Kimberley Strassel; Elitist Naysayer de Jour

Kimberley Strassel wrote a piece on Thursday, for the Wall Street Journal in which she attacked Governor Palin wrongly as being someone who doesn't engage in "serious policy discussion." Before she began her best Charles Krauthammer impersonation, she took a swipe at Palin supporters. She wrote:

Her fans have come to view her as the living antithesis of everything they find offensive—the mainstream media, cultural elites, out-of-touch Washington. She so embodies this role that it is no longer clear whether her backers support her in her own right or support her because they so dislike what she dislikes.

Listen Kim, I've spent over two years, down here in the muck defending an honorable reformer from the most vile, insane, and downright evil attacks from the Republican establishment, left-wing zealots, backstabbers, and crackpots. I, just as any other Palin supporter, don't need your detached opinion about why we support Governor Palin. I've known for quite some time why I support this woman, and it's not because she's some sort of "symbol" for all the things I find "offensive." I could go on to list Governor Palin's attributes and record to better describe why I support her, but that would take another blog post. For now, just know that her courage and principles have everything to do with it.

Strassel goes on to make the kind of uninformed remarks about Governor Palin that we have come to expect from writers of her ilk, such as:

Of all criticisms of Mrs. Palin back then, the most legitimate was that the relative political newcomer lacked knowledge and experience, in particular on foreign policy. A serious candidate, one who was determined to seize the frontrunner mantle in 2012, would've set about using the intervening years to bone up, to demonstrate accomplishments, and to build a brilliant team.

What does Strassel know about Governor Palin's foreign policy team? She knows that nobody she knows is on it. And exactly what kind of foreign policy "accomplishments" should the governor have at this point? Standing with Israel, in Israel near the same time as our current president is selling out their security, should be something to be admired in a prospective candidate. Highlighting our country's relationship with India, and the plight of the people of Haiti, is also important. I'm just not sure what Strassel considers as an "accomplishment," or what other possible GOP candidates have done in this realm to merit her giving them a pass.

Strassel continues:

Mrs. Palin had a perfect perch from which to do this, as governor. She instead chose to quit that job and retreat to (let's be honest) the easier occupation of private citizen. Rather than build a team, she has cast herself as a one-woman-show. Her supporters love this spunk, but the aggressive insularity—Sarah against the "establishment"—has also served to alienate many of the local political leaders and organizers necessary to build a nationwide campaign. That includes fund-raisers.

Yes, let's be honest, shall we...

Obviously, Strassel isn't familiar with the fact that Governor Palin RESIGNED for the good of her state. Otherwise, Strassel would consider that a bogged-down, politically targeted (with no help from the national Republicans, thank you very much) administration would have been better for the governor's future political aspirations. If Governor Palin had just forgotten about Alaska's welfare, and thought about her own, she would be respected by the Beltway establishment. No wonder this country is so messed up!

Strassel goes on to praise Mitt Romney for having a health care "plan" and Newt Gingrich for "getting into specifics." She doesn't get into the specifics about which of Newt's "specifics" were so impressive, however. She then states that Governor Palin "has not outlined many policies of her own."

Why is Kimberley Strassel writing articles about people whom she is unfamiliar with? Governor Palin has taken a position on virtually every major issue since the 2008 election, in detail. Even recently, throughout the "One Nation" bus tour, Governor Palin has been talking policy. All you have to do to find this out is read articles written by people who actually pay attention. Like for instance, Byron York:

One thing many viewers have probably missed in all the horse-race speculation is that Palin is perfectly willing to discuss her positions on key issues, if anyone wants to ask. In fact, in recent days, weeks, and months, we've seen a lot of policy commentary from the former Alaska governor.

[...]

For those interested in her positions on issues, Palin's Facebook page is filled with notes and commentary. Recent entries include titles like "New Afghanistan Development Dangerous to NATO," "Obama's Strange Strategy: Borrow Foreign Money to Give to Foreign Countries," "Barack Obama's Disregard for [Israel's] Security Begs Clarity," "Obama's Failed Energy Policy," and "Removing the Boot from the Throat of American Businesses." They're not think-tank white papers, but they are substantive statements on key issues.

The other GOP candidates really aren't all that specific in their policy statements, I've suffered through them, I know. These guys pander to which ever audience they are in front of at any given time, and they flip-flop all over the map on important issues. None of them have a record of reform, but they have sipped cocktails with all the right foreign policy advisers, lobbyists, and party "leaders." For that alone, they won't be subjected to the same level of scrutiny as the governor, I guess.

