Executive experience debate

In a recent Facebook post, Palin emphasized the importance of having executive experience in running for POTUS.

Second, the office of the presidency is too important for on-the-job training. It requires a strong chief executive who has been entrusted with real authority in the past and has achieved a proven track record of positive measurable accomplishments. Leaders are expected to give good speeches, but leadership is so much more than oratory.

That could be directed at a number of current potential candidates, and President Obama is the embodiment of the truth of that statement due to his lack of experience before being elected into office. Look where we are now with a president who had zero executive experience prior to the presidency.

Michele Bachmann took it as a jab from Palin, responding with

Bachmann said executive experience doesn’t matter if it comes with “more of the same big government as usual.” 

“This election will be about quite simply, who can lead that restructuring effort,” Bachmann said, referring to turning around the economy and working to repeal the federal health care reform law.

“Executive experience in government is one thing, but not when it comes to a promise of more of the same big government as usual,” she continued.

 That has to be one of the stupidest things I've read in awhile. It's completely incorrect for one thing, saying everyone in the field who has executive experience will create bigger government. And in the process of trying to defend her own lack of executive experience, made an argument that executive experience is a bad thing.

Watching Michele Bachmann spin and spin and spin her gaffes is getting painful. I'm starting to feel a lot of second-hand embarassment for her now. Palin is doing a great thing by dropping these little nuggets of wisdom and Bachmann going to extreme stupidity in spinning it her way. Give her enough rope and she'll hang herself politically.

A commenter at HotAir named "INC" explained executive experience beautifully:

Bachmann’s statement is ridiculous.
Executive experience does matter.
That’s how you find out if you’re a leader rather than a supporter.
That’s how you find out if you have the ability to articulate vision and purpose so that others will understand.
That’s how you find out if you can lead by example and bring out the best in people so that they know the end goal is worth the discipline and sacrifice.
That’s how you find out if you can assess people’s abilities and put them into the right job.
That’s how you find out if you can learn to delegate and leave micromanaging behind.
That’s how you find out if you know how to encourage and when to challenge.
That’s how you find out if you can take a group and lead them through ups and downs to success.
For Bachmann to say this really shows her lack of executive experience–not to mention poor logic, because a good executive leader wouldn’t grow government just to grow it, but assess, analyze and implement what’s needed.

I would even add that being a good leader with a good record of executive experience is more important than IQ. But that's an argument for another day.

The "flake" Michele Bachmann

I'm sure you've all heard Chris Wallace asking Michele Bachmann if she's a flake. When I first watched it my knee-jerk reaction was being offended on Bachmann's behalf. The fact that no one would ask that question to a man, even a flakey man. Bachmann kept saying she's a "serious person" in defense of the question. Then it started to sink in a little. I thought about it more and realized that was pretty out of character for Chris Wallace. I started thinking something else was going on.

Later that night (yes, I'm way too obsessed with this stuff) I remembered how months ago Mitt Romney said that Sarah Palin was not a serious person. Bachmann used the same exact words to defend herself. It makes me think Bachmann may be a stalking horse for Romney, and maybe even perhaps angling for the VP slot if he wins the nomination. I read HotAir regarding this issue and some of the commenters noted that Bachmann has been making herself out to be the darling of the Left-wing news outlets such as MSNBC and CNN. I didn't know that since I never watch those networks. It appears that she's pumping herself up to be the "media pick" such as John McCain last year.

On to Chris Wallace. I didn't write about this earlier because I thought it was just too much "background" to get into on this blog, but Bachmann has hired notorious Palin-hater Ed Rollins as her 2012 campaign manager. Several weeks ago Rollins was going around MSNBC saying that Palin was stupid and that Bachmann is smart and "every bit as attractive" as Palin - barf. Why she would hire such a misogynist is beyond me, but it's crystal clear that she hired a Palin hater to do her dirty work trashing Palin while she can be in the background above it all just like Obama and his cronies do. Now to the point - I think Chris Wallace asked the "flake" question to take her down a peg for what Rollins said about Palin. She'll have to prove that she's more intelligent in her own words. He's not going to let her get away with trashing Palin behind her campaign manager. It's like he's giving her a tiny taste, maybe 1/10,000th of the pain that Palin continues to go through in the media.

