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Gov. Sarah Palin's Keynote at CPAC 2014


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I don't think I could bear to watch that.

A couple of interesting sound-bites from CPAC:

Rick Santorum:

“All we’re talking about is cutting taxes for high-income people – it doesn’t exactly connect emotionally,” said the former Pennsylvania Senator, offering his campaign plan to cut taxes on manufacturing companies as a policy with more blue-collar appeal.

“We are the party who has the policies that will work best for these folks,” Paul told the crowd. But he said that Republicans were “out there talking as if everybody who’s a voter is like us: sort of high-energy, “Type A” folks who want to reach for the brass ring… We also need folks who are going to work 9 to 5, and coach little league.”

Santorum emphasized that Republicans should not talk about the “middle class,” because that was “class-envy leftist language that divides America against themselves. Classes in America? Do we really accept the fact there are classes in America?”

He illustrated his frustration with Republican focus on the rich, and his aversion to class struggle, in an anecdote recalling the 2012 RNC’s outsized focus on Obama’s alleged “you didn’t build that” slight. “We trotted out small business person, after small business person…after larger business person,” said Santorum. But “we didn’t send one server at a restaurant to go out there on that stage, and talk about how grateful she was that her employer sacrificed a lot to create a job for her. And then, we didn’t have that employer walk out on that same stage, put his arm around that server, and say, ‘I thank god for the work that you’re doing.’”

Rick Perry:

“There aren’t many things that the president of the United States and his attorney general and I agree about – know what I mean?” he said. “But President Obama and Attorney General Holder both pointed to Texas and what we’re doing with our drug courts and our recidivism rates … and the crime rate in Texas is as low as it’s been since 1967.”

Perry said that since the state has delegated much of its small drug-possession cases to “drug courts”, which give judges more latitude on sentencing and provide alternatives to incarceration, the state is cutting back its prison population.

“We shut down a prison last year,” he said. “You want to talk about real conservative governments? Shut prisons down. That’s what can happen with these drug courts.”

“We’re not a soft-on-crime state,” he said. “But I hope we get the reputation of being a smart-on-crime state.”

-k

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he said that Republicans were “out there talking as if everybody who’s a voter is like us: sort of high-energy, “Type A” folks who want to reach for the brass ring… We also need folks who are going to work 9 to 5, and coach little league.”

Good to know Santorum is comfortable coming straight out and saying Republicans aren't the kind of people that work 9-5 and coach little league. They're the silver spooners trying to give themselves an even bigger free ride than they already have.

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Good to know Santorum is comfortable coming straight out and saying Republicans aren't the kind of people that work 9-5 and coach little league. They're the silver spooners trying to give themselves an even bigger free ride than they already have.

No that's not what he was saying. Good projection though.

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Meh. What's struck me about this conference is more of what I've been saying before; most American 'conservatives' don't even know what the term means. Most 'conservative' politicians in the U.S. strike me as snake oil salesmen who have loaded up on a few hot button social issues for political purposes and seem to think that opposing taxes FOR ANYTHING gives them some sort of street credo as a conservative. It doesn't. Hating abortion and gays and loving guns doesn't make you a conservative. The last Republican administration was in no way conservative, and neither are these people. The thought of greasy little climbers like Cruz and Ryan being taken seriously as possible presidential candidates just shows how low the Republicans have fallen.

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The thought of greasy little climbers like Cruz and Ryan being taken seriously as possible presidential candidates just shows how low the Republicans have fallen.

Fallen doesn't quite capture it. They created their own media sphere, which competed with the thing itself and spawned this new pure laine version of itself that is different from the original thing. That's what it looks like to me, but I don't know as it's not my country.

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Her speech was AMAZING! It underscores her natural political talent. Now I realize people don't like her, I get that, or her politics. But that doesn't discount her ability. One just has to look at her convention speech.

I loved her Dr. Seuss re-write especially. "I do not like this Uncle Sam, I do not like his health care scam".

Also, at the beginning of her speech, acknowledging all of the young people in the audience, also known as "Obamacare suckas"! Brilliant. Because in order for the program to work at all, they need young people to foot the bill.