Clearly, nothing Governor Palin says or does will be enough for people like Kimberley Strassel, Charles Krauthammer, and Elitist Inc. The question for the future is, how much longer will people listen to baseless arguments from these sheltered columnists?

Governor Palin's India Today Conclave Speech Media Roundup

By most accounts, Governor Palin's speech to the 2011 India Today Conclave was a resounding success. Her message was clear, and dealt with many of the important issues facing our nation, and indeed the world at this time. Although Politico couldn't muster up the will to report fairly on the event, other members of the media employed a more professional standard. Here's a roundup of the event:

Time:

In her speech titled "My Vision of America," the former Governor of Alaska, who was on her first trip to India, did simply articulate her vision of America but touched on a range of topics from the rise of China, energy independence, Indian-American ties, and, in a rather timely fashion, the use of force in the Arab world.

Palin dismissed the notion of declining American influence. "I completely reject that," she said. "It represents wrongheaded thinking by our friends and wishful thinking by some enemies." Speaking to a crowd of political and business leaders, hosted by India Today magazine, Palin stressed that while America is not in decline, India is rising to meet it. Deepening economic, military and diplomatic ties between the two countries are vital, she said. "The relationship is the key to the future, the security, the prosperity of our world," she said. "I see it strengthening. Whoever's President, it better strengthen. We're going to need each other especially as these other regions rise, if we want a peaceful world, India and the United States have to be linked."

Palin's personal appeal was apparent to those who attended the event. "She said the right things," said Kiran Aurora a retiree from New Delhi. "I don't know if she's Presidential material, but she's charismatic. There is a charm about her." "She came across as a very honorable person, who's still maturing as a politician," said Sandip Ganguli, a hotel executive in India. "What she appeared to lack in global knowledge and experience was made up by her belief in America and that the American people have what it takes to come back."

The New York Times:

Ms. Palin’s speech at a conference organized by the media group India Today touched on many subjects, including her sympathy with the people of Japan and their “humble cooperative spirit,” the dangers of a green-energy policy and her children texting her news of a moose in the yard of her Alaska home. Ms. Palin made numerous references to America’s entrepreneurial and pioneering spirit, and India’s unlocking of the same to become a vibrant global giant.

Together, she said, the two countries will lead the world in the 21st century. “There is no natural limit for United States and India relations,” she said. India is the second-fastest growing major economy in the world after China, but is still hobbled by extreme poverty, inefficient infrastructure and political corruption.

After her speech, Ms. Palin answered specific questions about foreign and economic policy. Asked how she might have the handled the financial crisis that led the United States government to fund billions in bank bailouts, Ms. Palin said she “didn’t think it was such a tough situation that had to lead to all those bailouts.” Instead, she said, the government could have allowed “the free market to decide who the winners and losers should be.”

Quizzed on outsourcing, a hot-button issue in India, Ms. Palin evoked free trade several times, affirmatively, to a smattering of applause from the audience.

India Today:

Sarah Palin, 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee and 2012 presidential hopeful, could not have been more politically correct on her first visit to India. Speaking on 'My Vision of America' at the Tenth India Today Conclave 2011, Palin said it was marked by healthy competition and partnership with India.

Talking about the widespread interest in Palin's appearance at the Conclave, Purie [India Today Group's chairman and editor-in-chief] said: "Frankly, in the past 10 years of the Conclave, I have not seen such media interest in one of our speakers. There has been a flood of articles, blogs and tweets about her India visit." To a round of applause, he added: "This is only her third visit overseas.

We are honoured that she chose to come to India." Palin was the first Republican politician to address the Conclave.

Democrat Al Gore did it twice; Bill and Hillary Clinton have done it once each in the past. "As the first Republican speaker at the Conclave, I am sure you're up to correcting that imbalance," Purie said, as he gave the floor to her.

CNN:

The potential presidential candidate addressed the importance of energy and the influence of India's relationship with the United States in prepared remarks titled "My Vision of America." But when she sat down for the question-and-answer session with the editor-in-chief of India Today, Aroon Purie, her attention turned to topics of a presidential nature.

And of financial assistance given to banks she said that she'd rather "free markets decide who the winners and who the losers would be" instead of politicians.

