Tag: Palin

The Illegal Alien Invasion: How Did They Get Here? And, Why Aren’t We Sending Them Back?

On By kingsjesterIn Politics3 Comments

illegal immigration AFBranco 71114Over the past few weeks, as the massive Illegal Alien Invasion has continued to overwhelm our nation’s resources on our Southern Border, I have been verbally sparring on internet political websites with Liberals over this situation. Of course, as their fallen messiah has, they are quick to use the term “refugees” in describing this Mexican Munchkin Migration, and loathe to use the term “illegals” to describe these lawbreakers who are entering our Sovereign Nation.

At one point during the discussion, I always bring up the question, “How are they arriving at our border?” I mean these “precious children” can’t be traveling thousands of miles through jungles and deserts, accompanied only by the Scooby Doo Backpack that they’re carrying on their shoulders.

It was reported, as far back as July 23rd, that,

The drug gangs are using scores of illegal underage immigrants as “bait” for overwhelmed Border Patrol agents to capture while nearby they are smuggling marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine across the border, the website said.

A military crackdown on drug traffickers in Mexico launched by President Felipe Calderon has forced the cartels, including Los Zetas, Sinaloa, and Knights of Templar, to move south and recruit gang members in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, who terrorize residents and create criminal chaos in the three impoverished countries where corruption is rampant.

In 2011, Guatemala’s murder rate was double that of Mexico while Honduras and El Salvador have had the world’s highest and second highest murder rates since the mid-1990s. Thousands of people from these nations decide to take a risk and join the surge of illegals attempting to enter the United States, rather than stay and live in fear and poverty.

The cartels used to work alongside human smugglers, known as coyotes. But in the past decade they have taken over the business, turning it into a sophisticated human-trafficking network while also continuing to smuggle in drugs, with border agents too busy catching crossing cheats to concentrate on nabbing drug mules.

The price of an illegal one-way ticket to the United States costs between $3,000 and $6,000, with hard-up family members in America sometimes transferring payments by wire on a monthly plan.

Migrants from Central America often ride on top of trains and buses from southern Mexico to border towns, an arduous journey where they will also face robbery, rape, and beatings at the hands of vicious drug and human traffickers, according to The Daily Beast.

So, how are they sneaking them through the entire country of Mexico?

The answer is: The Drug Cartels are fulfilling their mission with a little help from “our Latin American Friends”…

Though largely unreported in the U.S. mainstream media, the two nations agreed on July 7, in a presidential-level meeting in Mexico, to make it legal and safe for Central American immigrants, including unaccompanied minors, to cross Mexico’s border with Guatemala and transit Mexico en route to the U.S. border at the Rio Grande.

The agreement apparently does not recognize that the result of such trips – entry into the United States – remains illegal.

But to facilitate the program, the Mexican government announced plans to issue a new “Regional Visitor Card” that will provide documentation for the Central Americans to remain in Mexico as long as it takes to get to the United States.

Under the auspices of a “Southern Border Program,” Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Guatemalan President Otto Pérez, in a meeting in Mexico, agreed to take five concrete steps designed to “protect and safeguard the human rights of migrants who enter and transit Mexico, so as to order international routes of passage [in and through Mexico] to increase and develop the security of the region.”

The five steps in Mexican “Southern Border Program” included the following action steps:

1. Mexico established for the Central American migrants transiting through Mexico a new Mexican-government issued “Regional Visitor Card” that instructs the Mexican National Institute of Migration to recognize the holder as having been granted by the Mexican government the right to a “temporary stay” in Mexico. The purpose of the “Regional Visitor Card” is to grant Central American migrants entering Mexico across the border with Guatemala enough time and legal status to complete their journey to the United States.

2. Mexico plans to open 10 new border crossing checkpoints on the border with Guatemala and two more on the border with Belize to function as “Comprehensive Care Centers for Border Transit,” designed to register the Central American migrants with Mexican immigration authorities and to issue “Regional Cards” as part of a formal government processing allowing migrants from Central America to transit into Mexico on an official basis.

3. Mexico has decided to expand throughout the country the five medical care units originally established in Chiapas to give medical aid and temporary shelter to Central American migrants transiting through Mexico, with special attention given to unaccompanied minors.

