In the background of the very public "Republicans Hint Sarah Palin Shouldn't Run" show, something interesting is happening.
Grover "Drown the goverment in a bathtub" Norquist co-wrote an opinion piece which appeared in Politico, yesterday. He argued that Sarah Palin has a right to run. Imagine that!
Reading that, I was reminded of Sarah Palin's view of her right to speak. In a nutshell: she shouldn't be criticised, because to do so infringes her First Amendment rights. Sarah Palin may feel inhibited about putting her foot in her mouth speaking again after she's been criticised, but that's her problem. No one is infringing her rights; the proof is that she's free to repeat whatever she said. Sarah Palin's view of the First Amendment is common among commonsense conservatives. Perhaps, if they didn't trip all over themselves trying to sell bad policy, they'd feel better about speaking in public and wouldn't be vulnerable to being embarrassed by what they say. But I am digressing.
Norquist didn't endorse Palin.
Today, another article appeared in Politico. That article quotes Karl Rove: “Governor Palin ought to be confident.” “She’s got a right to run. All she’s gotta do is pay the filing fee and form a committee.” “It’s just unseemly for them [Palin and Huckabee] to say ‘They’re trying to keep me out.’ ”
Of course, Sarah Palin has a right to run. Why was it necessary for Norquist and Rove to say so?
Aren't Norquist and Rove, Rove more bluntly than Norquist, trying to tell Sarah Palin to stop whining?
As Sarah's fond of saying, "Buck up, or stay in the truck," which might be better said, "Buck up, or get out of the truck." Imagine hearing that along a lonely Alaskan highway in sub-zero weather. Seriously running for President is a journey, not an arrival.
Has Sarah Palin quit narrating the audio book of America by Heart? Chris Michael, comedian and artist, says so.
The Washington Post's Lisa de Moraes writes The TV Column. This morning she wrote about the controversy over Bristol Palin's longevity on Dancing With the Stars, and she has a lot of comments from the show's executive producer, Conrad Green.
The NY Daily News has talked with a dietician about Bristol's weight gain on DWTS. Update: Gryphen has weighed in on this story with his experience as a personal trainer.
Life & Style Weekly quotes named sources on Willow Palin's 1:00 AM drug buy and underage drinking. Gryphen added his insight into the Palin family's problems here. Perez Hilton has posted a story, too.
I thought The Proposal, a 2009 movie with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, might afford people looking for Alaskan scenery an alternative to Sarah Palin's Alaska. Although most of the movie is set in and around Sitka, it was actually filmed in the Cape Ann area of Massachusetts, mostly in Rockport. There is some beautiful scenery in the movie, however. It is a romantic comedy and held my attention; it wasn't boring. The contrast between the New York office and the outdoors, wherever it was, was especially interesting.
Update: I must have lucked-out or become wise before I'm old. I waited until 7:45 PST -- oops! 6:45 PST; I've retreated to an undisclosed location for the holidays and should reset my watch -- before tuning in to DWTS. Bristol started in a cage, and it was Mark Ballas who ended up in the cage! Freestyle. They received scores of 8, 9 and 8 for a total of 25; 52 out of 60 for the night. Apparently, they're going to dance again, tomorrow night? I don't regularly watch DWTS, so I am unfamiliar with the rules.
I must say that Bristol's size can depend on lighting and camera angle. Before she danced she expressed her feelings about the "haters"; obviously, Mama has schooled her on the sympathy vote. The camera panned to Sarah Palin -- in the audience, again. Jennifer and Derek are up next. Derek is very good; Jennifer not so good in comparison with Derek. The judges are more enthusiastic about their dance -- scores after the break -- it's 10, 10 and 10!
Yes, more dancing tomorrow. The leaderboard: Jennifer/Derek, 60/60; Kyle/Lacy (?), 56/60; Bristol/Mark, 52/60. Can "the people" save Bristol? Whatever the outcome, there is sure to be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Apparently they danced twice tonight, and in my "wisdom" I missed the first dance.
OMG! Skating With the Stars is on next! When will we see Sleeping With the Stars?
Update November 23: The Hollywood Gossip has a summary of what happened last night.
Here is last night's first dance:
Carrie Ann Inabe had a little criticism of the way Bristol pointed her toes, but then said she was more "vibrant." You have to watch the video and see her say that to understand what she means. The judges were all enthusiastic about the dance. Bristol and Mark got three nines.
I am not sure why the video embeds at 240p. After it starts, it can be changed to 480p for a clearer video (there is a widget to the left of the YouTube logo, on the control panel).
People magazine has a story with backstage comments from Carrie Ann Inabe and some of the other participants, here.
