The reasons why Palin didn't run

I'm wondering what happened behind the scenes that would cause Palin not to run. To me it was crystal clear that she was running and then poof she suddenly wasn't. She mentioned her family being a reason, and since then has referenced her family's wishes many times. But it seems like they were on board with the idea of her running - at least from the outside. It didn't seem like anyone in her family was upset or worried. I remember when President Bush decided to run for POTUS and his daughters expressed their displeasure publicly. We didn't see any evidence of that from the Palin family.

The other reason might be the establishment GOP. They might have withdrawn support financially or through endorsements. I have pondered this many times. It seems like the GOP really didn't want her to run. I wonder if someone said something to her that would cause her to withdraw. And I honestly believe Rick Perry ran in order to scare her off. He came in and all the "conservative" pundits immediately touted him as the best nominee, having the "conservative" credentials plus the elite background that they love. He received the GOP support very quickly. He's also a man and they wanted a man, not a "crazy woman." I wonder if the establishment GOP realizes they made a huge mistake?

From C4P - Palin is the only person who vetoed energy portion of Obama's stimulus

I read this on Conservatives4Palin. If Rick Perry decides not to run, then:

Governor Palin will be the only one in the field who can say that she vetoed some of Obama’s stimulus package. In the unlikely event that Rick Perry enters the contest, Governor Palin will still be the only person on stage who can say that she vetoed the energy portion of Obama’s stimulus package. She didn’t just oppose Obama’s stimulus package through her words, nor did she just cast the same vote that every other moderate or conservative Republican member of Congress cast. She is the only person in America who can say that she vetoed the energy portion of Obama’s stimulus package. She doesn’t talk about this very much and the “conservative” media won’t bring this up because it’ll help her. Let’s make sure we remind GOP and GOP-leaning indies who really opposed Obama’s stimulus package and who was the only one to back up his or her opposition with deeds and not just words.

This is a fact that needs to be immediately known by anyone thinking about voting. That's why I linked it from C4P. I remembered it when I read there, but it wasn't a fact that was at the top of my brain. This is an important policy decision by Palin that appeals to everyone in this country. I need to spread the word.

Gov. Rick Perry 2010 campaign memory

I know this isn't very substantive, but I wanted to post this memory I have of Rick Perry's 2010 gubernatorial campaign. I was at Palin's book signing for Going Rogue, which was in December of '09. I got in line very, very early in the morning and just waited with the others until 9am when the doors opened. While waiting, a horde of Perry '10 campaign volunteers descended upon us wearing matching shirts. They walked through the line and asked each person if they supported Rick Perry for Governor in 2010. I was in the second portion of the line and watched them until they got to me. When a person answered "yes" they would ask if that person wanted to sign up to be a volunteer. If that person didn't want to be a volunteer they would press and ask why not, and badger them until they submitted their name, phone number and email address. If a person said they did not support Perry then they would badger and pester and ask them why not. They would say "he's friends with Palin and she supports him." They were UBER annoying. When they got to me I just said "yes" because I didn't want to be bothered with explaining why I didn't. I refused to sign my name, though. The guy next to me said no he didn't support Perry because he didn't think anyone should have three consecutive terms in office.

The worst part was that the same horde of volunteers went through the line again about two hours later and asked everyone again and we all had to repeat our answers. It was infuriating. They were pushy and aggressive. My take on the general consensus of the people waiting is that no one really supported Perry. Despite knowing Palin supported him, we were all just kind of "meh" and over him. I don't really think there's a lot of Texas support for him and Palin's endorsement STILL confuses Palin supporters. Perry is not the conservative Texas hero that outsiders are making him out to be.

Rick Perry's trial balloon

Things that make you go hmmm...

Back in February, I was thinking that Texas Governor Rick Perry could run in 2012. Being from Texas and watching him govern the past 10 years or so, there was never any doubt in my mind that he would run for president someday. It was only recently that I thought it could be in this election cycle.

Conservative blogs were ablaze yesterday with the rumor that Rick Perry could be running in 2012. No doubt this rumor was planted by Perry's camp itself. This was a trial balloon. He has strongly denied he's running for POTUS, so this was a test to see how the public would react to him running. For instance, a few months ago people were literally begging NJ Governor Chris Christie to run despite his constant denials. Since then, dirt has been dug up on him and now the calls for him to run are reduced to crickets. During the Perry discussion yesterday on the blogs, Perry's negatives were discovered and discussed. This is exactly what Perry wanted to see - if there were any deal breaker in his record that would make it impossible to run and win this cycle. Just like when everyone found out Christie was unelectable. Christie can now say that he never wanted to run anyway, it was just a rumor.