4. Mexico has decided to create a new “Office for the Coordination of Comprehensive Social Services for Migrants on the Southern Border” to be attached to the Ministry of the Interior, tasked with coordinating interagency Mexican government efforts to provide humanitarian care and assistance provided by the Mexican government to migrants crossing the border with Guatemala, so as to guarantee respect for the human rights of the migrants.

5. Mexico pledged to continue playing an active role working with international organizations to participate in conferences organized to promote legal immigration, including continued sponsorship of forums including Mexico’s National Conference on Migration.

In the spirit that migration of Central Americans from Guatemala through Mexico will be more secure if it is more formally organized, Nieto announced Mexico’s new “Southern Border Program” was a step in the right direction.

Guatemalan President Otto Pérez noted the border between Guatemala and Mexico “offers an opportunity to show how we can improve the treatment of migrants and the relations between two peoples – Guatemalans and Mexicans – who have traditionally been brothers.”

Nieto also explained that the governments of Mexico and Guatemala have been working in cooperation with authorities in El Salvador and Honduras “to work in the same direction to make Central American migration more organized and safer.”

Nieto further announced that the Mexican Ministry of the Interior, working together with officials from Guatemala, will strengthen law enforcement intelligence gathering regarding Central American migrants to develop a technological platform to share in gathering the real-time biometric information believed essential for a formal registration process to issue the migrants appropriate Mexican government documentation for use in their transit across Mexico.

In other words, “We, don’t want them. You Gringos can have them. Vaya con Dios!”

So, what can be done?

Simple. SECURE THE BORDER NOW!

Perry to Fox’s Sean Hannity: “The single most important thing he could do is to put the National Guard on the border … That would send a powerful message.”

After their meeting Wednesday, Obama said he agreed with Perry on many of the governor’s border concerns. He called the discussion “constructive,” and even Perry said Obama was seemed engaged in the discussion.

Perry, however, later told Hannity that he still was puzzled about Obama’s lack of response to the border crisis, saying he did not know whether the president was “inept” or whether something else is going on with the president’s inaction. He blasted the “failure of this administration to see the border.”

Governor Perry, Obama knows exactly what is happening at the border. In fact, he encouraged it, for his own purposed, as I wrote yesterday.

Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, in her Op Ed, published earlier this week, in which she called for Obama’s Impeachment, nailed it, when she said,

In violation of our Constitution, he regularly ignores court orders, changes laws by executive fiat, and refuses to enforce laws he doesn’t like, including our immigration laws.

When Congress declined to pass amnesty for illegal immigrants’ offspring, he unilaterally enacted his own version of it, which created the current crisis on our border as illegal youth pour into our country to receive what he illegally promised them.

So, what is the solution to this “Humanitarian Issue”, as Obama and all of his hand-wringing hypocritical Liberal sycophants are calling this invasion?

Believe or not, a legendary Democrat Leader had the best solution I have heard so far.

The last bipartisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform happened during President ill “Bubba” Clinton’s tenure. Bubba appointed former congresswoman and Democratic icon Barbara Jordan as its chair. Jordan came from humble beginnings to become a lawyer and the first Southern black woman elected to the House of Representatives. A DEMOCRAT, she was a leader in the civil rights movement, a professor of ethics, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a world-class orator (two of her speeches are considered among the greatest of the 20th century). Her appointment gave the commission instant credibility. According to Jordan, she believed her responsibility as the head of the commission was to restore credibility to the U.S. immigration system. On the issue of illegal immigration, Jordan was very clear and succinct:

Unlawful immigration is unacceptable. Those who should not be here will be required to leave.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Palin Warns GOP Establishment: “Keep Gloating…No Voting”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics1 Comment

palin-newsweekOnce the ballots were counted after Tuesday’s State Primaries around the country, it was discovered that “Republican Establishment” Candidates had scored some victories over local “TEA Party” Candidates. Immediately, the Vichy Republicans and their “Cheerleaders” began to gloat about their victories.

As Tony Lee of Breitbart.com reported…

The Republican establishment gloated after three underfunded Tea Party challengers failed to knock off incumbent Republicans in primaries on Tuesday while another establishment-backed candidate secured the GOP nomination for Senate in North Carolina.

