Topic: Sarah Palin in Iowa, 9/3/11

[IronDioPriest]

I really don't know what to expect from Sarah Palin at this point. It seems to me that the Left and the GOP machine has been successful at destroying a champion of conservative values. Her polling trajectory has been steadily downward in favorability and presidential preference. It seems the window on her launching a successful bid is closing, and it seems that if she did jump in, she'd have enemies of liberty from both parties doing every thing they can to stab her in the back.

Yet here she stands, brave, undaunted, tested beyond any political candidacy test ever. She still stands. And she still speaks. Unafraid. She would be our champion, at great sacrifice to herself, if only we would ask it of her.

I can't wait to hear what she has to say this afternoon, and I can't wait to see heads spin.

HT: gatewaypundit...

Sarah Palin in Iowa – Full Schedule For “Restoring America” Rally

[IronDioPriest]

C-Span carrying events live...

[IronDioPriest]

Major fail on the Star-Spangled Banner. CD track wouldn't play for a few minutes, then the audio mix on C-Span was horrendous. The singer was good, but operatic style = uncool. Although, on the other hand it's nice to hear it sung in a traditional style without all the "soul" license usually taken these days that make it unrecognizable.

[rickl]

I'm watching.  I raced through mowing the lawn to get done in time.

[IronDioPriest]

I'm watching.  I raced through mowing the lawn to get done in time.

What do you make of the warm-up acts? I'm not getting warm-fuzzies about the seriousness of this event. Too bad it's getting rained on, too.

[IronDioPriest]

Singer Krista Branch: "I am American, one voice, united we stand."

I can't deal with platitudes like that anymore. We are not united. We are divided to the point of fracture. No point in pretending.

[IronDioPriest]

I'm not seeing any wide shots at all that lend to the size of the crowd. From the video angles, it might be 100 people.

[IronDioPriest]

Again, more uncool musical performances that will be easy to caricature.

[IronDioPriest]

No announcement. Not even close.

Excellent speech though. She showed why she's admired.

[rickl]

She sure sounds Presidential to me.

[rickl]

I didn't see the musical performances because I was out mowing the lawn.  I got back inside with minutes to spare.  I couldn't have timed it better if I tried.

[IronDioPriest]

I didn't see the musical performances because I was out mowing the lawn.  I got back inside with minutes to spare.  I couldn't have timed it better if I tried.

They weren't horrendous. Let's just say that if your goal was to solidify the impression of the Tea Party as white, old, and out of touch, you'd choose these performances. I personally don't think there's anything wrong with white, old, or out of touch. But as far as sending a message with an overall impression; trying to expand your ranks by making it appealing to be involved in the on-the-ground events; it was not designed with that in mind at all.

[rickl]

I was reading Dan Riehl's site this morning, and he theorizes that she will wait and see how Perry does in the upcoming debates before deciding whether to announce.  This makes sense to me.  Apparently his debating style plays well in Texas, but may not with the rest of the country.

As for Perry, this is his moment, perhaps even more so than Palin's, make no mistake. He doesn't have to close the deal in the upcoming debates. But the opportunity exists. Not only could he all but vanquish any existing minor opposition, he can take it right to Romney and even perhaps all but capture the nomination across three debates: Sept 7th, 12th and 22nd.

His performance, along with other factors, will likely significantly impact Palin's final decision-making, provided she hasn't found reason to have written him off for supporting already. The Perry camp is fond of making all too much of any presumed locked-in Palin support, which is not to say that it might not ultimately emerge. But the relationship is not nearly as firm as it is often portrayed by the media. If her recent statement about there still being room for more candidates doesn't finally make that abundantly clear, people are simply choosing to ignore it. It's always been the case.

Sarah Palin has good reason to have concerns about Rick Perry, as do all serious conservatives; however, he is by far the most acceptable nominee of all active candidates when measured across all criteria. The key now is, does Palin, or does anyone else get in? For Perry, even if he is unable to forestall any additional challenge, or challenges, he is in a position to significantly firm up his own position against any current, or future challenges. Consequently, no matter how many eyes look toward Palin in Iowa and New Hampshire this weekend, what they see in Perry during the next three GOP debates are ultimately the more significant, barring an actual announcement from Sarah Palin - not anticipated before the end of September, as she has stated.

[rickl]

Riehl has another post up:

Not sure if I'll say more later. I won't be surprised if the speech is rated average, or even widely panned in the media as less than expected. As long as I read off their page, it didn't stand-out. However, Palin did a solid speech for the venue. If there's an issue, it's that the venue was hyped by the media.

I have to be careful how I frame this, given some conversations going back a ways before this speech, when it first began to be talked about. In essence, if and when she announces, you'll know it and it won't be at the Tea Party event in Iowa. It wasn't meant negatively toward the venue, but it did demonstrate to me that the Palin camp viewed this speech as less significant than it was being portrayed.

But that's not meant to be a complete pass, or an excuse. One can't be responsible for what the media does, but one does have to be mindful of it. If someone is running for President, it's simply not enough to say, the media did this, or the media did that. You either don't say anything at all, or you deal with it. If one can't manage around the media, one won't manage around Washington very well. That's just a fact.

What Palin did do was use the phrase "her plan," as I texted to a friend at the time. She also laid the groundwork for a genuine conservative campaign plank quite a part from a more establishment Republican like Perry. Based on what I saw today, I'm not prepared to fork up the $100 for charity it's going to cost me if she doesn't run. If anything, I may be feeling a bit more comfortable with the bet.