PopEater's Rob Shuter writes that Sarah Palin is lobbying the show's producers to have failed senate candidate Christine O'Donnell appear as a contestant on DWTS! "Christine is not a bad idea at all," one ABC executive tells me. "After Kate Gosselin and Cloris Leachman, O'Donnell would fit right in. She certainly would be so controversial that the amount of press attention and buzz the show would get would be huge. Plus, you know they would make her dance in a witch's hat with a broomstick." That's the way it is. Isn't life wonderful?
The Daily Telegraph has interviewed Karl Rove about Sarah Palin's presidential prospects.
About Palin's upcoming reality show:
“With all due candour, appearing on your own reality show on the Discovery Channel, I am not certain how that fits in the American calculus of 'that helps me see you in the Oval Office’,” Mr Rove told The Daily Telegraph in an interview.
He added that the promotional clip for Sarah Palin’s Alaska could be especially detrimental to any political campaign. It features the mother of five in the great outdoors saying: “I would rather be doing this than in some stuffy old political office.”
On whether Republicans would be wise to make Palin their nominee:
“You can make a plausible case for any of them on paper, but it is not going to be paper in 2011. It’s going to be blood, it’s going to be sweat and tears and it’s going to be hard effort.”
On one of the unwritten qualifications for the office:
“There are high standards that the American people have for it [the presidency] and they require a certain level of gravitas, and they want to look at the candidate and say 'that candidate is doing things that gives me confidence that they are up to the most demanding job in the world’.” ...
... Mr Rove suggested that “outside of the true believers”, most Republican primary voters were still watching the race and would choose the candidate most suitable for the role. “They are going to be saying 'the person who can win is the person who proves to me that they are up to the job’,” he said.
There is an article about The Telegraph's article at The NY Daily News. This post's photo came from the Daily News' article, which also has news of Palin's appearance, tonight, on -- Where else? -- "Entertainment Tonight." Spoiler: Palin is going to run "if there's nobody else to do it."
Rove referred to a promotional clip for Palin's reality show. That clip can be seen, here, at The Hollywood Gossip.
For some time it has been clear that Rove does not consider Palin to be presidential timber. After Christine O'Donnell won her primary in Delaware, Rove challenged Palin to go to Delaware and campaign for her: "Look, if Sarah Palin wants to demonstrate her power and influence, she ought to -- where we started was Delaware -- she ought to go to Delaware and campaign for her favorite Christine O'Donnell."
Republican strategist Karl Rove is calling for Sarah Palin to prove her political prowess by showing up in person in Delaware to support Tea Party favorite Christine O'Donnell.
Rove told Fox News' Chris Wallace Sunday that if Palin wants to run for president in 2012 then she needs to show her political skill now. He also said O'Donnell made a "smart decision" by canceling her appearances on Sunday talk shows, following the revelation, via talk show host Bill Maher, that she had "dabbled in witchcraft" in her youth.
"I frankly think she made a smart decision by not getting on the Sunday shows this week," Rove said. "She shouldn't have accepted in the first place. But she needs to talk to the people of Delaware."
Of Palin's potential presidential ambitions for 2012, Rove said, "I don't know if she is the front-runner. ... There are several geological ages to come and go before that race shapes up.
"Look, if Sarah Palin wants to demonstrate her power and influence, she ought to -- where we started was Delaware -- she ought to go to Delaware and campaign for her favorite Christine O'Donnell," he continued. ...
The conservative Power Line blog had this to say after learning that Christine O'Donnell had dabbled in witchcraft:
... Lest there be any doubt, if I were a resident of Delaware, I would vote for O'Donnell. That is because she is far preferable to her "bearded Marxist" opponent. But O'Donnell is, nevertheless, a lousy candidate. I'm sorry, but politics is not about snatching random people out of the crowd and making them one of 100 United States Senators. Those who seek high office need to be qualified as leaders. They must be thoughtful and intelligent; they must have accomplishments in the public, or, better yet, the private sphere.
Christine O'Donnell has none of the above qualities. If the best we can say about her is that her "dabbling in witchcraft" is excusable, I rest my case. She will be a laughingstock for the next six weeks, I fear, and then will be clobbered in the general election. Whether this is better or worse than having Mike Castle as a Senator is a legitimately debatable point. But I don't see how any conservative can deny that it would be better if the Republican Party had nominated a stronger and more qualified conservative to represent Delaware in the Senate.
And Gawker knows how Sarah Palin started the Rove/Palin feud:
Palin wants Rove and other establishment Republicans to show party "unity" now that the primaries are over, and a Republican candidate's been picked. But shouldn't Sarah Palin give the establishment at least a day or so to be really pissed off about the Senate seat Sarah Palin just helped Republicans throw away?...
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