“Next up is that fraud @MattBevin! #GOP,” tweeted Jahan Wilcox, a former aide to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who is now the RNC’s director of rapid response. (He later deleted it and said his thoughts were his “personal opinions.”)

Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) defeated her primary challenger Frank Roche despite a series of high-profile outbursts in support of amnesty. Ellmers was heavily backed by Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg’s FWD.us group.

“Folks should be talking more about Ellmers,” tweeted Becky Tallent, a senior aide to Speaker John Boehner who formerly served as one of Sen. John McCain’s top amnesty lieutenants.

Boehner (R-OH) unsurprisingly coasted to victory against challenger J.D Winteregg. In response, Ana Navarro, the Jeb Bush ally, promptly tweeted,”Congratulations to @johnboehner on decisive primary win. Rumors of his demise were greatly exagerated….who’s crying now?”

Ohio freshman Rep. David Joyce defeated Matt Lynch, who was endorsed by FreedomWorks and Ron Paul, which prompted Brian Walsh, the former NRSC director of communications who still advises the group, to tweet, “BOOM.”
In the night’s main event, Tillis avoided what would have been a costly runoff to win the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate by securing more than 40% of the vote. He will take on vulnerable incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC) in the fall. Tillis defeated Greg Brannon — who was backed by FreedomWorks, Rand Paul, the Senate Conservatives Fund, and nearly every local Tea Party group — and Mark Harris — who received the support of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Meanwhile, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, the Chamber of Commerce, and American Crossroads backed Tillis for the win.
NRSC Chairman Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) congratulated Tillis and said he is “a strong contrast with Kay Hagan who, beyond ObamaCare and being a rubber stamp for Barack Obama, has little to show for her time in Washington.”

“Kay Hagan promised to be an independent voice for North Carolina, but instead has voted with President Obama an astounding 96 percent of the time,” Moran said. “It’s far from the only promise that Kay Hagan broke to voters in North Carolina. By November, this race will be a clear contrast between an effective candidate versus an ineffective Senator.”

Rand Paul immediately congratulated Tillis on his Facebook page and said he looks “forward to working with him in the Senate.”

“I congratulate my friend Greg Brannon on a well fought race and encourage all the candidates to unite for victory in November,” Paul said, in a statement with a notably conciliatory tone.

TEA Party Favorite, the strong Reagan Conservative, whom I call the “Arctic Fox”, Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, wrote the following on her Facebook Page…

C’mon now, guys. This gloating among establishment Republicans calls for the same reprimand we parents offer 12-year-olds who scuffle on the playground. I often remind my young daughter, especially, after her ball games, of the importance of being considerate and gracious in both victory and defeat.

Congratulations to candidates in yesterday’s small pool of state primary elections who will now move on to their respective general elections. Now, knock off the gloating. The GOP establishment must ratchet any kind of arrogance way down and get in touch with independent, constitutional conservatives who build the base of the party. They do the thankless work to put boots on the ground for your campaigns, and they show up to vote if you give us good reason to vote. Anything less and we will not secure victory for America this fall.

Surely, politicians and high paid D.C. consultants, you realize we all need to work together after these valuable competitive primaries that offer good debate and clear awareness of candidates’ positions, right? It’s extremely off-putting to witness post-primary smugness. Well-funded campaigns that rub a victory in the face of primary challengers’ supporters sure don’t endear the winning campaign to voters who are beyond tired of the selfish political games that have gotten the country into the mess we’re in. Your gloating causes apathy, if not downright disgust, among concerned citizens who want to remind you: “It’s not about you.”

You’re perpetuating an “us versus them” mentality with this gloating. That does our cause of defending our republic and all our freedoms and opportunities no good. Are we not on the same side, standing firm on all platform planks that empower the people instead of growing government? The people you’re mocking comprise the base of your own party, remember? To paraphrase the great Ronald Reagan: Rein it in and humbly learn how much we can accomplish together for America when we don’t care who gets the credit.

Bottom line: Politicos, more friends are needed leading up to the general election. Poking potential friends in the eye doesn’t earn the allies needed to win.

Piper and her schoolgirl friends would tell you as much.

Beltway politicians and Pundits live in a bubble.  They have disassociated themselves from the common people.  The two times the Beltway Elite Republicans actually seem to pay attention to the wishes of Americans in the Heartland is when we melt the Congressional Phone Lines down and threaten their well-paying jobs…and, come Election Time. 

