Sarah Palin Slams Joe Biden Linking Tea Party Conservatives with Terrorists

It's "quite appalling," and that's putting it mildly:

Yet progressives have their meme at they're sticking to it. See Joe Nocera, "Tea Party's War on America" (via Memeorandum).

Bristol Palin: Fast Track to Adulthood, 'That's Not How I Pictured Losing My Virginity'

An intense interview with Dr. Drew Pinksy, at CNN.

She says that sex with Levi Johnston "wasn't rape," and then continues to discuss the emotional trauma of her first time:

Palin's Paltry Fundraising

I'm not going to sugarcoat it.

It seems unreal, but the Iowa caucuses could be held as early as December, depending on whether other early primary states try to leapfrog the Buckeyes. That would give Sarah Palin roughly five months to raise the $100 million that's long been considered the "entry fee" for competitiveness in the early contests. But according to reports out today, Palin's fundraising's lagging. At Wapo, "Sarah Palin’s PAC raises just over $1.6 million."

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin raised just over $1.6 million in the first half of 2011 through her political action committee, SarahPAC, an amount that suggests she has not ramped up her fundraising for a presidential campaign.

Palin has also spent about $1.5 million so far this year, mostly on political consultants, travel and direct mail, ending up with $1.4 million on hand.

Because she is not a candidate, Palin can file disclosure forms bi-annually rather than quarterly. PAC contribution limits also are twice as high as candidate contribution limits — $5,000 instead of $2,500.

The money was raised for her political action committee, so it could not be used in the 2012 presidential race should Palin run. It’s more a measure of supporter enthusiasm and political clout.

So does $1.6 million say anything about her political ambitions or viability? Not really.

Continue reading.

Palin's not officially declared, but time's a-wastin'. See also The Hill, "Palin PAC raises $1.6M in first half of year" (via Memeorandum). And check the spin at C4P, "Sarah PAC Raises over 1.6 Million in First Half of 2011."

RELATED: The news out yesterday was how far Republicans are trailing President Obama in the money race:

Who'd You Rather? Bill Maher Sexualizes Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin as 'MILFs' on 'Piers Morgan Tonight'

After being called a "teabagger" for 2 and a half years, I'm kinda inured to this stuff, but this is pretty crude.

At NewsBusters, "Bill Maher Calls Palin and Bachmann MILFs on CNN."

And Big Hollywood, "‘MILF’: How the MSM Uses Popular Culture To Do Their Dirty Work."

Palin Plots Her Next Move

It's this week's cover story at Newsweek (via Memeorandum):

It's a fluffy, upbeat piece, and the photos will be splashed at airports and supermarket checkout stands nationwide, just as "The Undefeated" documentary premieres. This will drive progressives crazy. I can see Steve Benen now, incredulous that a "half-term governor" should get so much attention. And well, that's the basis if her appeal right there. Finally we have a national figure who's just one of us, unpretentious and willing to fight. I'd say it's providence, although we heard enough of that "Lightworker" stuff from the Obama cult in 2008. Palin's down to earth, and just what America needs. I hope she makes up her mind soon.

Sugar Daddy All Out

Sarah Palin, "The Sugar Daddy Has Run Out of Sugar; Now We Need New Leaders":

Barack Obama’s big government policies continue to fail. He should put a link to the national debt clock on his BlackBerry. The gears on that clock have nearly exploded during his administration. Yesterday’s terrible job numbers should not be a surprise because it all goes back to our debt. Our dangerously unsustainable debt is wiping out our jobs, crippling our economic growth, and jeopardizing our position in the global economy as the leader of the free world.

*****

This debt ceiling debate is the perfect time to do what must be done. We must cut. Yes, I’m for a balanced budget amendment and for enforceable spending caps. But first and foremost we must cut spending, not “strike a deal” that allows politicians to raise more debt! See, Washington is addicted to OPM – Other People’s Money. And like any junkie, they will lie, steal, and cheat to fund their addiction. We must cut them off and cut government down to size.

*****

As we approach 2012, there are important lessons we can learn from all of this. First, we should never entrust the White House to a far-left ideologue who has no appreciation or even understanding of the free market and limited government principles that made this country economically strong. 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. Real leadership requires deeds even more than words. It means taking on the problems no one else wants to tackle. It means providing vision and guidance, inspiring people to action ...

Sarah Palin Heads to Iowa on Tuesday

For the premiere of "The Undefeated," the big new documentary that's perfectly timed for a major Palin announcement.

At National Journal, "Palin to Iowa Tuesday":

Just as some pundits were counting her out as a presidential candidate, Sarah Palin has laid on plans to visit Iowa next week -- one day after her tea party soul mate and potential rival, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., is set to launch her presidential campaign in the same state.

