frankly though, and like her I do, I don’t see the Commander and Chief qualities I believe we need, and will require more so after this yoyo gets finished with his term. Too much pandering for me.
Because of an article I read after her interview with Hannity and O’riely, I sent one of these out the other day cautioning Sara not to become another of the average competing political dung heap that yield to each and every mood they meet along the way. I said, just do as you did to get where you are now. Call a spade a spade and deep six them as quickly and often as you find them. There are lots of them here in the lower 48 in either party. Many of them need prison time and you saw fit to do just that to some your AK crooked political scum bags.
At this moment in time, I would have no compunction in having a young, pretty, white, INTELLIGENT, HONEST President for a change. I want to see what the first Man does and if he will need 30 or 40 servants to take care of his needs. Also I bet Sarah would spend the first six months in this country getting things in order before she set foot in a foreign country. I bet she wouldn’t bow to any Saudi prince or Jap Emperor. I bet she wouldn’t even snub and alienate our long standing allies. No, we will not apologize for Hiroshima or Nagasaki. We didn’t start that war either. Sorry, I am touching too many bases but, she would be a refreshing breath of fresh air.
Swifty
Below is said item:
By Dewie Whetsell, Alaskan Fisherman. As posted in comments on Greta’s article referencing the MOVEON ad about Sarah Palin.
The last 45 of my 66 years I’ve spent in a commercial fishing town in Alaska . I understand Alaska politics but never understood national politics well until this last year. Here’s the breaking point: Neither side of the Palin controversy gets it. It’s not about persona, style, rhetoric, it’s about doing things. Even Palin supporters never mention the things that I’m about to mention here.
1- Democrats forget when Palin was the Darling of the Democrats, because as soon as Palin took the Governor’s office away from a fellow Republican and tough SOB, Frank Murkowski, she tore into the Republican’s “Corrupt Bastards Club” (CBC) and sent them packing. Many of them are now residing in State housing and wearing orange jump suits.. The Democrats reacted by skipping around the yard, throwing confetti and singing, “la la la la” (well, you know how they are). Name another governor in this country that has ever done anything similar.
2- Now with the CBC gone, there were fewer Alaskan politicians to protect the huge, giant oil companies here. So she constructed and enacted a new system of splitting the oil profits called “ACES.” Exxon protested and Sarah told them, “don’t let the door hit you in the stern on your way out.” They stayed, and Alaska residents went from being merely wealthy to being filthy rich. Of course, the other huge international oil companies meekly fell in line. Again, give me the name of any other governor in the country that has done anything similar.
3- The other thing she did when she walked into the governor’s office is she got the list of State requests for federal funding for projects, known as “pork.” She went through the list, took 85% of them and placed them in the “when-hell-freezes-over” stack. She let locals know that if we need something built, we’ll pay for it ourselves. Maybe she figured she could use the money she got from selling the previous governor’s jet because it was extravagant. Maybe she could use the money she saved by dismissing the governor’s cook (remarking that she could cook for her own family), giving back the State vehicle issued to her, maintaining that she already had a car, and dismissing her State provided security force (never mentioning – I imagine – that she’s packing heat herself). I’m still waiting to hear the names of those other governors.
4- Now, even with her much-ridiculed “gosh and golly” mannerism, she also managed to put together a totally new approach to getting a natural gas pipeline built which will be the biggest private construction project in the history of North America. No one else could do it although they tried. If that doesn’t impress you, then you’re trying too hard to be unimpressed while watching her do things like this while baking up a batch of brownies with her other hand.
5- For 30 years, Exxon held a lease to do exploratory drilling at a place called Point Thompson. They made excuses the entire time why they couldn’t start drilling. In truth they were holding it like an investment.. No governor for 30 years could make them get started… This summer, she told them she was revoking their lease and kicking them out. They protested and threatened court action. She shrugged and reminded them that she knew the way to the court house. Alaska won again.
6- President Obama wants the nation to be on 25% renewable resources for electricity by 2025. Sarah went to the legislature and submitted her plan for Alaska to be at 50% renewable by 2025. We are already at 25%. I can give you more specifics about things done, as opposed to style and persona. Everybody wants to be cool, sound cool, look cool. But that’s just a cover-up. I’m still waiting to hear from liberals the names of other governors who can match what mine has done in two and a half years. I won’t be holding my breath.