That’s why the rise of the Tea Party movement and America’s return to Conservatism, which resulted in the political massacre known as the Midterm Elections, was such a surprise to them.  In their self-imposed isolation, they actually thought that the America people wanted them to continue their deal-making, soul-selling, business-as-usual politics.

Now, Republicans are scrambling, trying to figure out how to appease an angry electorate and keep their cushy jobs, in the face of their mishandling of the catastrophe known as Obamacare and their support in the push for Amnesty for Illegal Aliens.  

The US Chamber of Commerce is one of the key players in the Vichy Republicans’ push for Amnesty.

Hence, the Crony Capitalist-funded victorious state campaigns of the before-mentioned Republican Acolytes.

Hey…somebody’s got to “pick de cotton”.

Pundits are trying to give the GOP Establishment all the cover they can, while offering criticism in columns specifically written as to not cost the pundit their place on the Broadcast television networks’ Sunday morning shows or to cause them to be left off the invitation list for all the cool Beltway cocktail parties, and noew, specifically designed to discourage and disassemble the TEA Party Movement.

In summation, as Former Governor Palin pointed out, there is still an us and them mentality in the Beltway, among the resurgent Republican Party. 

Even with these Primary Victories, if the Republicans don’t legislate as Conservatives, and ignore the message sent to them by American voters on November 2nd, 2010, it won’t matter if the Pundits praise them or criticize them, they will be out of a job.

After all, there is much more to America than just the Beltway.  And there are a lot more American voters than there are ” Severely Conservative” Politicians and Pundits.

Until He Comes,

KJ

Putin Invades Ukraine. Obama Wags Finger. Palin Says, “I Told You So!”

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

palin-newsweekAs I was traveling home from work yesterday, I tuned the car radio to Sirius XM 114 to catch “The Five” on the Fox News Channel. Instead, I heard Bret Baier telling me that President Pantywaist…err…Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm) was about to address the nation on the subject of Russia Invasion of the Ukraine.

And, sho’ nuff’, our Petulant President came on, and preceded to warn Russian Leader Vladimir Putin not to do what he had already done.

In other words, Obama told him,

Stop! Or, I’ll say “Stop!” again!

Political Pundit Dr. Charles Krauthammer explains, per national review.com…

As reports are coming in that Russia has placed 2,000 troops in Crimea, within the borders of Ukraine, President Obama said that “the United States will stand with the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military intervention in Ukraine.”

Charles Krauthammer responded on Special Report tonight saying, “The Ukrainians, and I think everybody, is shocked by the weakness of Obama’s statement. I find it rather staggering.”

Krauthammer thinks Obama’s statement is about “three levels removed” from actual action. He explained: Obama said “we will stand with the international community — meaning we are going to negotiate with a dozen other countries who will water down the statement — in affirming that there will be costs — meaning in making a statement not even imposing a cost, but in making a statement about imposing a cost — for any military intervention.”

“What he’s saying is we’re not really going to do anything and we’re telling the world,” Krauthammer said.

Over in the UK, The Guardian summarizes Putin’s reaction to Obama’s “stern warning”…

Fears of conflict in Crimea have intensified after Ukraine accused Russia of taking over two airports there, the day after gunmen seized the local parliament buildings. Here is a summary of the latest developments:

• Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Russian forces have taken over two airports in Crimea, accusing them of “an armed invasion and occupation in violation of all international agreements and norms”.

• About 50 armed men in military uniform, without signs of identification, took over Simferopol airport in the early hours of Friday. Interfax Ukraine reported that a group of people with Russian navy ensigns also gathered at the airport’s building.

• Armed men, described by Avakov as Russian naval forces, have also taken over a military airport near the port of Sevastopol where the Russian Black Sea fleet has a base.

• The airport seizures come the day after pro-Russian gunmen took over the Crimean parliament.

• Russia has continued military drills in the west of the country and said more than 80 helicopters More than were being re-deployed to emergency airfields. A Russian defence ministry spokesman told Interfax the move was “part of a continuing inspection of the combat readiness of forces deployed in the western and central military districts.

• Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his government to continue talks with Ukraine on economic and trade relations and to consult foreign partners including the IMF and the G8 on financial aid, a statement on the Kremlin’s website said.

Allow me to translate President Putin’s actions for you, boys and girls…

Oh, yeah? Come over and MAKE ME!

And, with that, Obama will pull his pants up to his chest, a la Steve Urkel, and stomp away.

In an article posted on April 10, 2009, columnist Gerald Warner of telegraph.co.uk coined the title President Pantywaist for Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).  He gave him this nickname after Obama:

…recently completed the most successful foreign policy tour since Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. You name it, he blew it. What was his big deal economic programme that he was determined to drive through the G20 summit? Another massive stimulus package, globally funded and co-ordinated. Did he achieve it? Not so as you’d notice. 

Given the way America’s enemies, such as Vladimir Putin, are laughing at America and spitting in our face, the way that Obama has arrogantly alienated our foreign allies, and the President’s Steve Urkel-esque naiveté as exhibited by his Smart Power Foreign Policy, I would say Mr. Warner hit the nail on the head.

Back in 2008, a certain Republican Vice-Presidential Candidate warned that, given Senator Obama’s indecision and moral equivalence, Putin might decide to go ahead and invade Ukraine, as he did Georgia.

After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama’s reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia’s Putin to invade Ukraine next.

According to Tony Lee at Breitbart.com,

For those comments, she was mocked by the high-brow Foreign Policy magazine and its editor Blake Hounshell, who now is one of the editors of Politico magazine.

In light of recent events in Ukraine and concerns that Russia is getting its troops ready to cross the border into the neighboring nation, nobody seems to be laughing at or dismissing those comments now.

Hounshell wrote then that Palin’s comments were “strange” and “this is an extremely far-fetched scenario.”

“And given how Russia has been able to unsettle Ukraine’s pro-Western government without firing a shot, I don’t see why violence would be necessary to bring Kiev to heel,” Hounshell dismissively wrote.

Palin made her remarks on the stump after Obama’s running mate Joe Biden warned Obama supporters to “gird your loins” if Obama is elected because international leaders may test or try to take advantage of him.

Y’know, given the Liberals’ penchant from labeling Sarah Palin as a “chillbilly”, I would wpould say the not-so-“smartest people in the room” owe the Arctic Fox a huge apology.

But, I’m not holding my breath, waiting on it.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Shutdown: The Million Vet March

On By kingsjesterIn Politics4 Comments

veterans marchYesterday was a very special day in this country. Our Brightest and Best, along with other Patriotic Americans, including Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, and Senators Ted Cruz and Mike Lee, gathered for a celebration of American Freedom, and a protest against tyranny.

Per foxnews.com…

Veterans marched on Sunday in Washington in protest of the partial government shutdown that has kept them and other Americans from visiting war memorials across the country, with support from several star conservatives.

“This is the people’s memorial,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told a crowd of several hundred gathered near the WWII Memorial on the closed National Mall, which has become a national symbol of the shutdown and the country’s response. “Simple question: Why is the federal government spending money to keep veterans out of the memorial? Why did they spend money to keep people out of Mount Vernon, Mount Rushmore? Our veterans should be above political games.”

Veterans, including many in wheelchairs, took down police barricades and entered the memorial at about midday as others took the protest to the edge of the White House South Lawn.

“Today somebody’s wife [or] husband is dead in Afghanistan. Is somebody going to pay her husband [or] his wife or their children?” one protester shouted at the White House, referring to the partial shutdown cutting off benefits for the survivors of military personnel.

Some of the metal barricades were carried the roughly half-mile walk from the memorial to the White House, where they were left near the fence in front of Pennsylvania Avenue.

A man was arrested at the event in connection with bringing at least one gun in a bag.

A witness named Jacob Reed told Fox News the man was standing in line to talk to Washington Republican Rep. David G. Reichert.

Reed said a police officer asked the man what he was doing, then asked him to take his bag off his back. The man complied and said the bag contained a bunch of firearms, at which point he was handcuffed and taken into custody.

Cruz was joined by 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, on a gray, rainy day in the nation’s capital.

“Veterans have proven they are not timid. And we will not be timid in calling out anybody that uses the military as pawns,” Palin told the crowd assembled at the Million Vet March on Memorials. “We can only be America, home of the free, if we are America, home of the brave.”

