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Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

Today we saw a small step forward in reform with the signing into law of the STOCK Act. Though many of us feel that the bill was watered down and thus could have been much stronger, this is at least a small step in the right direction. Obviously, there is still a lot more we need to do to combat government corruption (especially in addressing the rampant crony capitalism in our government’s executive branch, which we see so clearly on display in the Obama administration). The best parts of this Act are a requirement for more immediate financial disclosure (with lawmakers required to disclose their trading activities every 45 days instead of just once a year) and a provision that outlaws sweetheart IPO deals like the ones Nancy Pelosi benefited from in the past.

 

Today’s reform victory wouldn’t have been possible without the great research done by Peter Schweizer in his groundbreaking book “Throw Them All Out” and the investigative reporting of “60 Minutes” based on Peter’s book. We applaud them, and look forward to the next steps in our movement to eradicate the cronyism and government corruption in DC.

 

- Sarah Palin

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Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

Celebrating George Washington’s birthday is an American tradition to honor our first president. Though Presidents’ Day is now the more commonly-used term, and has expanded to include all presidents, the legal term for this federal holiday remains Washington’s Birthday.

 

We honor President Washington, not because he was flawless; he was not. He was, however, the epitome of self-sacrifice—both as a soldier and a statesman. It was that sacrifice that helped make America what it was destined to become. We honor him because of what he accomplished and the manner in which he approached service to this nation: with a servant’s heart.

 

I am on record as acknowledging President Washington as my favorite Founder precisely because of that heart. He did not seek power. He accepted it reluctantly. He answered the call, offered himself up in the name of service, and helped to usher in a new day. At a time when he could have remained in office perpetually, as some expected, he chose to return to life as a citizen rather than seek a third term. He fulfilled his destiny, and his legacy is secure.

 

It is refreshing to reflect on one who was so far removed in spirit from the inside baseball that too often defines politics now. America celebrates President Washington for his decision to serve for the right reasons. Today, we could certainly use a little more Washington in DC and a little less BS in Washington.

 

Happy Presidents’ Day.

 

- Sarah Palin

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Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

Today, on what would be President Lincoln’s 203rd birthday, America still honors our sixteenth president. It was a long journey from a humble log cabin in Kentucky to the prestigious White House in our nation’s capital. The road he traveled was certainly not without struggles and hardships – from the loss of family as a boy to the turmoil of a war-divided nation as a man. His is a story of the true American spirit, the same spirit that inspires and motivates Americans today.

 

Without question, his perseverance and indomitable will contributed to the historical Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, changing the course of America forever and helping to usher in the sudden and relentless reform so needed at that time. Also, who could forget the words, so often quoted, from the Gettysburg Address?

 

“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” 

 

All these years later, those great words – heralding an even greater cause – still resonate with Americans who remain dedicated to preserving what those who came before us carved out for us: a land of freedom, opportunity, and exceptionalism. President Lincoln admonished the country not to squander what had come at such a high price. In 2012, the message has not changed. The message must not change because the cause of freedom is still just and its price still high.

 

Happy Birthday, President Lincoln.

 

- Sarah Palin

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Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

A friend emailed me this notice from her local Alaskan school today. As the school notice makes clear: anything above -55 degrees below zero is warm enough for our Alaskan young’uns! Global warming? What global warming?

 

I just had to share this with all those who are enjoying the balmy 65 degree (above zero) weather in the Beltway today and the 70+ degree weather our Florida voters are enjoying!

 

And here’s a photo of my nephew doing his chores in -20 degrees. Last Frontier indeed.

 

- Sarah Palin

 

“Chop your own wood, and it will warm you twice.” – Henry Ford

 

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Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

We have witnessed something very disturbing this week. The Republican establishment which fought Ronald Reagan in the 1970s and which continues to fight the grassroots Tea Party movement today has adopted the tactics of the left in using the media and the politics of personal destruction to attack an opponent.

 

We will look back on this week and realize that something changed. I have given numerous interviews wherein I espoused the benefits of thorough vetting during aggressive contested primary elections, but this week’s tactics aren’t what I meant. Those who claim allegiance to Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment should stop and think about where we are today. Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater, the fathers of the modern conservative movement, would be ashamed of us in this primary. Let me make clear that I have no problem with the routine rough and tumble of a heated campaign. As I said at the first Tea Party convention two years ago, I am in favor of contested primaries and healthy, pointed debate. They help focus candidates and the electorate. I have fought in tough and heated contested primaries myself. But what we have seen in Florida this week is beyond the pale. It was unprecedented in GOP primaries. I’ve seen it before – heck, I lived it before – but not in a GOP primary race.