Distributors of The Undefeated, a flattering documentary about Palin's political career, announced Saturday that the former Alaska governor and her husband, Todd, will attend a premiere of the movie Tuesday in Pella, Iowa.

The town, about 40 miles east of Des Moines, is home to an historic opera house where the movie will be shown.

"We are very excited to visit historic Pella and its opera house and look forward to seeing the finished film for the first time with fellow Americans from the heartland," Palin is quoted as saying in a release announcing her plans to attend the event.

The national rollout for the movie begins July 15.

Also at the Victory Film Group, "GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN TO ATTEND PREMIERE OF THE UNDEFEATED AT PELLA OPERA HOUSE IN PELLA, IOWA" (via Memeorandum).

Sarah Palin to Announce Candidacy Next Week?

There's a lot of speculation, stemming from Robert Stacy McCain's entry at American Spectator, "Palin Decision Expected Next Week."

The New York Times picked that up as a news item: "Is Sarah Palin Running for President?" And there's a huge buzz at Memeorandum. And I like the headline at Wizbang, "Rumor-Mongering: Sarah Palin Makes Her Presidential Decision Next Week?"

And of course McCain's milking it: "Thanks, Rush!:

One of the difficult things about reporting on Sarah Palin is that only Sarah Palin can speak for Sarah Palin, and she only talks to Fox News. So if you’re a reporter who doesn’t work for Fox News, you have to get what you can get where you can get it. Before I filed that brief report at the Spectator this morning, I made a call to try to confirm it with Palin’s people. But I guess if you don’t work for Fox News, they don’t take your call.

So damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Wall Street Journal Weekend Interview: Michele Bachmann, 'On the Beach, I Bring von Mises'

I think Bachmann gains the most by Romney's decision to skip the Iowa straw poll in Ames, but we'll see.

And from Stephen Moore's interview:

"If I'm in, I'll be all in," says Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, artfully dodging my question of whether she's running for president. Given that she just hired campaign strategist Ed Rollins, whose past clients include Ross Perot and Mike Huckabee, rumors abound. "We're getting close," she says, "and if I do run, like all my races, I will work like a maniac."

That's pretty much how she does everything, and it helps explain how the relatively junior congresswoman has become a tea party superstar—and uniquely adept at driving liberals bonkers.

After spending a good part of two days with her in Washington as she scurries from one appointment to another, I have no doubt that Ms. Bachmann will announce her presidential bid soon. And it would be a mistake to count her out: She's defied the prognosticators in nearly every race she's run since thrashing an 18-year incumbent in the Minnesota Senate by 20 points in 2000. Says Iowa Congressman Steve King, "No one has electrified Iowa crowds like Michelle has."

Ms. Bachmann is best known for her conservative activism on issues like abortion, but what I want to talk about today is economics. When I ask who she reads on the subject, she responds that she admires the late Milton Friedman as well as Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams. "I'm also an Art Laffer fiend—we're very close," she adds. "And [Ludwig] von Mises. I love von Mises," getting excited and rattling off some of his classics like "Human Action" and "Bureaucracy." "When I go on vacation and I lay on the beach, I bring von Mises."

RTWT at the link.

She needs to fire Ed Rollins before making a formal announcement. I doubt it's a good thing to be going negative on potential opponents before you've even thrown your hat in the ring. And Palin won't take that stuff sitting down. I like both of these women. My preference ordering is Palin first, Bachmann second. After that I'm still undecided. Thus whatever happens, should they both be candidates for the nomination, we could see some ugliness among two of the top tea party favorites. But that's politics.

RELATED: At Legal Insurrection, "Michele Bachmann Needs To Dump Ed Rollins Now."

Sarah Palin's E-Mails

If anyone needs evidence that she remains the unchallenged GOP frontrunner, even though she's unannounced, just see the news: "News Outlets Pounce on Palin E-Mails."

Reliapundit has the winning headline, "PALIN PROVES SHE'S A REPUBLICAN: SENT 24,000 EMAILS, AND NOT ONE CROTCH SHOT."

Also, at Gateway Pundit, "LA Times Won’t Release Obama-Khalidi Tape But Posts 24,000 Sarah Palin Emails" (via Memeorandum). And it is pretty amazing. The Times has the archive posted, and here's the big story there this morning: "Sarah Palin's emails underscore polarizing effect."

Right. Had to be "polarizing."

See also Powerline, "ANOTHER EMBARRASSMENT FOR THE LEGACY MEDIA." And Legal Insurrection, "Behold The Mainstream Media Eating Its Own Anti-Palin Bile - A Running List of Headlines."