Protesters shouting “U.S.A.” and “Tear down these walls” put the blame squarely on President Obama and Democratic congressional leaders.

“In a mean-spirited fit of selfish anger, Barack Obama has shut down our nation’s war memorials,” march organizers said in a press release. “And he has declared open war on our honored veterans. The World War II memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, Obama has shut them all down to force his will on the House of Representatives and, frankly, to get revenge on the American people who oppose ObamaCare and his other naked power grabs.”

As America’s Veterans were exercising their Constitutional Rights, where was the Commander-in-Chief? Was he negotiating with Republicans to end the Government Shutdown? Did he go outside to address the tumultuous crowd outside his front door?

Oh, heck no.

According to reuters.com…

Just before noon, the White House gave the pool of reporters and photographers who travel with the president notice that it would be highly unlikely that Obama would leave the White House or speak publicly for the rest of the day.

Senator Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, was slated to hold talks on Sunday with his Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, about how much to raise the debt ceiling, and how to end the ongoing government shutdown, now in its 13th day.

Obama made a series of high-profile public appearances during the early days of the shutdown, where he sought to blame Republicans for the fiscal impasse.

But Obama has stayed away from television cameras since he began meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday afternoon.

Vice President Joe Biden, who has close relationships with lawmakers who he served with during his long service in the U.S. Senate, also has stayed out of the public eye.

Biden’s schedule for the weekend showed that he and his wife Jill Biden would spend time at Camp David, the presidential retreat in rural Maryland.

“Maybe we need to get Joe Biden out of the witness protection program,” Republican Senator John McCain said on CBS Television’s “Face the Nation” program on Sunday morning, alluding to Biden’s legendary ability to clinch deals with Republicans.

Obama’s favorite President, Abraham Lincoln, had an Open Door Policy at the White House. Obama has just the opposite. Using the Sequester as an excuse, he stopped all public tours of the White House. However, that has not stopped him from entertaining lobbyists and friends, including the Muslim Brotherhood.

The protesters yesterday were met by Park Rangers in riot gear, mounted police, and helicopters, with armed men hanging off of the sides.

It was rumored that one of those helicopters took Obama away from the White House, in flight from the American Citizens he is supposed to be serving.

Obama’s punitive measures which he has unnecessarily taken against American Citizens, under the guise of the Government Shutdown, are the reason for the march, yesterday.

If Obama was in any hurry to undo these actions, he would have entered into negotiations with the Republicans to end the Shutdown.

However, being the petulant man-child that he is, he is not finished with his temper tantrum, yet.

Thanks to a bunch of American Heroes,though, he has some “Barry-cades” outside his front door to build a playpen with.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The Aftermath of Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics4 Comments

May I ask y’all a question?

While millions of Conservatives showed their appreciation for Chick-Fil-A yesterday, where was the presumed Republican Nominee for President?

For that matter, where was the GOP Leadership?

Were they still stunned from Cruz’s victory in Texas the night before?

Or, were they simply maintaining the aloof condension they’ve been practicing since they decided that Mitt was going to be their candidate for the Presidency of the United States?

Cruz’s victory was a blow to them, no doubt…especially considering the indispensable help given by Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin…which had to smart.

Check out what foxnews.com had to say yesterday about Cruz’s victory:

Google “Ted Cruz” and “grassroots” and you get 865,000 hits. That’s because the conventional wisdom posits that Tuesday night’s runoff victory for the former Texas solicitor general against Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, in their battle for the Republican nomination for an open U.S. Senate seat, marked the triumph of grassroots Tea Party activism over an entrenched GOP establishment figure.

To be sure, Dewhurst, aided by the backing of Gov. Rick Perry, outspent Cruz, a newcomer to elective politics, by a ratio of three-to-one. And prior to the May 29 primary, in which Dewhurst easily prevailed but failed to attain a majority of votes cast, virtually nobody gave Cruz even the faintest odds of winning.

But a number of factors at work in the Lone Star State make Cruz’s victory more easily understood, and beg the question of whether the new Republican nominee for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison did not himself enjoy the backing of a wholly separate “establishment.”

