VOTE!

Please.

Palin Cleared in Troopergate

Read all the details here.  The actual report is here.  The findings:

• There is no cause to believe Palin violated the state ethics law in deciding to dismiss Monegan as public safety commissioner.
• There is no cause to believe Palin violated the state ethics law in connection with Wooten.
• There is no cause to believe any other state official violated the ethics act.
• There’s no basis to conduct a hearing to “address reputational harm,” as requested by Monegan.
• The state needs to address the issue of using private e-mails for government work and to examine how records are kept in the governor’s office. Palin used her Yahoo e-mail account for state business until it was hacked.

Palin interview

Read this interview with Sarah Palin by Kimberly Strassel:

And there you have the paradox of Sarah Palin. The press has brutalized the Alaska governor, playing gotcha with her record, digging through her family life. The liberal intelligentsia has declared her unfit for office, a rube, a right-wing maniac. The conservative intelligentsia has accused her of being a lightweight, of “anti-intellectualism.” Polls suggest a significant number of voters believe she is not up for the job.

Yet her supporters idolize her — all the more because of the criticism. Mrs. Palin has, for millions of Americans, become a symbol of a reformist average Jane, a working mom, ready to take on the Washington they detest. Talking to Missourians before the event, I heard little mention of flashpoint issues like her religious views, or her experience. I was instead repeatedly, and vociferously, informed that a Vice President Palin would “fix that place” and “shape up the GOP.” I also heard a lot about how she would accomplish all this because she was a “real” person.

Happy voting!

Which Way?

Tipping Point

Similar to the message of Mark Steyn’s yesterday, here’s a typically excellent column from Daniel Henninger on the theory that this election is a tipping point:

All this would transform the animating American idea — away from creation and toward protection.

Many voters — progressive Democrats, the asset-safe rich, academics and college students — regard this as where America should go. They explicitly want America’s great natural energies transferred away from unwieldy economic competition and toward social construction. They want the U.S. to reduce its “footprint” in the world. Monies saved by stepping down from superpower status can be reprogrammed into “investments” (a favorite Obama word) in a vast Euro-style hammock of social protection programs.

One wishes John McCain had been better able to make clear what the truly “historic” meaning of Tuesday’s vote is. Once it’s done, it’s done.

An Army of Sarahs

Here’s another take against Palin by Danielle Crittenden, this time “anti-elitist”:

Don’t get me wrong: I love the idea of Sarah Palin. She conforms to an early American (and pre-feminist) ideal of womanhood: rifle on one hip, baby on the other. I love her modern incarnation of this ideal, complete with Sex-in-the-Tundra wardrobe and kick-ass Jimmy Choos (even if they are paid for by the RNC). I love the idea she represents “common sense” over fancy-pants theorizing. I love — and certainly identify with — her real world, “out there” experience over her opponents’ closed-off years in Washington. Truly, there are few women I’d rather share a beer with.

The problem is that the reality of Sarah Palin does not match the idea of Sarah Palin. It’s as plain as day — glaringly obvious! — that she’s unfit for the job she’s running for. We wouldn’t expect the best darn regional car saleswoman to be appointed the next vice president of General Motors. We wouldn’t fly in a commercial plane piloted by someone with a Cessna license because we trusted her gut. We wouldn’t follow a woman into battle because she’s a crack shot at moose hunting. Why is it unreasonable — or snobbish! — to have expected a better choice from our party for the next potential leader of the free world?

 She professes to love the idea of Sarah Palin (don’t we all?), but never goes on to tell us why the idea of her is any different from the reality.  Oh, wait, it’s glaringly obvious.  Really?  This is her argument? It’s obvious to me that she’s an accomplished governer who had the highest approval rating in the country. 

Here’s the deal.  Those of us making the elitist charge aren’t so much talking about Harvard and Yale or whether you have a law degree.  We’re talking about whether or not we the people are fit to govern ourselves, whether people who are not lifelong politicians can and should be elected to lead us.

The elitists tell us that unless you have a hundred position papers and can B.S. your way through any question, you can’t and shouldn’t.  I love Sarah Palin because she shows that we haven’t yet lost that ideal on which our nation was founded.  I hope she inspires an army of Sarahs to do the same in their communities.

The Point of No Return

And now a short break from our regularly scheduled Palinmania.

If you’re planning on sitting this election out, I feel your pain.  I have been tempted at times myself (although not since Palin joined the ticket!).  Read this piece by Mark Steyn and then go vote.  Twice.

Peggy Noonan thinks a President Obama will be like the dog who chases the car and finally catches it: Now what? I think Obama will be content to be King Barack the Benign, Spreader of Wealth and Healer of Planets. His rise is, in many ways, testament to the persistence of the monarchical urge even in a two-century old republic. So the “Now what?” questions will be answered by others, beginning with the liberal supermajority in Congress. And as he has done all his life he will take the path of least resistance. An Obama administration will pitch America toward EU domestic policy and U.N. foreign policy.

Thomas Sowell is right: It would be a “point of no return,” the most explicit repudiation of the animating principles of America. For a vigilant republic of limited government and self-reliant citizens, it would be a Declaration of Dependence.

If a majority of Americans want that, we holdouts must respect their choice. But, if you don’t want it, vote accordingly.

Long Shot

And I’m not talking about the election (I’d say that’s a medium to long shot).  Here’s an excerpt from an interview with the Palins:

Sarah: “What’s my longest?”
Todd: “It was pretty long.”
Sarah: “It was so impressive.”
Todd: “I was like, ‘Holy cow. She didn’t hit that one.’ ”
Sarah: “See, I have to ask him, so I’m not bragging about it myself.”
Todd: “Her dad probably knows better, but it was a long range. Probably closer to 200 yards.”
Sarah: “Two hundred? I was going to say 600.”
Todd: “A 150 to 200 is a long shot.”

CNN Interview

Part 1:

Part 2:

Peggy Got Palined

Tony Blankley takes Peggy Noonan down a few notches in this piece:

Peggy’s unconscious fear may be that it will be precisely Sarah Palin (and others like her) who will be among the leaders of the about-to-be-reborn conservative movement. I suspect that the conservative movement we start rebuilding on the ashes of Nov. 4 (even if McCain wins) will have little use for overwritten, over-delicate commentary. The new movement will be plain-spoken and socially networked up from the Interneted streets, suburbs and small towns of America. It certainly will not listen very attentively to those conservatives who idolatrize Obama and collaborate in heralding his arrival. They may call their commentary “honesty.” I would call it — at the minimum — blindness.

I’ll recommend a few other smarly written pieces that speak to Palin’s–and conservatism’s–future:  Patrick Ruffini, for starters, and Fred Barnes, to close it out.