By the way, she was content to return to AK after the national election and go to work, but the haters wouldn’t let
her. Now these adolescent screeches are obviously not scuba divers. And no one ever told them what happens when you continually jab and pester a barracuda. Without warning, it will spin around and tear your face off. Should known better.
You have just read the truth about Sarah Palin that sends the media, along with the democrat party, into a wild uncontrolled frenzy to discredit her. I guess they are only interested in skirt chasers, dishonesty, immoral people, liars, womanizers, murderers, and bitter ex-presidents’ wives. and don’t forget, queers>>> editors note???? Yes.
So “You go, Girl.” I only wish the men in Washington had your guts, determination, honesty, and morals.
I rest my case.
Only FOOLS listen to the biased media.
Why is Sarah Palin even being discussed when a much brighter star, Gary Johnson, is on the horizon. Why does Mr. Ringer ignore the better candidate?
There is another possibility. “They” could have gotten to her. It’s simply a historical fact that the far left is ruthless in their ambition. Perhaps she was sent a message to tone it down, or else. Who knows? What I do know is that at this present time I’m still looking for a strong voice for Liberty to emerge on the political scene. Sarah is not it.
Dear Moderator,
Please delete my first post as I made an error that could cause a misunderstanding. I did not mean to type Mr. *Noboby.* It should have been Mr. Nobody (aka me)………..thanks.
Ex-Governor Palin is just another political tautologist.
Is she, or could she be, an outstanding leader? Maybe on a girls basketball team where her collectivist instincts could be used, but not as President.
I can see it all now, a President Palin, in the middle of the night, her face dripping with cold sweat, thinking to herself, I can’t believe this is happening; Todd, should I push “The Button?”
BOOM!
By comparison, Governor Palin is about as relevant a leader as Dan Quayle—if you even remember him.
I’m not stating that Governer Palin couldn’t become President Palin—oh no, no, no, after all, look who is the current President— anything is possible right?
All ye brainwashed and tautologized sheep, now repeat after me: YES WE CAN, YES WE CAN HAVE CHANGE THAT WE CAN BELIEVE IN. PALIN FOR PRESIDENT!
The empirical evidence alone suggests that Ted Nugent would be a far better leader. Go ahead and laugh, and then after your done laughing go watch how skillful he is at shooting an M-60 and his mouth off at the same time. They don’t come much “bolder and outspoken” than Ted, and, wow, just look at his massive collection of trophies.
By comparison, Ex-Governor Palin will never possess half the intellect or be half the leader or, for that matter, be half the woman that Margaret Thatcher was. And frankly, I don’t think that even Margaret Thatcher, “the iron lady” and Ronald Reagan, “the cowboy” together as superheros, could stop the two party system from rotting away— and the country along with it.
As far as “Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham, and Monica Crowley” goes, I don’t see an Ayn Rand among them—- not even close. Maybe if you roll them all up together, then you could squeeze a book out of the bunch worth reading.
Regarding Ex-Governor Palin: Rejected. Send her back, and after she has learned the virtue of selfishness and she’s ready to offer it as part of her platform, then, and only then, will Mr. Nobody (aka me) do a valid reassessment to see if she has sine qua non.
Well, Robert, I guess you won’t be happy until Sarah speaks the way that YOU want her to.
Like I said in another comment, you sound like one of her McCain handlers.
Oh, and by the way, some of us who love Sarah do NOT love Ann Coulter. In fact, Ann Coulter is repulsive to me.
Why don’t you take Jackie Mason’s advice on this one.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx1TQNJRB4k
From your mouth to Sarah’s ears… I hope.
My Dad and I discussed this just yesterday. His theory is that she is just testing the political waters and is holding back, waiting “to see how things play out” between now and 2012 and THEN (as her own comments become self-evident), she will take off the gloves.
I said, “Well, that means that she is thinking of herself and her career, and putting that first. What we NEED are people who are willing to put their COUNTRY FIRST (as she proudly proclaimed during the McStupid campaign) and sacrifice self for the cause. If that is no longer her plan, then you can cross through her name. She’s no different than the rest.”