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Meh. What's struck me about this conference is more of what I've been saying before; most American 'conservatives' don't even know what the term means. Most 'conservative' politicians in the U.S. strike me as snake oil salesmen who have loaded up on a few hot button social issues for political purposes and seem to think that opposing taxes FOR ANYTHING gives them some sort of street credo as a conservative. It doesn't. Hating abortion and gays and loving guns doesn't make you a conservative. The last Republican administration was in no way conservative, and neither are these people. The thought of greasy little climbers like Cruz and Ryan being taken seriously as possible presidential candidates just shows how low the Republicans have fallen.

Unfortunately you're mistaken. The conference is a gathering of all kinds of differing opinions.

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Fallen doesn't quite capture it. They created their own media sphere, which competed with the thing itself and spawned this new pure laine version of itself that is different from the original thing. That's what it looks like to me, but I don't know as it's not my country.

Again, another misinformed view of CPAC. Which is decades old. It offers many differing opinions of many different topics. Immigration, foreign policy, domestic policy, etc. With a strong vein of libertarianism as well.

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Unfortunately you're mistaken. The conference is a gathering of all kinds of differing opinions.

Really? Lot of people calling for tax increases and gun control, are there? Lots of support for abortion rights and gay marriage?

Edited by Argus
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Really? Lot of people calling for tax increases and gun control, are there? Lots of support for abortion rights and gay marriage?

Those are broad issues that can mean many different things. Gun control can mean man different things. Abortion rights? What does that even mean? There is no right to an abortion. You don't understand what a right is.
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Again, another misinformed view of CPAC. Which is decades old. It offers many differing opinions of many different topics. Immigration, foreign policy, domestic policy, etc. With a strong vein of libertarianism as well.

I'm not talking about CPAC. Argus made a related comment that "the Republicans have fallen" and I don't think that it really captures it.

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Tax increases? This is a conservative conference. If you wanna hear about the government taking more of people's income, abortion on demand, and the repeal of the second amendment, attend a democrat conference, which would better suit your left leaning politics.

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I'm not talking about CPAC. Argus made a related comment that "the Republicans have fallen" and I don't think that it really captures it.

Argus comment was in relation to CPAC. CPAC isn't a republican conference. It's a conservative conference. The Republican Party itself has nothing to do with it. Perhaps you and especially him are misinformed.

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Good to know Santorum is comfortable coming straight out and saying Republicans aren't the kind of people that work 9-5 and coach little league. They're the silver spooners trying to give themselves an even bigger free ride than they already have.

It was actually a really good speech that (IMO) hit the nail right on the head. There is of course a lot of talk about "reclaiming marriage" and about his own 2012 campaign for the 2012 nomination. But if you leave those things aside and look at the parts where he talks about how Republicans have lost sight of the regular guy, I think he makes important points. I wish I had a text transcript so I could cut and paste.

"When I was out there campaigning, I was out there talking about the 70% of Americans who will not get a college degrees. 70% of Americans do not have college degrees, and that number is not changing. What are we going to do to talk to them? Our answer has alwas been 'well we'll cut taxes for high income people.' Now, I believe in that policy, but if you're sitting there unemployed, underemployed, looking for a job, looking for a way to move up in your job, and all we're talking about is cutting taxes for high income people, that doesn't exactly connect emotionally, doesn't exactly resonate with the people we're talking about. So what I did is I talked about cutting taxes, but for manufacturing, so that we could create good jobs for people who don't go to college..."

"[voters] couldn't vote for Barack Obama, because they knew that his policies were hurting them... but they couldn't vote for us either, because they didn't think we cared about them. So they stayed home. And now we're here, because we didn't connect with them."

"Times are uncertain in America, even today. You see the unemployment numbers, not getting any better... you hear predictions that the economy is going to start to falter again. People are anxious, nervous, and yes, fearful. People ask why we didn't win an election when so many people were doing poorly and the economy was so bad. Fear. Look at where Barack Obama got the votes. He got the votes of the people who are the most economically vulnerable. Fear. And we're out there saying we're gonna cut that and cut that and cut this... when you're sitting there holding on by your fingernails? And we have no message about how things are going to get better for you-- not for the employer who might hire you-- then we're in trouble."