 

I am sadly too familiar with these tactics because they were used against the GOP ticket in 2008. The left seeks to single someone out and destroy his or her record and reputation and family using the media as a channel to dump handpicked and half-baked campaign opposition research on the public. The difference in 2008 was that I was largely unknown to the American public, so they had no way of differentiating between the lies and the truth. All of it came at them at once as “facts” about me. But Newt Gingrich is known to us – both the good and the bad.

 

We know that Newt fought in the trenches during the Reagan Revolution. As Rush Limbaugh pointed out, Newt was among a handful of Republican Congressman who would regularly take to the House floor to defend Reagan at a time when conservatives didn’t have Fox News or talk radio or conservative blogs to give any balance to the liberal mainstream media. Newt actually came at Reagan’s administration “from the right” to remind Americans that freer markets and tougher national defense would win our future. But this week a few handpicked and selectively edited comments which Newt made during his 40-year career were used to claim that Newt was somehow anti-Reagan, and isn’t conservative enough to go against the accepted moderate in the primary race. (I know, it makes no sense, and the GOP establishment hopes you won’t stop and think about this nonsense. Mark Levin and others have shown the ridiculousness of this.) To add insult to injury, this “anti-Reagan” claim was made by a candidate who admitted to not even supporting or voting for Reagan. He actually was against the Reagan movement, donated to liberal candidates, and said he didn’t want to go back to the Reagan days. You can’t change history. We know that Newt Gingrich brought the Reagan Revolution into the 1990s. We know it because none other than Nancy Reagan herself announced this when she presented Newt with an award, telling us, “The dramatic movement of 1995 is an outgrowth of a much earlier crusade that goes back half a century.  Barry Goldwater handed the torch to Ronnie, and in turn Ronnie turned that torch over to Newt and the Republican members of Congress to keep that dream alive.” As Rush and others pointed out, if Nancy Reagan had ever thought that Newt was in any way an opponent of her beloved husband, she would never have even appeared on a stage with him, let alone presented him with an award and said such kind things about him. Nor would Reagan’s son, Michael Reagan, have chosen to endorse Newt in this primary race. There are no two greater keepers of the Reagan legacy than Nancy and Michael Reagan. What we saw with this ridiculous opposition dump on Newt was nothing short of Stanlin-esque re-writing of history. It was Alinsky tactics at their worst.

 

But this whole thing isn’t really about Newt Gingrich vs. Mitt Romney. It is about the GOP establishment vs. the Tea Party grassroots and independent Americans who are sick of the politics of personal destruction used now by both parties’ operatives with a complicit media egging it on. In fact, the establishment has been just as dismissive of Ron Paul and Rick Santorum. Newt is an imperfect vessel for Tea Party support, but in South Carolina the Tea Party chose to get behind him instead of the old guard’s choice. In response, the GOP establishment voices denounced South Carolinian voters with the same vitriol we usually see from the left when they spew hatred at everyday Americans “bitterly clinging” to their faith and their Second Amendment rights. The Tea Party was once again told to sit down and shut up and listen to the “wisdom” of their betters. We were reminded of the litany of Tea Party endorsed candidates in 2010 that didn’t win. Well, here’s a little newsflash to the establishment: without the Tea Party there would have been no historic 2010 victory at all.

 

I spoke up before the South Carolina primary to urge voters there to keep this primary going because I have great concern about the GOP establishment trying to anoint a candidate without the blessing of the grassroots and all the needed energy and resources we as commonsense constitutional conservatives could bring to the general election in order to defeat President Obama. Now, I respect Governor Romney and his success. But there are serious concerns about his record and whether as a politician he consistently applied conservative principles and how this impacts the agenda moving forward. The questions need answers now. That is why this primary should not be rushed to an end. We need to vet this. Pundits in the Beltway are gleefully proclaiming that this primary race is over after Florida, despite 46 states still not having chimed in. Well, perhaps it’s possible that it will come to a speedy end in just four days; but with these questions left unanswered, it will not have come to a satisfactory conclusion. Without this necessary vetting process, the unanswered question of Governor Romney’s conservative bona fides and the unanswered and false attacks on Newt Gingrich will hang in the air to demoralize many in the electorate. The Tea Party grassroots will certainly feel disenfranchised and disenchanted with the perceived orchestrated outcome from self-proclaimed movers and shakers trying to sew this all up. And, trust me, during the general election, Governor Romney’s statements and record in the private sector will be relentlessly parsed over by the opposition in excruciating detail to frighten off swing voters. This is why we need a fair primary that is not prematurely cut short by the GOP establishment using Alinsky tactics to kneecap Governor Romney’s chief rival.