Things that make me go hmmm: (1) he's a close friend of Sarah's, which I never understood; (2) because of their friendship I highly suspect that he could be a VP pick for her; (3) he seems to be playing the same strategy as Palin which is a "wait and see which candidates decide to run and then make a decision;" (4) my opinion only, which is only a hunch, is that he and Palin are working together on campaign strategies. My conspiracy theory: He could already be in on being Palin's VP pick. He could possibly have zero interest in POTUS this cycle, and has only released this rumor in order to determine if he would be a good VP candidate. If anything too big came out then he would be out. That's why this trial balloon was released.

I'll discuss my thoughts on Perry's governing record in future posts. The quick summary is that he's been a big government Republican and is getting slightly more conservative as time goes on. That's why I never understood their friendship and their mutual endorsements of each other. He's always been a little RINO-y to me, but I'll keep my mind open.

The 2012 race of GOP hopefuls

The playing field of possible GOP candidates has been dwindling down quickly. Either they announced that they aren’t running, or they’ve had irreparable incidents that have disqualified them. Two years ago, I would have said that then-SC Governor Mark Sanford had it in the bag. I’m not exaggerating when I say he was the darling of the GOP next to Palin. Now, not so much. Here’s a list of the potential candidates I’ve made so far:

Potential candidates who are out
Former SC Governor Mark Sanford: embarrassing behavior surrounding an extra-marital affair disqualified him
Current LA Governor Bobby Jindal: said he will not run, had awkward State of the Union response, questionable fiscal record
IN Rep. Mike Pence: formally announced he will not run for POTUS but has his eye on IN Governor
SD Sen. John Thune: formally announced he will not run for POTUS

Potential candidates who appear to be running, but have slim-to-no-chance
Former MA Governor Mitt Romney – Romneycare
Current IN Governor Mitch Daniels – his “truce” on social issues, sided with Democrats on “Right to Work” bill
Businessman Donald Trump – no political executive experience
Businessman Herman Cain – lacks name recognition, no political executive experience

Potential candidates who appear to be running and have a chance (besides Palin)
Former MN Governor Tim Pawlenty
Current MS Governor Haley Barbour
Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton

Current NJ Governor Chris Christie is in a unique position where he has flat out said he will not run several times, but conservatives everywhere are begging for him to. Ann Coulter even said that we'll lose the general if he specifically is not the nominee.

Are there any others you think should be in the list or any mistakes I made? KY Sen. Mitch McConnell? AZ Sen. Jon Kyl? Current TX Governor Rick Perry?

Possibly a great candidate who doesn't have a chance

While getting everything ready to file our taxes this year I started thinking about property tax. Ours are outrageously high and it really hit me how unfair it is. Even if you completely paid off your house you still would not "own" it. The government owns your land and house, period. If you failed to pay the increasingly high property taxes then the government would take away your property - but this is property you supposedly own! Imagine if you bought furniture but had to pay the furniture store a yearly fee to keep it, would that be considered "owning" that furniture? No

I bing'd "eliminate property tax" to see if there was a group or movement or something that supported eliminating property taxes altogether and classifying them as unconstitutional. Lo and behold, one of the first results was a campaign website for Debra Medina for Governor of Texas. Who? I never heard of her. I looked at her page.

If Texans are to remain free from the ever-encroaching state, Big Brother, we must own our property, on that we must not compromise and we must not surrender. In order to protect against subservience to that growing state, we must eliminate property tax in Texas and we must protect against abusive eminent domain seizures. We must be free to own that for which we labor. Texas can lead and Texas will lead…when we protect that which keeps men free.

I just found a candidate who I might really like, too bad she has no chance of winning the primary.

For fairness' sake, I went to Perry's website to see what he has to say about property taxes.

Working with the legislature, Gov. Perry helped pass the strongest property rights protection in the state’s history through House Joint Resolution (HJR) 14. Gov. Perry campaigned for this measure, which voters enshrined in the Constitution by approving Proposition 11, so the legislature can’t weaken it without the people giving their permission at the ballot box. When voters added Proposition 11 to the Constitution this November, they forever prevented the government from taking private property to give a developer or enhance tax revenues.

