It seems Alaska Gov Sarah Palin has made an important friend. How important? Important enough to be featured as a DC power broker by the WaPo back in April:
Brokering Power In Business and Politics Buyout Firm Founder Fred Malek's Career Spans Nixon to McCain
How good a friend does Palin have in Malek, a McCain finance guy? Pretty good judging by his blog. h/t Conservatives4Palin.
I did not recommend Sarah Palin and was surprised by her selection. However, I am now a fan and deplore the small minded people who are striking out against her. Sarah and her husband, Todd, spent time with Marlene and I at our home in Virginia in early September. She is smart, quick, charming, and able. Both Sarah and Todd impressed us on a personal level, and of course her ability as a communicator has been proven. If there are any questions on her preparation for interviews, the finger should point not at her but to those who helped her prepare. Having talked to the top people in the campaign, I am convinced that any criticism has come from third level, fourth raters who for some reason have an axe to grind. Sarah Palin will have an important role in the future of the Republican Party.
2010 is her year to shine...
the veep spot placed in a bubble, by herself.
if she is one of several speakers supporting the gop in 2010, the upside is all good, with NO downside.
imagining a power lunch where you have a panel of gingrich, steele, and palin- Cash will be rolling in with women voters.
Posted by: mark l. | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 12:06 PM
Sarah and Bobby in 2012!
Posted by: SacTownMan | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 12:09 PM
I have to throw this in - it's too good to miss -
"The generation of Americans who had faced down fascism and communism understood, Mr. Obama further explained on Inauguration Day, that power alone could not protect us. They understood that our security came not just from missiles and tanks but from "sturdy alliances" and "enduring convictions" -- it emanated from "the tempering quality of humility and restrain
It's impossible to know what kind of history Mr. Obama has been reading but this much at least is true -- the generation he describes knew the importance of sturdy alliances all right. There was that one, for instance, between the American leader, Franklin Roosevelt, and the British, Winston Churchill. Both of them, along with their countrymen, were driven by one enduring conviction -- that fascism should be eradicated from the face of the earth and a total war of destruction waged on Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany until their surrender. It would be hard to find, in their pursuit of that purpose, any hint of that tempering quality of humility and restraint. Not that it isn't entertaining to imagine Roosevelt extending the hand of friendship and conciliation to Hirohito, or Churchill proposing to raise a glass and talk things over with Hitler."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123353286292837497.html
Posted by: Lala | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 12:13 PM
I think I read somewhere that she was at a dinner hosted by this guy on Friday night.
Posted by: mary | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 12:19 PM
It is she who has the small ind, not those who strike out against her...
Posted by: TheSpartan | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 03:10 PM
'Reminds me of what Saturday Night Live Executive Producer Lorne Michaels said of the Alaska Governor:
"I think Palin will continue to be underestimated for a while. I watched the way she connected with people, and she's powerful."
Ditto Jack Welsh, who when he met her, according to Joe Scarborough, "was extremely impressed, not with how she looks but with her intellect."
Scarborough himself had this to say: "When people actually meet her, they're blown away."
http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2008/10/someone-called.html
Posted by: Sissy Willis | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 03:34 PM
"It is she who has the small ind, not those who strike out against her..."
andrew sullivan and paternity probe? you really want to defend this sort of stuff?
Posted by: mark l. | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 04:02 PM
A little more intellect and a lot less midwestern soccer mom would help a great deal. A smidgen of that "I'm just like you" stuff goes a long way. Too much and no one takes you seriously.
Posted by: WAHOO WILLIE | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 04:04 PM
she is a difficult dish to prepare for consumption...
she's not to my taste, but I also accept her widespread acceptance among the party. the 'little more intellect' is way beyond her control. I credit the media in demonstrating their ability to pad obama's resume, while tearing palin's down. both were equivalent distortions.
Posted by: mark l. | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 04:42 PM
"both were equivalent distortions."
We agree there, but each must accept some responsibility for allowing handlers and the media to make them over....Well, it was to Obie's benefit. In Palin's case, she had to allow handlers to exploit the "hockey mom" persona and to make it almost sickening. In the end it only hurt her.
Posted by: WAHOO WILLIE | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 04:57 PM
my two personal favorites...
Marsha Blackburn and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Watching blackburn is an absolute treat. She is a master is spitting out topic and hitting bullet points, on anything. Solid knowledge base, as good as anyone in the republican party. She would actually augment Jindal.
ros-lehtinen is the personal type. Smart, without appearring aloof. Very folksy, in a cuban sort of way. Sadly not a US citizen.
Posted by: mark l. | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 04:57 PM
Maybe it's because I'm from the South, but Palin just doesn't suit me, either, mark. Her voice and accent get on my last nerve. LOL. But I don't want to appear too thin-skinned, so I might accept her on a ticket with Jindal so long as he is the Presidential nominee.
Posted by: templar knight | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 06:11 PM
"Maybe it's because I'm from the South,....."
That could be part of my problem with her too.
Posted by: WAHOO WILLIE | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 06:37 PM
don't get me wrong about palin...
she was the only one running who had any relevant experience running a govt.
she actually won the award for least of 'four evils' on the ballot. Before this election conventional wisdom actually favored governors. Now we get personalities.
Posted by: mark l. | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 08:58 PM
I like Palin a lot but I don't like her voice, it's too high pitched or something. A voice coach would do wonders. I think a lot of Texan women talk too loud too. The men have nice voices but not the women.