Howard Dean, Former Presidential Candidate and DNC Chair, Says Sarah Palin Could Win

And economic conditions are going to be key, as I noted this morning.

At The Hill, "Howard Dean Warns Dems Sarah Palin Could Beat Obama in 2012" (at Memeorandum):

“I think she could win,” Dean told The Hill in an interview Friday. “She wouldn’t be my first choice if I were a Republican but I think she could win.”

Dean warns the sluggish economy could have more of a political impact than many Washington strategists and pundits assume.

“Any time you have a contest — particularly when unemployment is as high as it is — nobody gets a walkover,” Dean said. “Whoever the Republicans nominate, including people like Sarah Palin, whom the inside-the-Beltway crowd dismisses — my view is if you get the nomination of a major party, you can win the presidency, I don’t care what people write about you inside the Beltway,” Dean said.

VIDEO HAT TIP: Nice Deb.

Krauthammer on Palin

Rush Limbaugh's not pleased.

Mitt Romney Officially Launches 2012 Campaign

From PBS:

And at NYT, "Romney, Opening Race, Presents Himself as the Candidate to Face Obama."

I like Romney. But as I've said, I worry he's not conservative enough to generate enthusiasm, and if he's the nominee he may not differentiate himself enough from Obama, especially on the RomneyCare albatross.

Sarah Palin Meets Donald Trump

See ABC News, "Sarah Palin, Donald Trump Meet In New York City Tuesday Night, Eat Pizza."

Also, "Palin punks the media — again," and "Matt Lewis: Palin’s bus tour causes media bickering on Twitter." Plus, "Palin fakes out reporters at Gettysburg hotel."

RELATED: At Los Angeles Times, "Sarah Palin's bus tour steals spotlight from GOP presidential candidates":

Reporting from Philadelphia

Sarah Palin's bus tour took her to Philadelphia's Liberty Bell and a pizza dinner with Donald Trump in New York on Tuesday, moves that may not have telegraphed serious presidential intentions but at least gave her another day of something immeasurable: attention.

Republican candidates who are intensely wooing early-state voters found themselves eclipsed for another day by the former Alaska governor, who repeated Tuesday that she was pondering whether to run. Unlike them, Palin found herself surrounded by reporters and voters, her bus tour bringing her back to the forefront of GOP politics regardless of her ultimate decision.

"Whether she runs or not, Palin needs to stay relevant in order to leverage her celebrity, influence and earning capacity," said Mark McKinnon, a Republican consultant who helped coach Palin when she was preparing for her vice presidential debate with Joe Biden in 2008. "She just proved that she still can generate crowds anytime she wants. Her machine just got oiled and taken out for a test drive."

McKinnon said that because of Palin's unique status — 100% name recognition and ability to raise money quickly — she could delay her decision longer than any other potential candidate. "And there's no downside to teasing the possibility just as long as possible," he said.

Republicans on the ground in the two earliest voting states agree.

"I do think she's being very smart, sort of helping to keep all her options open," said David Carney, a political consultant who is helping Newt Gingrich in New Hampshire. He has seen no evidence that she is organizing there, but said that if she chose to run, her effect on the race would be "huge."

Thers at Whiskey Fire, Genetic Mutant and Trig Truther, 'There's all sorts of lines here I wouldn't have crossed'

Look, the guy says he's a genetic mutant:

I (and both of my children) have a genetic illness that has the potential to cause a lot of suffering and illness. It causes lung and liver disease that sometimes necessitates lung and/or liver transplants which are very pricey endeavors. Where do we draw the line for acceptable and unacceptable genetic differences? How perfect is perfect enough? And what unintended consequences will arise from our pursuit of a perfection that is after all culturally defined and shifting in some cases? How long will it take us to move from eliminating disease to choosing eye colors, heights and IQs? The elimination of disease in humanity is objectively a wonderful goal. The trouble of course is that people are so much more beautifully complex and composed of so much more good stuff than their diseases.

And that's after arguing that parent's of potential Downs children should have abortions.

Dick.

And about those lines being crossed? Genetic Mutant Thers lies, says "I Don't Care But...," and then slaps down some classic Trig-trutherism:

I honestly don't care one way or another ... But ... if the picture of Palin up at Sullivan's site right now really is from 3 weeks before the kid's birth, it's just not her kid, because no way is she that pregnant in that picture.

And Genetic Mutant Thers on the WeinerGate scandal:

If Weiner is a swine or not -- he may be. But the sheer joy taken in finding and punishing someone not at all in the public eye, and then dropping nukes on them, based upon circumstantial speculation, unweighed against anything resembling the public good except sheer partisan scalp-hunting, is creepy as hell.