This is all just my opinion, and it may be all conspiracy, who knows. When one is obsessed with follows politics like I do, you tend to read way too far into things. Anyway, I think the "flake" question was very well-played by Wallace to expose the trash that Bachmann associates herself with, and it exposed her as the lightweight she is. Considering she didn't accept his apology right away and whined about it for almost two straight days shows she can't stand the heat in this kitchen.

If Sarah Palin didn't run

I'm saying "if" because I know she is going to. But hypothetically, if she didn't run, it would be the most disappointing thing that happened to women in a long time. If she didn't run, it would mean that everyone at NRO who think women should leave the room, won. It would mean that the Left who are terrified of strong women, won. It would mean that her enemies who did everything to smear her and her family, won. It would mean that she would be reduced to a "kingmaker" for the men. It would mean a return to business as usual in DC. It would mean nothing will ever change in our country. It would mean Obamacare will be in full effect and never repealed. It would mean our country would go down a shit hole so deep it would take a revolution to get it out.

But she is running, so I know there's still hope.

No one is writing about what this means to women. Have you noticed how many people are so absolutely convinced she's not running? Does the dinosaur media think women would be happy just to be a kingmaker? Do they think we should be satisfied with that, while the boys run the country? Do they think about what that would do to Palin's own personal dignity? I honestly believe they think she should be happy she got as far as she did and not try to accomplish anything more. Beggars can't be choosers, you know. They are so ancient. They are so condescending and chauvinistic. I'm wholeheartedly talking about the Right elite establishment, too. People who are that convinced she's not running don't know anything about her. They haven't read her books and don't understand her passion. She's not going to play second fiddle to anyone (no VP ever again, no kingmaker) and she loves this country too much to not try and stop the bleeding if she can. She knows she has a chance so she's going for it. The people who think she's not running are just hoping she doesn't.

Liberal women do everything to protect men, coddle them and forgive their mistakes. They luuuurve Bill Clinton to this day. That's why it's taken so long for a liberal woman to run for President, in my opinion. The men of the Right are bewildered by women who do it all. They don't understand them, and want them to go away. I'm sensing that the men of the establishment Right are starting to loathe Palin and Michele Bachmann for being strong, take-no-prisoners women.

Even though I don't support Bachmann politically at all, I'm glad she's taking the bull by the horns and running for POTUS in 2012. She needs to strike while the iron's hot, just like a man in her position would do. It's good for women. When Palin runs and wins the nomination, a true paradigm shift will occur. Thank goodness.

OBL's death brings questions on birth certificate release (for me)

Osama bin Laden's death is a relief to us all and an amazing accomplishment for our troops. The 10-year hunt is finally over. However, Obama's actions before and after this event have left many confused and feeling odd rather than happy. There was the Donald Trump show which seemed, to me, to unravel to a perfect end of Obama releasing his long form birth certificate. Very weird occurance for someone who has done everything imaginable to keep it hidden. Then a week later, Obama makes an announcement that OBL is dead and we killed him. I'm wondering why he even bothered with the birth certificate now. Was it because he thought people wouldn't trust him on the OBL death announcement? Did he know that he wasn't going to show the death photo, and then think that people would label him as hiding everything - the BC and now the death photo?
Not to get all conspiracy-theory on you, but Trump's call to release the BC came out of nowhere. And because of the insurmounting pressure of Trump's demand, Obama was forced to release the BC. See? He couldn't just produce the BC easily after two three years of hiding it. In literary terms, he needed an agent or external force to push him into this action. If you remember, for weeks before Trump made his demand, the corrupt media kept asking Republicans if they thought Obama was born here. Off the top of my head I know Palin, Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty were asked repeatedly in recent interviews and they ALL refused to take the bait. They ALL said it was a distraction from the real issues. Then Trump comes in coincidentally, poses as a Republican and demands it. Then Obama releases it.

And now Obama is refusing to release OBL's death photo. Obama's actions cause so much chaos and confusion. This is a moment where everyone could unite and be happy together. But Obama's weird actions, from not releasing the photo to treating the corpse with honor and according to Muslim tradition, have left most of us feeling empty, confused and second-guessing ourselves.

I've moved on and don't really care one way or another. It was just a thought in my head. But I do think it's very strange how this all happened given that Obama knew where OBL was for months. I'm just glad OBL is dead. It truly is a time to celebrate.