For one thing, the gap between the Senate primary and the Cruz-Dewhurst runoff was nine weeks long. Previously, the longest such gap between a primary and runoff election in Texas had been a mere five weeks. Cruz used the 63 days effectively, drumming up money and free media. Second, victories like his are actually the norm in Texas, where, including Tuesday’s results, the second-place finisher in a state primary has gone on to win the ensuing runoff election nine out of fifteen times.

“He was the man versus Dewhurst, who’s part of the machine, the establishment there in Texas and in Washington, D.C.,” said Sarah Palin on Tuesday night’s episode of “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.” “He was the outsider to come in and promise that reform.”

Yet Cruz was no ordinary Tea Party figure, and few people’s idea of a Beltway outsider. He attended Harvard University’s law school and founded a Latino law review there; clerked at the U.S. Supreme Court for Chief Justice William Rehnquist; worked at two federal agencies in Washington, the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, under President George W. Bush; and is married to a woman who works for Goldman Sachs.

More important to his electoral fortunes, Cruz received critical endorsements and millions of dollars’ worth of contributions and other forms of support from the likes of Gov. Palin, who campaigned for him; Tea Party hero and fundraising powerhouse Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.; the D.C.-based Tea Party group FreedomWorks, which is led by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey; the anti-tax, pro-free market group Club for Growth, whose top executive is former Rep. Chris Chocola, R-Pa.; conservative columnist and ABC News commentator George F. Will; and National Review, the venerated magazine founded by the late William F. Buckley, Jr.

Ted Cruz, in short, was an establishment candidate in his own right.

“It is time to think differently about the Tea Party,” said Darrell West, a political scientist at the Brookings Institution. “In the early days, the Tea Party was basically a grassroots movement, didn’t have a lot of prominent people behind them, didn’t have a lot of money. But now they have big money. They can bring outside resources into a state election, and prove to be very decisive. So they are getting institutionalized as a movement: They have major political figures who are behind them; they have money that is behind them. So they have emerged as a different type of ‘establishment’ organization.”

Other races this year in which Tea Party-backed candidates have defeated better-known politicians include the victory of state Sen. Deb Fisher in a three-way primary in Nebraska, and the primary defeat of six-term GOP incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar at the hands of state Treasurer Richard Mourdock in Indiana.

Turnout among GOP voters in Texas dropped slightly from the 2008 primary contest in which incumbent Sen. John Cornyn prevailed over fellow Republican Larry Kilgore. In that race, more than 1.2 million votes were cast, as contrasted with Tuesday night’s results, in which just over 1.1 million votes were tallied.

Still, the popular narrative of the Cruz-Dewhurst race was reinforced by the candidates themselves. “Tonight is a victory for the grassroots,” Cruz told an ecstatic audience at his victory rally Tuesday night. “It is a testament to Republican women, to Tea Party leaders, and to grassroots conservatives. This is how elections are supposed to be decided — by we the people.”

“Thanks for standing up for Texas,” Dewhurst told his supporters in his concession speech. “We got beat up a little bit, but we never gave up, and we can stand tall knowing we never compromised any of our values.”

That’s great, sir. But…what are the Republican Establishment’s values?

Because, if they don’t align with us God and Country-loving, traditional- American-Values-embracing average Americans, your fellow Establishment Republicans are going to join the Democrats on the Unemployment Line after November 6th.

And, Mitt’s going to be awfully lonely, being the only Moderate left in Washington, DC, surrounded by Tea Party Conservatives.

Think about it.

Romney, Palin, and the State of the Republican Party

On By kingsjesterIn Politics6 Comments

Yesterday, I was observing and commenting on a discussion thread on my favorite Conservative website, whose subject was an article in the barely-read magazine Newsweek in which Former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin stated that she had not been invited by the Romney Campaign to speak at the Republican Convention.

Intrigued, I went to the source article. Here are some excerpts:

Romney never seemed quite comfortable with politicking in the Tea Party era. Even in the heat of the primary race, Romney seemed put off by the idea of courting the activists, complaining in February that he wasn’t about to “light my hair on fire to try to get support”—a remark that only underscored doubts about him within the base.

…[Herman] Cain believes that the grassroots will eventually rally around the Republican nominee. “Romney is not Ronald Reagan,” Cain says. “But Romney is not Barack Obama. The Tea Party people, the citizens-movement people, they get that.” (Cain plans to continue his role as emissary between the Romney camp and the Tea Party, and plans a unity rally in Tampa on the eve of the convention.)