Eh...my property taxes are still high, and I really don't think there was a possibility that my property would be given to a developer anyway. And he doesn't say anything about eliminating property taxes completely.

Palin has endorsed and will campaign for Perry in his re-election bid as Governor, which means this whole discussion is moot. He will win it all. This is one instance where I don't really agree with Palin.

She and Perry have seemingly been friends for years and she's very familiar with his policies. I have no doubt that her endorsement is 100% solid. However, Perry is running for his third term. I don't think anyone should be in office that long, not even Palin. He's part of the establishment and has shown RINO tendencies in the past. Also, had she gotten to know the crop of candidates I think Medina is someone she might like. She reminds me of Doug Hoffman and Scott Brown, the unlikely conservative candidate who has a fighting chance to win. She usually likes to stand behind those types of candidates.

As I said I just found out about Medina and I really liked her website and her ideas. But I haven't done extensive research on her yet. I know Perry will continue to be a good governor and much better than RINO Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison any day. I just really like the idea of eliminating property taxes. I hope we can do it some day.

Palin's star power and new career opportunities

Palin's attorney, Thomas V. Van Flein spoke with the Washington Post and discussed Palin's career.

In an interview with The Washington Post this week, attorney Thomas V. Van Flein said Palin has "received hundreds of credible offers since the campaign, none of which she has accepted or pursued, with the exception of her book deal."

Among the offers were jobs in media, including offers to host her own talk show, and requests that she consider appearances in Hollywood productions, he said, declining to be more specific.

Van Flein said he hopes Palin will take time off to rest and be with her family but said, "she is a woman with a lot of energy. We'll see."

The Houston Chronicle also reports that Palin might stump for Texas Governor Rick Perry's reelection campaign. We already knew she endorsed him.

"Sarah and I were friends well back before she became a national star," Perry told The Associated Press after a luncheon speech to a Lions Club in Conroe, just north of Houston. "She'll be here."

Palin wrote on her twitter today:

Problem w/Professional Politicians:They're more concerned w/holding a title in perpetuity than just accomplishing goals they promised voters

Amen sister!

I'm positive that Palin will use her star power to change the face of national politics and the political discourse we are all so sick and tired of. Go Sarah!

Palin/Perry 2012!

I'm serious.... :)

Rick Perry is my Governor, the Governor of Texas. He's had some squishy tendencies in the past, but recently he's been sounding great.

His anti-Washington remarks have become more strident the past few weeks as that 2010 race gets going and since Perry rejected $550 million in federal economic stimulus money.

I absolutely love, love, love what he said yesterday during the tea parties!

An animated Perry told the crowd at Austin City Hall — one of three tea parties he was attending across the state — that officials in Washington have abandoned the country's founding principles of limited government. He said the federal government is strangling Americans with taxation, spending and debt.

Perry called his supporters patriots. Later, answering news reporters' questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union, though he said he sees no reason why Texas should do that.

"There's a lot of different scenarios," Perry said. "We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."

After praising veterans in the cheering crowd Wednesday, he said: "I'm just not real sure you're a bunch of right-wing extremists. But if you are, we're with you."

Hell yes! :)

There was also this tidbit I read on Ace the other day. Perry believes in exercising the 10th amendment:

"I believe that our federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens, and its interference with the affairs of our state,” Perry said. “That is why I am here today to express my unwavering support for efforts all across our country to reaffirm the states’ rights affirmed by the Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I believe that returning to the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution and its essential 10th Amendment will free our state from undue regulations, and ultimately strengthen our Union."

If this is political posturing, so be it. I love the message. We need more messages like this from our Republican leaders. If he's angling for POTUS or VPOTUS bring it on. I would love to see him in that role. I would love to see him as Palin's VP pick.

You know, I think Perry like many of us has been affected by Obama's election. It affected people on such a deep level that it drove us to re-evaluate our elected officials, strengthened our Republican/conservative ideals, organize tea parties, start blogs, seek out other news outlets, start communicating with other Republicans about the situation we're all in. It affected all of us. Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you can recover and I think that's where we're at as a party right now.

I think he was also inspired by Sarah Palin. She has that effect. :) When she was selected as McCain's VP, Perry said some wonderful things about her and continues to do so. She's the first person in a long time Republicans can get excited about. She said things that most were thinking but were too afraid to say. Now previously squishy types like Perry are taking a more hardline approach. I love it.