 

As I said in my speech in Iowa last September, the challenge of this election is not simply to replace President Obama. The real challenge is who and what we will replace him with. It’s not enough to just change up the uniform. If we don’t change the team and the game plan, we won’t save our country. We truly need sudden and relentless reform in Washington to defend our republic, though it’s becoming clearer that the old guard wants anything but that. That is why we should all be concerned by the tactics employed by the establishment this week. We will not save our country by becoming like the left. And I question whether the GOP establishment would ever employ the same harsh tactics they used on Newt against Obama. I didn’t see it in 2008. Many of these same characters sat on their thumbs in ‘08 and let Obama escape unvetted. Oddly, they’re now using every available microscope and endoscope – along with rewriting history – in attempts to character assassinate anyone challenging their chosen one in their own party’s primary. So, one must ask, who are they really running against?

 

- Sarah Palin

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Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

As Jewish families gather this week to celebrate the Festival of Lights, Todd and I would like to wish them a very Happy Hanukkah. This beautiful holiday commemorates the story of the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, following years of struggle by the Maccabees, when one-day’s worth of consecrated oil miraculously lasted for eight. This story never ceases to inspire because it reminds us of the power of faith, hope, and perseverance.

 

The modern State of Israel is the living embodiment of the Hanukkah miracle – a country that was not expected to survive the onslaught of its enemies, and which has not only survived but thrived as a beacon of freedom, tolerance, and innovation. In a region consumed by chaos and oppression, Israel continues to be a light of inspiration. As Jews around the world sing “Maoz Tzur,” we remember that our nation, too, was conceived in faith in our “mighty stronghold.” Let us cherish the values and warm bonds of friendship that unite us in this season.

 

- Sarah Palin

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Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

For anyone following the Obama administration’s scandalous cluster-of-an-operation Fast & Furious, which resulted in the deaths of innocent people, please see the article excerpted below. (And in my humble opinion, I do believe the anti-2nd Amendment characters working in the Obama administration purposefully used their Fast & Furious gun walking operation to propose more gun control regulations.)

 

Scour this article and let me know if you too think this might be a “smoking gun” in the Fast & Furious case.

 

ATF officials didn’t intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called “Demand Letter 3″. That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or “long guns.” Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.

 

On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF’s Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:

 

“Bill – can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks.” 

 

On Jan. 4, 2011, as ATF prepared a press conference to announce arrests in Fast and Furious, Newell saw it as “(A)nother time to address Multiple Sale on Long Guns issue.” And a day after the press conference, Chait emailed Newell: “Bill–well done yesterday… (I)n light of our request for Demand letter 3, this case could be a strong supporting factor if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of this case.” 

 

This revelation angers gun rights advocates. Larry Keane, a spokesman for National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group, calls the discussion of Fast and Furious to argue for Demand Letter 3 “disappointing and ironic.” Keane says it’s “deeply troubling” if sales made by gun dealers “voluntarily cooperating with ATF’s flawed ‘Operation Fast & Furious’ were going to be used by some individuals within ATF to justify imposing a multiple sales reporting requirement for rifles.”

 

The Gun Dealers’ Quandary

 

Several gun dealers who cooperated with ATF told CBS News and Congressional investigators they only went through with suspicious sales because ATF asked them to.

 

Sometimes it was against the gun dealer’s own best judgment.

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Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

I proudly display a bumper sticker that proclaims “If you love your freedom, thank a vet!” It was on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 that the armistice between Germany and the Allied nations was formed. A year later the White House commemorated the day as one to be “filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory.” Years later 11-11 was officially declared Veterans Day.

 

We are thankful for this day being set aside to remember our vets, and many of us are overwhelmed with pride and respect for those we honor today. America’s men and women in uniform selflessly sacrificed – some giving all – to protect the freedom and opportunities we enjoy today. In honor of everything our veterans have given, I implore Americans to remember them and thank them. And I ask that as a nation we not squander what they have fought to protect: American Exceptionalism that was based on free men and free markets.

 

May God bless, protect, and heal the hurts of America’s finest. God bless our veterans.

 

- Sarah Palin 

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Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

It’s tempting to get distracted with the horse race aspect of electoral politics during a primary season. But as pundits talk about “who’s up and who’s down” in the 24 hour news cycle, we must keep our eye on the ball with the Obama administration. They rely on distraction to skirt responsibility, but we’re going to hold them accountable for their corruption and incompetence.

 

When the stories about Operation Fast and Furious first broke, it sounded too crazy even for this administration.

 

Why would any government official with an ounce of common sense think it’s a good idea to facilitate the smuggling of thousands of guns into the hands of violent Mexican drug cartels? That’s what Operation Fast and Furious did.

 

You might think Eric Holder’s Department of Justice was setting up a sting operation in which our federal agents would swoop down and arrest the bad guys the minute the guns traded hands. But that’s not what happened. Eric Holder’s DOJ had American gun dealers sell weapons to “straw purchasers” tied to drug cartels without actually following the movement of the guns as they were then sold to Mexican drug lords. They apparently thought this so-called “gun-walking” operation would help them chart the path of gun smuggling, but they didn’t have a plan to actually control the weapons’ movements as the guns were allowed to “walk” into Mexico. All Holder’s DOJ did was arm violent criminals. What manner of fools do we have working in this administration? What’s next? Supplying nuclear weapons components to the Iranians so we can track their activities?