I have no trouble myself with partisan scalp-hunting, but there's all sorts of lines here I wouldn't have crossed.

The American right started a war based on lies, and is currently lying about climate change. I find revolting their ideological goals and methods, and their bullshit about their bullshit defenses of their ideological goals and defenses. Other than that, the less I know about Vitter's or Giuliani's dicks, the happier I am.

Right. Lines that shouldn't be crossed.

Like the lines crossed in exploiting a Downs baby to destroy Sarah Palin's family.

Progressives. Suck. Dick.

RELATED: At The Other McCain, "The Curious Case of the Weiner-Following (And Weiner-Followed) Teenage Girl." Plus, from Roy 'Bikini Burlesque' Edroso, "WANK SQUAD."

Sarah Palin Rides Harley-Davidson at Rolling Thunder!

She's crusin' a hog, with some help from the Rolling Thunder bikers. See NYT, "For Palin, a Short Ride With Lots of Rumbling." (Added: A Memeorandum thread.)

Also at Daily Caller, "Palin rides Harley and fuels 2012 suspicion."

VIDEO: Via Gateway Pundit, "ROLLING THUNDER… SARAH PALIN Rides Hog Into DC."

Michele Bachmann May Struggle in Palin's Shadow

From Maeve Reston, at Los Angeles Times:

Reporting from Pleasant Valley, Iowa

In Iowa's conservative circles, Michele Bachmann's name seemed to be on everyone's lips last week.

With a GOP presidential field that has left voters wanting more, the provocative "tea party" favorite arrived Friday seemingly well positioned to snap up supporters of 2008 Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee after he declined to run for 2012. Her visit here to attend several GOP fundraisers and private meetings with activists generated a flurry of speculation that the Minnesota congresswoman would enter the race earlier than expected.

But Bachmann's visit also showed how her ambitions have been complicated by another charismatic firebrand from the right: Sarah Palin.

Over cocktails at the Polk County GOP fundraiser Thursday, much of the party gossip had shifted to deciphering Palin's latest moves — including reports that she has purchased an Arizona home that could serve as a 2012 base, and her bus tour beginning Sunday in the Washington, D.C., area. The attention came at the expense of Bachmann, who had been scheduled to appear but was kept in Washington by House votes.

Even before the latest Palin boomlet, interviews with voters across Iowa suggested that despite their starkly different backgrounds and resumes, Bachmann may labor in Palin's shadow whether the former Alaska governor ends up running or not.

RTWT.

PHOTO: "Michele Bachmann at David Horowitz West Coast Retreat in Palos Verdes, April 2, 2011."

Sarah Palin Releases Video Ahead of Bus Tour

Via New York Times:

Background at Los Angeles Times, "Sarah Palin to launch bus trip through U.S":

Reporting from Washington— In the clearest indication to date that she is seriously considering a presidential run, Sarah Palin plans to launch a nationwide bus tour Sunday from Washington.

"Gov. Palin and the SarahPAC team will begin a trip through our nation's rich historical sites, starting from Washington, D.C., and going up through New England," said a statement posted Thursday on Palin's political action committee website. "The 'One Nation Tour' is part of our new campaign to educate and energize Americans about our nation's founding principles, in order to promote the fundamental restoration of America."

The website RealClearPolitics, which first reported the story, said the tour could last several weeks and would be divided into separate geographical stretches, according to unnamed sources close to the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee.

The first stop will be at the Rolling Thunder Memorial Day weekend motorcycle rally in Washington. A New England tour would seem to suggest a visit to New Hampshire, which hosts the first 2012 presidential primary.

Palin said as recently as last week that she was still considering a run, but refused to offer any clues as to her timetable for making a decision. Her website said the tour was being funded through her PAC.

Also, from Chris Cillizza, "Fast Fix: Is Sarah Palin back? (VIDEO)."

Palin May Run

At New York Times, "Signs Grow That Palin May Run" (via Memeorandum).

Also, at NewsMax, "Palin Fundraiser, Home Purchase Fuels Speculation of 2012 Run." See also, "Townhall Magazine Cover Story: Is She In or Out?"

I'll believe it when I see it.

BWAHAHA!!! Jack Stuef Out at Wonkette!

From Dana Loesch, "Writer Who Started “Trigs Crew” Phenomenon Out at Wonkette."

And from Stuef's farewell post.

A few times I’ve made fun of people who really didn’t deserve it, and when it was pointed out to me, I apologized. This sort of thing happens, even when you make a point of trying to stay true to yourself as much as you can, because you’re human.

Well, bail on progressivism before you start blabbering about being human. Loser.

Background is here: "Wonkette Deletes Trig Palin Post as Advertisers Leave Site."