I hate Obama's way of talking, it's clip clip clip pause clip clip purse lips. It's a cadence I really can't explain but it's extremely annoying. I shut him off immediately.
Posted by: Lala | Monday, February 02, 2009 at 10:53 PM
So now high paid advisors have told her to just SHUT UP. How long can she do that?
I think the damage is DONE.
The word Palenesque has come to mean incurious, verbally challenged and backwards.
If you read an article and the term is used to describe another person THAT is what it means.
Posted by: deo | Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 05:00 AM
Palin paling around with Malek---
In todays NEWS (Huffington Post).......
Malek would feel right at home in Alaskan politics. But there's one sordid tale in Malek's background that might give Palin the pit bull some pause. As Washington Post columnist Colbert King reported a few years ago, Malek was involved in a gruesome incident in his home state of Illinois, shortly after he graduated from West Point.
In the early morning hours of August of 1959, sheriff deputies outside of Peoria discovered a vehicle covered in blood and a group of drunken young men, also covered in blood, nearby. Some were hiding in the bushes. The men told the deputies that they had accidentally hit a dog. Then their story changed. And then it changed again. Finally, one of them confessed. They had captured the dog and had barbecued it in a nearby park. The deputies returned to the scene and found a skinned and gutted canine on a spit in the park. An empty booze bottle was also nearby. Fred Malek was one of the five young men arrested for the crime, though the charges against him were eventually dropped
Posted by: deo | Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 07:37 AM
Jindal-Palin '12. Just watch the racists and sexists in the Dem party go insane.
Posted by: Peg C. | Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 08:06 AM
Actually, watch all the paleos and fakes in the Republican Party go insane! We need a new broom and a really big one.
Posted by: Peg C. | Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 08:07 AM
deo, a barbeque'd dog? CLINTON RAPED WOMEN. I'm positive there is no end to the heinous crimes committed by the thugs and loons in the jug-eared commie's WH, nevermind the crimes they will commit during these 4 years.
Posted by: Peg C. | Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 08:15 AM
They mocked Abe Lincoln, who really did have a hick accent. Somehow he endured the intense snobbery he found in Washington and got the job done, as I'm sure the incredible Sarah Palin will.
Posted by: justsayno2islam | Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 08:41 AM
The article is written by Geoffrey Dunn, sorry this disturbed me a GREAT DEAL....
It´s an interesting article and then it gets to punch line,,,THIS...yes a barb qued dog...but it´s not an anonymous blogger, it´s Geoffrey Dunn´s column today.
Yes, agreat shame about Monica Lewinsky, but she had a HAND in it, if you get my drift.
I think you HAVE to look at it in the context of being CHRISTIAN, christian candidades..what does that measn? A barbqued dog is nothing, helpless life is nothing...oh, it´s a dog for chritssake, it´s disgiusting EXCUSE MY DOUBLE STANDARD...EXCUSE ME, I am sorry, I FIND THIS SICKENING. Heavens , i should not question or foist my opinion....
Why is always OBAMA DID THAT, CLINTON DID THIS...what are WE doing?
Posted by: deo | Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 08:44 AM
They mocked Abe Lincoln, who really did have a hick accent. Somehow he endured the intense snobbery he found in Washington and got the job done, as I'm sure the incredible Sarah Palin will.
Posted by: justsayno2islam | Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 08:41 AM
Comparing Abe to Palin? You sir should be flogged in a public square.
Posted by: TheSpartan | Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 09:18 AM
deo, Lewinsky was not raped, she was stupid. Clinton raped Juanita Broderick (for starters).
Posted by: Peg C. | Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 01:22 PM
Hell, Sparty, you(maybe not literally you, but you get the picture) compared Obama with Lincoln. What should happen to you...a firing squad?
Posted by: templar knight | Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 04:30 PM
I didn´t say Lewinsky was raped...somebody else brought that up to me when I voiced concern over the fact that Fred Malek, Palin´s new BOYFRIEND, was arrested for trapping a stray dog and barB Q ing it on a spit while drunk??? I never said Lewinsky was raped...
She had adult consentual sex...I doubt Clinton raped anyone, but it AIN´T MY POINT! Clinton, Obama...wasn´t talking about THEM.
I was talking a guy who trapped a freaking dog, an animal WE in America revere as PETS, and skinned it, gutted it...what are we in CHINA? Is this commonplace or is IT DISGUSTING? the poor thing...
By the way, Obama is a president, so was Lincoln. It IS a comparison and one that Palin needn´t worry about...EVER.
Sarah Palin-Tonya Harding 2012!
Posted by: deo | Wednesday, February 04, 2009 at 09:22 AM
Well, Sissy Willis, wanna go tit for tat on people that ARE NOT impressed by Palin´s intellect?
How about REPUBLICAN Chuck Hagel...well, this is silly, the list of the unimpressed by Palin is myriad. SHE DID LOSE THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION. 25 percent of Americans are ENTRALLED right now, HOWEVER they can´t do it without the help of the people they are contantly insulting. Palin would need, OH SAY...MY VOTE, and we know that aint gonna happen...
Sarah for PREZNIT, uh huh........
Did she tap Tonya Harding yet for VP, time´s a wasting.
Posted by: deo | Wednesday, February 04, 2009 at 09:28 AM
So which is worse, Deo - A drunk kid bbq-ing a dog, or sober adults poking a hole in an unborn infant's head and sucking out the brains?
That's moral superiority, leftist-style!
- JP
Posted by: Josh Painter | Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 05:58 PM