"I don't think it was such a tough situation that it had to lead to the bailouts that our U.S. government engaged in," she stated. "What it led to is more debt."

Calling the Tea Party "a grassroots movement from the ground up" that is a "beautiful movement" that will grow and be more influential, Palin asserted that the Tea Party movement will "hold our politicians accountable."

Palin remarked that her approach is different than that of her GOP peers. "Too often Republicans have the fighting instinct of sheep and you know they're just going to sit back and take it…I don't have that within me…I will put my foot down and I will state the truth so that people have correct information and they can make decisions for themselves," she declared.

Palin also described herself as "independent" saying that "some Republican players within the Republican hierarchy don't really like that." And she revealed that "Todd Palin is not even registered with the Republican Party [in Alaska] because he's such an independent."

The Washington Post:

On her first trip to India, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin said she is still thinking about running for president, voiced concerns about China’s military rise, criticized green investment and vowed to see the Taj Mahal during her next trip.

Palin’s two-day trip to India came about five months after President Obama’s state visit. While Obama and his wife, Michelle, danced and charmed their way into Indian hearts, Palin impressed her audience with strong views on energy security, terrorism, free trade, bailouts and the India-U.S. partnership.

“Sarah Palin held her own very well,” said Sachin Pilot, India’s deputy minister for communications and information technology. “She came out as an independent thinker. She answered all complicated questions reasonably well,”“Anybody who is looking to perform a major role in American politics today does need to engage with India.”

Palin got the most applause when she spoke of her relationship with the mainstream American media.

“You can’t necessarily trust the mainstream media to accurately report. You can’t rely anymore on mainstream media to set the record straight, not in the U.S.,” she said to loud cheers.

“Women who choose to enter public life unfairly often become target of the media. She has been a victim too,” said Ranjana Kumari, who trains women for political leadership in India. “The way Sarah Palin spelled out her position on crucial issues today, I feel she will throw her hat in the ring.”

The Huffington Post:

Palin told a well-heeled audience of Indian business leaders, professionals and socialites that U.S.-Indian relations were "key to the future of our world."

"We're going to need each other, especially as these other regions rise," she said, in an apparent reference to China, during a Q&A that followed a keynote speech titled "My Vision of America."

Obama visited India in November during a wider Asian tour, affirming the country's growing importance on the global scene.

Palin said the Republican Party's apparatus was at times frustrating to deal with, but said presidents Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln were role models and reasons for why she joined the party.

UK Guardian:

In her speech, she described how India was following America's "rags to riches story" thanks to a pioneering spirit, free markets and the universal dream of individual liberty.

In a speech carefully worked to appeal to a local audience as well as public opinion at home, Palin told her audience that the US and India shared many things, including religious tolerance, democratic traditions, a common struggle for freedom from the British empire, a commitment to "see terrorism defeated" and a concern over the rise of China.

However, Palin's repeated attacks on the "central planning" of economies, the "top-down way of making decisions" and her insistence on the importance of empowering individuals and entrepreneurs will strike a chord in an India still suffering from an inefficient and often corrupt bureaucracy.

"She was very good. She's very American but a lot of what she says makes sense here too," said one major industrialist at the conference.

Wall Street Journal:

She came—she didn’t wink—but she conquered.

On Saturday evening, Sarah Palin, 2008 Republic vice-presidential candidate and former governor of Alaska, got an extremely warm welcome when she delivered the closing keynote address at a conference in New Delhi.

The Daily Beast:

India welcomed Sarah Palin with open arms this weekend, giving her top billing at an annual international conference previously attended by Bill and Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Colin Powell, and other political heavyweights. Palin touched on many topics during her speech on Saturday—including her disapproval of green energy—but mainly focused on alliances between India and the United States, saying the two countries will lead the world together in the 21st century.

Both the WSJ & LA Times Misquote Governor Palin from the India Today Conclave

Accuracy doesn't seem to be the media's strong suite these days. It makes you wonder if these "journalists" are incompetent, lazy, or worse; pushing an agenda. We can only speculate the reasons, but the fact is undeniable.

Take for instance, the reporting by both the Wall Street Journal and the LA Times from Governor Palin's speech and Q&A session at the India Today Conclave today. Both of them state that the governor said the following while giving an answer to a question:

“Free people that make up a free country don’t wage war on another country.”

That is a direct misquote. What Governor Palin actually said:

“Free people that make up a free country don’t wage war on another free country.”

