The Sarah Palin Endorsement of Joe Miller Over Murkowski

Last week, Governor Palin endorsed Joe Miller in the Alaska GOP Senate primary race against Lisa Murkowski. The news caused a bit of a happy stir in the Palin blogosphere as many of us are not the biggest Murkowski fans. Lisa got on my bad side last year during the health care debate when she said the following in response to a question about death panels, to a town hall meeting in Anchorage:

"It does us no good to incite fear in people by saying that there's these end-of-life provisions, these death panels" ... "Quite honestly, I'm so offended at that terminology because it absolutely isn't (in the bill). There is no reason to gin up fear in the American public by saying things that are not included in the bill."

For her to say that and make no mention of government rationing was nothing more than playing the democrats shell game for them. The death panel issue has been discussed and unfortunately will be a topic of discussion into the future. Unless of course, we get that horrible unconstitutional bill repealed. More on that in a moment but real quick I'd like to offer a quick retort to Lisa's assertion that "death panels" was said just to 'incite fear.'

Andy McCarthy writing for the National Review, not directed at Senator Murkowski, but to others at NRO in response to their Murkowski-ish editorial, said the following:

I don't see any wisdom in taking a shot at Governor Palin at this moment when, finding themselves unable to defend the plan against her indictment, Democrats have backed down and withdrawn their "end-of-life counseling" boards. Palin did a tremendous service here. Opinion elites didn't like what the editors imply is the "hysteria" of her "death panels" charge. Many of those same elites didn't like Ronald Reagan's jarring "evil empire" rhetoric. But "death panels" caught on with the public just like "evil empire" did because, for all their "heat rather than light" tut-tutting, critics could never quite discredit it.

In Governor Palin's statement regarding the Joe Miller endorsement, she mentioned a previous contribution she had given to Lisa Murkowski and why:

Over a year ago, upon kicking off our Political Action Committee to assist candidates and promote competition in the nation’s electoral system, with no one willing to challenge the political machine at the time, and amid rumors that I would challenge Lisa Murkowski for the U.S. Senate, SarahPAC contributed to Lisa’s campaign. As she and I discussed, this was an attempt to reassure the Senator that I, as Alaska’s governor, had no intention of jumping into the race.

After reading what Senator Murkowski had said at that town hall meeting, I wrote a long letter giving her a piece of my mind, and demanding that she give Governor Palin "her freakin money back!" I figured it's fine to disagree, even if Lisa looked totally uninformed in my eyes, but don't take money from someone and then publicly try to discredit them. I thought it showed bad character on her part. There was another way to deal with that situation but Lisa is a silver-spoon kid that just had this job handed to her in the first place. Why should I expect her to be equipped with the life skills to handle it correctly. Like for instance, she could have just said "I respectfully disagree with the Governor." Now see, that wasn't hard at all.

All of that in the past now and we as a nation need to look to the future where that health care monstrosity is concerned. The only chance to avoid the horrendous effects that bill will create for us all is to either have it overturned in court or repeal the bill once republicans take back control of the government. From what I've heard, the court option doesn't look good because even though it is unconstitutional to force citizens to buy a product, the feds are using a loophole in the commerce clause to get around that. It looks as though repealing it is our only hope.

So what does Lisa Murkowski think about repealing the health care law? Asked last March by the local media in Alaska, KTUU she said:

"Repealing this is not the answer in my opinion, because if you just repeal and you do nothing, we will not have addressed health care reform."

Wrong answer! We must repeal that rubbish and START OVER. That's not doing "nothing," that's getting rid of a huge problem Obama and the democrats have inflicted upon this nation. Is there any wonder why Governor Palin didn't give her an endorsement? An endorsement that seems to carry a lot of water these days, by the way. Just look at the the results from this primary season's "Super Tuesday" elections across the country and the elections held before. Governor Palin's record for picking principled winner's is nothing short of stellar.

The other reason Lisa didn't get the nod is clear. Joe Miller is the better candidate by far.

(Future Republican Senator, Joe Miller)

Concerning health care, Miller has the right idea and isn't afraid to challenge the establishment. His statement posted on his campaign site says (emphasis mine):

I will work to repeal the new Obama healthcare law. The unconstitutional legislation does nothing to address the issue of rising healthcare costs and it will cost American taxpayers over $1 trillion during the next decade. The answer for addressing rising healthcare costs must be market driven, based on practical solutions including: (1) giving people more power over their healthcare through employer and self-funded tax-free medical savings accounts to cover their healthcare costs. This method will allow patients to know their costs and encourage providers not to arbitrarily raise their prices; (2) breaking apart insurance monopoly pricing by permitting people to purchase medical insurance across state lines; and (3) allowing small businesses and organizations to work across state lines with others to create group health plans.

Right answer!

Reading through his views on a host of other issues, I really do like this guy. He's pro-life, a supporter of the free-market system, believes the sold principles of our Constitution, seems to understand what the size and role of the federal government should be, and he is a fiscal Conservative... I didn't see anything about the 2nd Amendment on his "Issues" page, however he did post a picture of himself standing over the bear he just took down with the rifle in his hand, so I'm figuring he's got that issue right as well.

A couple more things about Joe Miller that Governor Palin mentioned in her endorsement statement are:

Joe is against granting amnesty to illegal immigrants; Lisa has voted for it.

Joe is against cap and trade (Obama’s new job-killing energy scheme that I call cap and tax); Lisa believes Al Gore’s insistence that man-made global warming is fact, so she’s on record as being open to cap and trade legislation to address weather changes.

Also, the local Tea Party group, CPG (Conservative Patriots Group) in the governor's hometown of Wasilla has endorsed Joe Miller as well. Their website says:

U.S. Senate Candidates: Joe Miller, Lisa Murkowski-Incumbent

CPG has closely examined the political philosophy and qualifications of both candidates along with the voting record of the incumbent to determine which candidate will best Act to Uphold And Defend The Spirit And Word of the Constitution of our United States of America our Bill of Rights and the Conservative Principles on which CPG was founded. Based on this examination CPG is pleased to announce it is endorsing Joe Miller for the office of U.S. Senate.

Candidate Ratings:

Rating of 10 = CPG's ideal conservative

8 = minimum rating to receive CPG endorsement

Joe Miller - 9.5

Lisa Murkowski - 6.5

9.5 out of 10 ain't bad.... Actually that's really good.

Bottom line here is that we need more representatives in government like Joe Miller and less like Lisa Murkowski, especially on the federal level. Murkowski is a bureaucrat through and through. Joe Miller seems like someone that would go to DC not because he likes DC but to serve the people of his state. His military career proves the man is a public servant, as every member of the military is. His strong convictions, willingness to fight against the "fundamental change" that is occurring in our country, and his conservative principles are proof that Governor Palin made the right decision with this pick.

Joe Miller's website is http://www.joemiller.us/index.php

You can also follow him on Twitter @JoeWMiller