Finally, Palin needs to lose the notion that she can continue to not control venues for her speeches after this weekend. I cringed with Mr. Iowa Tea Party, or whomever, invoked the Civil War as the North representing Big Government and the South conservatism. Not only is it historically inaccurate, it's Paulian nut job land that ultimately sounds rather ugly and Palin would be wise to avoid the risk of being linked to it in the future, however inadvertantly.

I noticed that too.

[IronDioPriest]

...Finally, Palin needs to lose the notion that she can continue to not control venues for her speeches after this weekend. I cringed with Mr. Iowa Tea Party, or whomever, invoked the Civil War as the North representing Big Government and the South conservatism. Not only is it historically inaccurate, it's Paulian nut job land that ultimately sounds rather ugly and Palin would be wise to avoid the risk of being linked to it in the future, however inadvertantly.

Yup. The entire event with the exception of Palin came across as amateurish and somewhat "Paulian" to grab a catch-all description of the overall sense.

I wonder now in retrospect - given the flap a day or two ago over whether she would appear or not - if she or her people didn't get word of exactly what was happening here, and sought to send a signal that the organizers were unreliable.

If I were Palin and her people, discovering in advance that this was what the event was going to be but not seeing a clear way out, I would have sought ways to get through the event without getting any taint on her.

[rickl]

Heh.  I was just reading some of the comments at Ace of Spades.  The PDS is so thick over there I have to double check to make sure I'm not at Daily Kos.  I frequently see commenters tossing around words like "Palinista" or "Palinbot", yet they seem utterly oblivious that they're building an almost Obama-like cult of personality around Rick Perry.

The fact that she still hasn't formally announced is absolutely tying them up in knots, and I find it greatly amusing.  I seriously believe that some heads are going to explode over there when she does announce.

As I have repeatedly said, she is doing things in her own way and in her own time.  She doesn't care about conventional wisdom or "the way it's always been done".

[Alphabet Soup]

Heh.  I was just reading some of the comments at Ace of Spades.  The PDS is so thick over there I have to double check to make sure I'm not at Daily Kos.  I frequently see commenters tossing around words like "Palinista" or "Palinbot", yet they seem utterly oblivious that they're building an almost Obama-like cult of personality around Rick Perry.

The fact that she still hasn't formally announced is absolutely tying them up in knots, and I find it greatly amusing.  I seriously believe that some heads are going to explode over there when she does announce.

As I have repeatedly said, she is doing things in her own way and in her own time.  She doesn't care about conventional wisdom or "the way it's always been done".

And at the FReepers it is the exact opposite. The more outspoken (and nasty) FReepers are seeking out Perry stories so that they can preemptively trash him. Jimrob kinda throttled back on the bannings - he probably realized that it was affecting the bottom line ($), but the feeding frenzy continues apace. There are a precious few actually advocating for their candidate, most just bash and trash their opponents. One would think it was Jonh McCain they were talking about 

This is the part of politics that I abhor.

[charlesoakwood]

And Michele is in the weeds. I hadn't expected that.

Right now, which is much too soon, it looks like a  Palin - Perry  candidacy. 
A  Palin - Perry  candidacy would cause the Democrats to blow a gasket or
as Cheney says, cause their heads to explode.

Casting my bet: If Palin intends to become a candidate she will do it Labor Day; very traditional.

[rickl]

The complete video and transcript.  (hat tip House of Eratosthenes)

The speech was 42:10, but the video doesn't show the ~45 minutes she spent afterwards going through the crowd talking to people, shaking hands, signing autographs, and posing for pictures.

Sarah Palin @ The Tea Party of America Rally Indianola, Iowa September 3 2011

[rickl]

Yeah, I thought about putting the link in the old thread.  I started a new thread because the old one was, well, old, and it had sort of wandered off track.

By the way, the House of Eratosthenes post is worth a read, too.

We have a new yawning political chasm between those who run out of money and must take their lumps for having screwed up — on the income, on the expenses, or on the budgeting, one way or another it will be their fault; and, those who run out of money and can simply pass blame on to the taxpayer for not having paid enough. That is our new dividing line.

The labor/management split is out of whack because it’s out of date. The last time it made any sense, the clothes worn by the Monopoly Man were almost still in style.

And so this gels into a perplexing question for those who insist Palin is “doing damage” and her “fifteenth minute is up”: Do you think there might be some validity, any at all, to my observation that we are polarized in a whole new way and that the older labor/management schism no longer reflects reality? And, if you’re willing to concede that, if only partly — who besides Palin is going to carry the interests of the wealth creators…that would be wealth-creation management, as well as wealth-creation labor…to the halls of power where the rules are made? Who else is as likely? Who else is as fit?

Because, you see, this is why there’s this red ink all over the place. The people who build things that actually might command a willingly-paid price, haven’t had a voice in Washington. They haven’t been trudging to the Potomac to make themselves heard. They’ve been too busy; they’ve had work to do. Even now, when they’re participating, it’s only under protest and it’s only with the time they can spare as they try to continue making things that generate real wealth for themselves & others. The rest of the country needs them, more than they need the rest of the country. And so we have been leaving the rule-making to people who don’t know how to build working valuable things, and don’t care to learn how. We have been making rules that destroy wealth, because we have been allowing the rules to be made by those who do not respect the creation of real wealth.

I keep hearing from the Palin-haters “What exactly is Palin’s plan to fix what’s broken?” The question, it seems to me, is what exactly is going to be done by anybody else, to wrest the power out of the grasp of those who consume and destroy, building nothing, and get it into the hands of people who know how to build things? Who else do you Palin-bashers have in mind to get that accomplished?