Watch the clip of Governor Palin, from the event to see for yourself (at the 22:50 mark).

These reporters omitted a small, yet very important word from her sentence. The word "free." By doing so, they change the entire context of the point she was making. The governor's true remark was 100% accurate and history proves that to be the case. Are these press agents purposely trying to make Governor Palin look uninformed by misreporting her statement? Or are they just pathetic performers at their jobs?

Either way, let's just be happy that these "journalists" didn't decide to become brain surgeons.

WSJ: Eliminationist rhetoric against Sarah Palin: a production of the Missoula Children's Theater - Update

Disgusting.

James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal reports:

For some perspective on the recent "debate" over "civility" and "eliminationist rhetoric," let's turn to Montana, home of the Missoula Children's Theater. A recent production there gets a bad review today in a letter to the editor of the Missoulian, the local daily:

Open letter to MCT director Curt Olds:

First I would like to compliment you and the entire staff of "The Mikado" on the beautiful sets, costuming and professional performance we experienced on Sunday, Jan. 23. However, I must call you on something that was inserted into the play which I am almost positive was not in the original book.

The comments made in such a cavalier and oh-so-humorous way were uncalled for. Now, I realize you play to a mostly liberal audience in Missoula and so, I am sure, felt comfortable in your calling for the beheading of Sarah Palin. I am painfully aware that most in the audience tittered with laughter and clapped because "no one would miss her" but there were some in your audience who took great offense to this "uncivil tone" about another human being.

We are in the midst of a crisis that took place in Tucson where many started pointing fingers at that horrible right wing with all their hatred and targeting and standing for the second amendment and on and on and on. So, here we are in a lovely play with beautiful voices serenading us and we have to hear that it is okay to call for the killing of Sarah Palin because we don't like her and no one would miss her. Unbelievable.

As a professional you should be ashamed of yourself, the audience should be ashamed of themselves and I am ashamed of myself for not standing up and leaving at that very moment. I would like to see an apology from you not because I want to hinder free-speech but for the hypocrisy this so clearly shows.

Rory Page, Clinton

Well, perhaps Olds made a clerical error and one of Andrew Sullivan's works got into the Arthur Sullivan file.

In all seriousness, though, like much of what we have been writing about in the past few weeks, this incident is shocking but not surprising. For all the bogus accusations being thrown at Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, genuinely hateful political rhetoric is commonplace in the art world, even in art that is not overtly political.

You can read the piece in it's entirety here.

Art itself is not overtly political, but a great number of artists are. Being an artist myself, having attended an art college, I am familiar with the prevailing mindset of many in the trade. A left-leaning, sometimes perverse, and poorly informed demographic, if there ever there was one.

This little spectacle at the Missoula Children's Theater no less, is indicative of a bigger issue. The recent calls for "civility" from the left are, as most of us have figured out, a complete farce. For years, the left have used many avenues of communication such as art and literature to dehumanize and vilify their political opposites. Their tone can be vicious and at times, violent.

Yesterday, Alan Colmes insinuated that it was a "crazy right-wing conspiracy" to suggest that the left's call for civility is nothing more than an attempt to silence their opposition. I think the actions of Curt Olds and his "liberal" audience prove the left's mindset, thereby highlighting the lack of sincerity when they speak about a "new tone" in our political dialog. Go ahead and count this as just another example of left-wing America's glaring hypocrisy.

Update: Warner Todd Huston from Rightpundits is reporting that Michael McGill, the Director of the Missoula Community Theater has "apologized." The apology reads:

I am sorry that the satirical reference to Sarah Palin has offended some of our patrons. Gilbert & Sullivan were well-known as satirists, addressing the social and cultural issues of their day—aristocracy, government, etc…. Some of the lyrics performed in The Mikado around the country today reflect the issues and topics of our time. We know that “MCT” means many things to many people—and we are blessed with passionate, loyal audiences, here in Missoula and around the world. In this instance, however, we are talking about an MCT Community Theatre production (not to be confused with a Missoula Children’s Theatre production). Although MCT Community Theatre did not pen the lyrics that were found to be offensive, we have taken the action of removing them from this production. It is my hope that the audiences will appreciate the hard work, artistry and beauty within this MCT Community Theatre production of The Mikado.

Well, he clarified that the play was not a children's production, which is good I guess. However, he did not apologize for what was said or the sentiment expressed, he merely apologized that people were offended. Which is really no apology at all.

(H/T: indemind)