In my opinion, we do not have TIME to tiptoe around with idgits who want to stick tentative toes in the water. We are at a point in history where we need people who are willing to make SACRIFICES to put this country back on track. Mamby-pamby, self-interested politicians are what got us INTO this mess; they sure as hell won’t pull us back out.
So, my opinion of Palin (sadly, for I once had high hopes for her), is: NEXT CANDIDATE, PLEASE! DON’T CALL US, WE’LL CALL YOU.
People need to change the rhetoric from “politician”, “Representative”, “Senator”, “President”, etc. to one all-consuming phrase: “Hired hand.” (I would say “public servant,” but even that phrase seems to have lost its meaning.)
Only when we begin seeing them as they are INTENDED to be, and force them to see THEMSELVES in the same way, will we begin to take back the power the Founders intended us to have and retain from the beginning.
Sarah Palin….another in a long line of supposedly white horse riding American politicians exhibiting style without substance, compromise instead of steadfast integrity, and inherently empty when one takes the time to read between the lines.
Experience is a great teacher if one has taken the time to digest the painful lessons garnered from being fooled in similar fashion over and over again in the recent past.
Like others, I’m warily cynical, after being let down and disappointed over and over again by modern media savvy American politicians who say one thing to get elected, and then do the opposite when they attain power.
To paraphrase Voltaire…
“Do not allow beauty too rich, veil the face of truth.”
Danlex,
I carefully read your sincere and well intended comments. And it is not my intention to hurt your feelings—only offer some food for thought to your malnourished soul— when I say: You’re simply parroting the poisoned logic that has sickened so many people into believing that altruism is the formula needed, and that “we need people who are willing to make SACRIFICES” as part of that formula.
I ask you? Sacrifices for who? Not for me, because I don’t want them. Keep your money, time, and blood. I especially don’t want any politicians making, so called, sacrifices on my behalf.
In case you didn’t know, President George Washington was a rationally selfish man, and his selfish interests coincided with other great men who voluntarily worked together to achieve their objective; A free country. Moreover, President George Washington didn’t believe in political parties. Ponder that fact before the next time somebody attempts to brainwash you further into making or requiring a sacrifice for them or their party.
If you have an open mind, then perhaps you should consider reading some books on rational selfishness. Looking Out For # 1 by Robert Ringer is a good first choice. If your vocabulary and critical thinking skills are up to par, then Ayn Rand and her work are in a class by themselves. Try pondering Ayn Rand and her work. I added some of her thoughts below. Happy reading……
“Do you ask what moral obligation I owe to my fellow men? None—except the obligation I owe to myself, to material objects and to all of existence: rationality. I deal with men as my nature and theirs demands: by means of reason. I seek or desire nothing from them except such relations as they care to enter of their own voluntary choice. It is only with their mind that I can deal and only for my own self-interest, when they see that my interest coincides with theirs. When they don’t, I enter no relationship; I let dissenters go their way and I do not swerve from mine. I win by means of nothing but logic and I surrender to nothing but logic. I do not surrender my reason or deal with men who surrender theirs.”
“Men have been taught that the ego is the synonym of evil, and selflessness the ideal of virtue. But the creator is the egoist in the absolute sense, and the selfless man is the one who does not think, feel, judge or act. These are functions of the self.”
“The moral purpose of a man’s life is the achievement of his own happiness. This does not mean that he is indifferent to all men, that human life is of no value to him and that he has no reason to help others in an emergency. But it does mean that he does not subordinate his life to the welfare of others, that he does not sacrifice himself to their needs, that the relief of their suffering is not his primary concern, that any help he gives is an exception, not a rule, an act of generosity, not of moral duty, that it is marginal and incidental—as disasters are marginal and incidental in the course of human existence—and that values, not disasters, are the goal, the first concern and the motive power of his life.”
Americans enjoy putting people on pedestals. It seems to be one of our favorite pastimes. But the fun really starts when it’s time to tear our heroes down. I’ll admit to a moment of pleasure when O.J. finally got himself thrown in prison but the pleasure was short lived. I realized all I was doing was feeding my cynicism.
I believe that cynicism, left unchecked, will destroy us. Before I kick over Sarah’s pedestal and shout, “NEXT”, I’m going to give her the benefit of the doubt for now. I’m so tired of being cynical. It’s such a complete waste of energy.