 

Fast and Furious isn’t just your typical government incompetence. This is a deadly tragedy. U.S. border agent Brian Terry was gunned down with weapons connected to Holder’s debacle. At least 200 Mexican citizens were also killed by criminals using Fast and Furious weapons. We can only imagine how many more people will be murdered by criminals our government armed.

 

When an agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives blew the whistle on this operation, the DOJ leaked sensitive information about him to the press. This week, the former U.S. Attorney for Arizona, who was ousted in the wake of the scandal, admitted to being the leaker.

 

And where is President Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder in all of this? When did he first know about the operation? In his testimony to the House Oversight Committee on May 3, 2011, Holder stated, “I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.” But the DOJ’s own documents prove that Holder had been receiving briefings on Fast and Furious for nearly a year before that date. In other words, our government’s top law enforcement official, Eric Holder, lied to the American public. He finally admitted this week to the Senate Judiciary Committee, “In my testimony before the House committee [on May 3], I did say a few weeks. I probably could have said a couple of months. What I said about a few weeks was inaccurate based on what happened.”

 

When the nation’s highest law enforcement official lies to the American people, he must go.

 

And if he claims that he didn’t lie, then how else do we explain this situation? He’s either lying or he’s so grossly incompetent and lazy that he didn’t read important life and death briefings from his deputy attorney general and didn’t know about this deadly operation run by people under him. So, which is it? Incompetent, lazy, or lying? No matter which explanation fits, he needs to go.

 

Holder conceded this week, “I have ultimate responsibility for what happens in the department.” He can prove it by resigning. And if he refuses to resign, then President Obama – with whom the bucks ultimately stop – can prove that he respects honesty, transparency, and accountability in his administration by firing Holder.

 

I stand with the members of Congress who are calling for Holder’s resignation. I stand with the family members of Brian Terry who are demanding transparency and accountability. Mr. President, where do you stand?

 

- Sarah Palin

 

P.S. It can be argued that some elements of this scandal give the appearance of perhaps being intended to be used to infringe on our Second Amendment rights. I invite our President to correct concerned Americans if they’re wrong on this.

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Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

Yesterday, another shoe dropped in the chronicles of the Obama administration’s crony capitalism. A start-up electric car company with ties to Al Gore got a $529 million loan guarantee from Obama’s Department of Energy to build luxury electric cars…in Finland! Leaving aside the fact that to date only two of these $97,000 cars have been sold (one of them to a movie star), we might at least hope that this ridiculous exercise in the government picking winners minus any competitive, transparent process (Al Gore’s venture cap firm) and losers (the taxpayers subsidizing a car no one wants) would produce manufacturing jobs in the United States. Isn’t that the alleged purpose of Obama’s stimulus giveaways?

 

It’s bad enough that we borrow money from foreign countries to give to foreign countries. Now we borrow from foreign countries to finance jobs in foreign countries. (This kind of reminds me of the $2 billion assistance President Obama provided Brazil for their off-shore energy developments, while shutting down or blocking much of our own off-shore domestic drilling. He’s in favor of energy jobs in Brazil. But in America? Not so much.)

 

Do you think, as the President tours the country campaigning on the taxpayer’s dime, he understands that voters in Finland won’t get to decide whether or not he keeps his job in 2012, but voters in Michigan and Ohio sure will? In fact, I’m sure the millions of unemployed workers in every state will want to learn why the Obama administration gave half a billion dollars to finance “green” cars built in Finland.

 

While they’re at it, the geniuses in the White House could also explain the $1.2 billion they gave to SunPower, a company that makes Solyndra look like a blue chip stock. SunPower’s market capitalization is $800 million, but the company is in debt $820 million. What a great investment, huh? Your tax dollars at work, America! If President Obama wants answers about this, he better act fast because his Department of Energy was already caught revising history by scrubbing SunPower’s name out of old DOE press releases. The President should start by asking Democrat Congressman George Miller about the company. Rep. Miller was the leading advocate for giving money to SunPower, which hired his son as a lobbyist.

 

When President Obama signed his nearly trillion dollar stimulus boondoggle into law, he mortgaged our children’s future. And for what? Financing jobs in Finland? Propping up near bankrupt companies with connections to congressmen? For this we are burying ourselves in a mountain of debt?

 

This crony capitalism has to end. We don’t want it. We can’t afford it. And we must not tolerate it anymore. Wake up, America, before it’s too late.

 

- Sarah Palin

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