Sarah Palin remains a Republican star.
She draws 3000 people to a anti-abortion event in Evansville, Indiana.
She's a star, and she ought to be--she speaks to the concerns a lot of people have, her life and the way she lives it appeals to many ordinary folks, and the hatred many in the news media and the Hollywood/intellectual elite has for her simply adds to her appeal. Go Sarah.
TEA PARTIES UPDATE: Mona Charen on NRO today provides evidence of biased media non-coverage, or hostility, to the anti-tax rallies:
"Perhaps this snub was intentional. Fox News (becoming a participant itself and not merely a recorder of events) had been beating the drums for these rallies for days, and some pressies clearly regarded them as therefore necessarily illegitimate. One reporter, Susan Roesgen, who “covered” the Chicago tea party for CNN, was downright confrontational with attendees she interviewed, challenging a protestor who referred to Abraham Lincoln with “What does this have to do with taxes?” The man attempted to explain. But the reporter interrupted him. “Did you know that you are eligible for a $400 rebate? Did you know that your state, the state of Lincoln, gets $50 billion from the stimulus? That’s $50 billion for your state.” She then tossed back to the anchor, remarking, “This is clearly not family viewing.” What Ms. Roesgen and others like her do not understand is that some people are interested in more than their own narrow self-interest. Perhaps the protestor she interviewed, who was holding his two-year-old son, is eligible for a tax rebate. And perhaps his state will get a juicy piece of the stimulus money. It is possible, just possible, that such bribes do not influence him. Perhaps they don’t buy his support because he is skeptical that his taxes can remain low when the federal government is embarked on a record-shattering spending spree."
Read the whole thing. She may have a point that conservatives and the GOP will have to, nevertheless, find more than simply taxes to talk about in coming months, as polls don't show taxes to be a huge issue...
Meanwhile, Jonah Goldberg today shows just how little "evidence" there is for that Homeland Security report railing on "rightwing extremism":
"For instance, the report insists that returning “disgruntled military veterans” from Iraq and Afghanistan are recruitment fodder for extremist and terrorist groups. But, if you follow the footnotes, as John Hinderaker of the Powerline blog did, you’ll discover that, according to the FBI, only 19 Iraq or Afghanistan war vets have joined the “extremist movement” (and some of them may have lied about their service). More than half of America’s 1.4 million active-duty military personal have served in Iraq or Afghanistan (and there are roughly 23 million veterans in the United States). Any way you slice it, 19 yahoos amount to statistical noise so faint you would need one of those UFO-hunting dishes to pick it up."
But we'll have to continue exposing this in the days and the months to come. Many Americans, who don't follow politics and government this closely, will perhaps hear of this report...assume it be true...and will not hear of its subsequent debunking.
By the way, the Obama administration has, several times now, attempted to offer olive branches to Iran...and today, they were rebuffed. Again.
A top Iranian leader said today the time for discussing the nuclear issue is over.
When will the Obama-ites realize that that their methodology of diplomacy with folks like Iran--talks without preconditions--...well, don't work so well?
SPORTS UPDATE AND BASEBALL DIARY: the Detroit Red Wings won their first game of the playoffs, beating Columbus 4-1. The Wings started slowly...but then really picked it up, getting great goaltending from Chris Osgood and outshooting Columbus over the final two periods, 20-8. The Stanley Cup playoffs are a great time. Go Wings!
As for baseball, the Tigers and Rangers both were off yesterday. The Rangers play Kansas City at home tonight, while the Tigers go to Seattle.
The Cubs, however, are still having bullpen problems, as they lost to St. Louis yesterday 7-4. Starter Sean Marshall left with a 4-3 lead; the bullpen gave it up.
Peggy Noonan makes a good point today--bland affluence is over:
"A small sign of the times: USA Today this week ran an article about a Michigan family that, under financial pressure, decided to give up credit cards, satellite television, high-tech toys and restaurant dining, to live on a 40-acre farm and become more self-sufficient. The Wojtowicz family—36-year-old Patrick, his wife Melissa, 37, and their 15-year-old daughter Gabrielle—have become, in the words of reporter Judy Keen, "21st century homesteaders," raising pigs and chickens, planning a garden and installing a wood furnace. Mr. Wojtowicz was a truck driver frustrated by long hauls that kept him away from his family, and worried about a shrinking salary. His wife was self-employed and worked at home. They worked hard and had things but, Mr. Wojtowicz said, there was a "void." "We started analyzing what it was that we were really missing. We were missing being around each other." So he gave up his job and now works the land his father left him near Alma, Mich. His economic plan was pretty simple: "As long as we can keep decreasing our bills we can keep making less money." The paper weirdly headlined them "economic survivalists," which perhaps reflected an assumption that anyone who leaves a conventional, material-driven life for something more physically rigorous but emotionally coherent is by definition making a political statement. But it didn't look political from the story they told. They didn't look like people trying to figure out how to survive as much as people trying to figure out how to live. The picture that accompanied the article showed a happy family playing Scrabble with a friend."
Interesting. How might it affect ordinary Americans, day to day? Noonan continues:
"More predictions. The cities and suburbs of America are about to get rougher-looking. This will not be all bad. There will be a certain authenticity chic. Storefronts, pristine buildings—all will spend less on upkeep, and gleam less. So will humans. People will be allowed to grow old again. There will be a certain liberation in this. There will be fewer facelifts and browlifts, less Botox, less dyed hair among both men and women. They will look more like people used to look, before perfection came in. Middle-aged bodies will be thicker and softer, with more maternal and paternal give. There will be fewer gyms and fewer trainers, but more walking. Gym machines produced the pumped and cut look. They won't be so affordable now."
Interesting. People freely, using their liberty, finding new ways to make it.
Conservatives should have no problem with that.