"We trotted out small business person, after small business person after larger business person to say, to the very small percentage of business people who start their own businesses in America... we built that."

"I understand... people come out on this stage and they bang away at President Obama. I mean, I know. It's fun. I get that. It's easy-- and getting easier, I might add. But that isn't going to win people who are sitting at home who are hurting. They don't feel better. We feel better."

In amongst all the talk about family values, I think he made some excellent points about why the Republican message has badly missed the mark with voters. Now, whether Republican policies actually have any sort of positive message for those voters is another question entirely.

-k

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You're right kimmy. But I think that Santorum has in some cases has been his own worst enemy. So some people just assume a speech by him will be the same stuff from the past.

I thought Rand Paul was especially good too. "What you do on your cellphone is none of their (NSA) damn business".

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Argus comment was in relation to CPAC. CPAC isn't a republican conference. It's a conservative conference. The Republican Party itself has nothing to do with it. Perhaps you and especially him are misinformed.

naive! It's all about the Republican Party, the factions within it, the infighting within it... with all the party faithful coming forward and talking about why the Republican Party lost, what the Republican Party did wrong, what the Republican Party needs to do now/next, etc., etc., etc.

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You're right kimmy. But I think that Santorum has in some cases has been his own worst enemy. So some people just assume a speech by him will be the same stuff from the past.

I thought Rand Paul was especially good too. "What you do on your cellphone is none of their (NSA) damn business".

Given Santorum's statements of the past, I would find it impossible to believe he's sincere if he talks about respecting gay people or non-Christians. I don't think he can ever untangle his political career from that stuff, and I don't think he will be able to be a presidential candidate as a result.

But I think the acknowledgment that people who start their own business is actually a very small percentage of Americans is almost revolutionary for a Republican. Talking about how they have to appeal to unemployed people and underemployed people and people who don't have college degrees and the economically vulnerable is vital, and yet when have Republicans done that in a serious manner? It's always been "trust us, we know business, we'll create jobs!" and "low taxes will spur the economy" and "a rising tide lifts all boats" type of stuff, but people just don't believe that stuff anymore.

Rand Paul's comments about surveillance were interesting... not so much that a libertarian-leaning guy would oppose surveillance, but in the way he promoted that viewpoint. Conservatives like national security... but by talking about it as a small-government issue and a Fourth Amendment issue, he found a way to sell a position that's popular with younger voters in a way that older voters and conservatives can be more comfortable with.

Ditto Rick Perry's comments about alternative sentencing for marijuana offenses. Calling it "alternative sentencing" sound suspiciously liberal, but reframing it as "drug courts" and talking about closing prisons, he positions it as a "small government" issue without upsetting old-people.

-k

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Her speech was AMAZING! It underscores her natural political talent. Now I realize people don't like her, I get that, or her politics. But that doesn't discount her ability. One just has to look at her convention speech.

I loved her Dr. Seuss re-write especially. "I do not like this Uncle Sam, I do not like his health care scam".

Also, at the beginning of her speech, acknowledging all of the young people in the audience, also known as "Obamacare suckas"! Brilliant. Because in order for the program to work at all, they need young people to foot the bill.

Ok I listened to this while I played with Shadow, and honestly I don't hear anything worth talking about. Did she say a single thing that I couldn't have got from previous Palin speeches or reading a bunch of Breitbart headlines or Rush Limbah clips?

Capsule review:

-Obama sucks

-Obamacare sucks

-establishment Republicans suck, Tea Party rocks

-Obama is wimpy and Putin is not scared of him

-lamestream media and Hollywood elites

-the liberals oppressed Duck Dynasty Phil

-but we are fighting back!

-women care about jobs and economy and energy just like men

-prolife

-restore freedom!

-Fight! Fight! Fight!

I get that Republicans like this stuff because it gets the team fired up. Ok, that's fine. But is there one thing in this entire speech you could show a person who wasn't already a Republican and say "here's an idea you should think about" or "here's something that might change your mind"? I'd suggest that no, there is not.

-k

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oh my!

Thank you Texas because liberty needs a Congress on Cruz control

A line she's used before. I assume that if she's pumping Ted's tires she is probably not planning on running.

-k

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