…Palin shares much of these same reservations about Romney. “Romney has said before that he doesn’t want to have to light his hair on fire,” Palin said on Fox last week. “Well, there are a lot of his base supporters, independents, who are saying, ‘Well, light our hair on fire, then!’” Palin’s objections to Romney are not so much about the man himself—she speaks of him respectfully, as he does about her—but about who, and what, he represents. Romney was the choice of the party’s elites, whom Palin has regarded with open disdain ever since her rough treatment during the 2008 campaign. They are some of the same people who anonymously disparaged Palin as a clueless bumpkin, and some of them are now helping to run Romney’s campaign. When unnamed Romney aides tell reporters that Romney will likely go with a “safe” choice for vice president because of the 2008 “disaster,” Palin notices.

She noticed, too, that when the Romney camp reined in Fehrnstrom after his “not a tax” goof, the man assigned to take on a more public role as Romney spokesman was Kevin Madden, best known in Palin’s sphere for his appearance on a CNN news panel just days before the 2008 election. The subject was the latest piece of leaked Palin gossip—her $150,000 “shopping spree” (for which Palin later reimbursed the Republican National Committee)—and the damage Palin was perceived to have done to the McCain campaign. “That’s an indication just how unseasoned Sarah Palin is as a national candidate,” Madden opined, before laughing about Palin’s lack of knowledge about issues and declaring that “people who have done this before” know enough to choose running mates “that are nationally vetted.”

Palin says that she doesn’t know Madden and will not comment about him personally. However, she adds: “I assume he didn’t do his homework and his disparaging remarks were due to him actually believing the BS reporting on my record and reputation that began the day I was tapped to run for VP. I’ll assume and hope he’s evolved since then, perhaps understanding now the leftist media’s agenda against candidates they oppose.”

The Romney camp will not comment on Palin, or on plans for the convention, but one adviser associated with the campaign suggested that Palin would be prohibited from speaking at the Republican convention by her contract with Fox News. “It’s true I’m prohibited from doing some things,” Palin says, “but this is the first I’ve heard anyone suggest that as an excuse, er, reason to stay away from engaging in the presidential race. I’m quite confident Fox’s top brass would never strip anyone of their First Amendment rights in this regard.” (Fox says her contract would not prohibit speaking at the convention if she sought permission.)

Palin is keeping the dates open in late August, just in case. In any event, she says, she plans to be politically active between now and November, starting with a Michigan Tea Party appearance, sponsored by Americans for Prosperity. “No matter the Romney campaign strategy,” she says, “I intend to do all I can to join others in motivating the grassroots made up of independents and constitutional conservatives who can replace Barack Obama at the ballot box.”

Palin’s admirers—and they are many, judging by Facebook and Twitter metrics, where her numbers are far greater than Romney’s—still hope for a rapprochement. “Palin is the female Ronald Reagan of our time,” says Kremer of the Tea Party Express. “There’s no one that excites the base, and energizes the base, the way that Sarah Palin does. There’s just not.”

As I write this post, that thread on the before-mentioned Conservative website sits at 1,807 comments and growing. The next closest thread on the site is at 592 comments.

How come?

Well, as I sit here at my computer in the Northwest Corner of the Magnolia State, I’ve had some rather pointed questions running through my mind:

If you want to become President of these United States, as Mitt Romney says that he does, why would you intentionally marginalize 40% of the country’s population in Conservatives, especially when you are in a virtual tie in head-to-head polls with the worst president in America’s collective memory?

Governor Romney, are you scared that Gov. Palin will upstage you at the Convention? Are you scared that Conservatives are actually going to expect you to stand for something? Have you ever lived anywhere in your adult life besides the Northeast Corridor?

Governor, you can continue to ignore Conservatives if you wish.  Just don’t compare yourself to Ronald Reagan.  Ronaldus Magnus united the party.

I, along with most Conservatives who love this country, plan on holding our noses and voting for you on November 6th, in spite of it all., so we can rid our nation of the Manchurian President.

So, would you please start attacking Obama as viciously as you attacked your fellow Republicans in the Primary?

Thanks.