Dick Morris: Sarah Palin Is Still The Clear Front Runner For 2012

Dick Morris offers that Sarah Palin is the clear front runner for the 2012 Republican nomination, and always has been. Morris, who was Bill Clinton's political guru, is a best selling author, political commentator, as well as a consultant to leaders world wide.

From the Newsmax interview:

By: David A. Patten

Fox News commentator and best-selling author Dick Morris says former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is the clear front-runner for the Republican nomination for president.

Morris says that, despite his respect for the political and intellectual talents of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who expressed keen interest Monday in running for the nomination, Palin remains the favorite.

"Oh, I think she always had front-runner status," Morris tells Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview. "The person who is the vice-presidential nominee last time almost automatically has front-runner status if they did a good job, which she did. And I think that she was a fabulous candidate for vice president."

The problem Palin will face, Morris says, is that the media treated her so badly "with sexist and biased coverage" that it "built up this huge pile of negatives against her."

Adds Morris: "I'm just worried that that might be too heavy a burden to carry in the 2012 election against Obama. But I think she's fabulous. I think she's wonderful."

Morris also notes that candidates Palin has endorsed have a very good track record of winning their races.

"The reason the people she endorses win is not only that her endorsement is significant, but she has good taste," Morris tells Newsmax.

Obviously we agree with Morris that Sarah is the front runner, and has been since, oh .... around November 4, 2008. You knew Sarah had struck a cord with the American people when you saw groups like Our Country Deserves Better running national television advertisements like this one, and the one below, at Thanksgiving, just a few weeks after the election, simply thanking her for being her. America knew Sarah Palin was someone very special.



Since then Sarah has only raised her profile, and had more sucess. Besides going nationwide supporting Common Sense Conservative candidates, patriots who are solid winners, Sarah has been the one strong, clear, consistent voice speaking up for Liberty and Freedom. Sarah has been leading the fight to stop the Obama regime and the tyranny and oppression that comes with it.

Throw in a best selling book, over 2.5 million sold and counting, with a new one on the way, a sold out speaking tour, and a high profile gig that finds her talents as a political analyst in big demand at both Fox News, and the Fox Business Channel, and it's easy to understand why Sarah Palin has become such a powerhouse in the political arena.

I do take issue with Dick a little though. The idea that somehow the corrupt "lamestream media" has damaged Sarah Palin's reputation one bit is just wrong. Remember, this is the same corrupt media that fawned over Obama, called him the "Lightworker" and other such nonsense. They built him up as a "Messiah" and "The One." Half the country already knew you couldn't believe anything the media told you, or at best you needed independent verification of everything said. Now the other half is waking up to that fact, as well.

Americans realize the same people that lied to them about Obama, also lied to them about Sarah Palin. They no longer trust the dinosaur media when they spew their nonsense. Couple that with the new media, and the ability to find the truth at the touch of a button, and everything one once thought about how this thing called politics worked is out the window.

Past that, Sarah is incredibly media savvy in her own right. No one uses the new media, and social networking, as effectively. One strong Facebook post, or even a pithy tweet, can start a firestorm of activity. She's like the E.F. Hutton of politics. When she speaks, everyone listens. No one else commands that sort of attention.

It's really this simple. Every single bit of "news" the left wing media has put out there about Sarah Palin has proven to be a lie. I mean all of it. None of it was based on anything substantional. It never is.  It was all petty nonsense. The left can't compete in the marketplace of ideas, so it's all about the smears. In Sarah's case, this all has backfired magnificently.

The results from the two year (and counting) smear-fest aimed at Sarah have actually been positive, for her. For one thing it turns out Sarah Palin is one of the most vetted human beings in history, and will certainly be the most vetted presidential candidate ever.

After sending platoons of "journalists" to Alaska to dig up dirt, and all of the other nonsense, it turns out that Sarah is just a normal person, and has nothing to hide. No scandals, nothing. What all of this craziness ended up doing was prompt people to do a little reserch on their own about Sarah. Unfortunately, for the left, people discovered a solid public servant with a record of great success and accomplishment, instead of who ever it was the corrupt media was talking about.

The second result of the left's intense panic, is a real case study in the law of unintended consequences. They hoped all of the nasty attacks would scare her off. The vile sexist, racist stuff, most too nasty to print, only did one thing. All of this proved that Sarah Palin can stand up to anything and everything the Marxist left has, and not only survive, but flourish, and fight back. This is a quality absolutely none of the other GOP hopefuls possess. It's something few people anywhere possess.

Sarah Palin is a person of such strong character, who has such deep faith, that she cannot be intimidated by these people. That's a quality that Americans love and respect about her. No one can picture any of the other potential Republican candidates withstanding a tenth of what Sarah has, let alone have a career after the fact.

As we are already seeing, with all of the hateful rhetoric coming from the left, 2012 will be the nastiest election any of us have every witnessed. We need someone who isn't phased by it. Someone who looks evil right in the eye, smiles, and says "bring it!" Sarah Palin is the only one who fits that description.

Morris mentions Newt Gingrich by name.

Newt has recently been talking 2012. Personally, I think he's just getting a buzz going for his new book, but who knows. Gingrich has a LOT of baggage, both personal and professional. I'll let someone else go into the personal. The professional is big stuff.

The two things that make him a non-starter with Conservatives, the base of the party, are his embrace of Al Gore, and DeDe Scozzafava. When Newt teamed up with Nancy Pelosi to shill for Al Gore's global warming scam, and sat canoodling with her on a bench for a TV commercial pushing it all, that ruined his street cred with Conservatives. However, the real kicker, the last straw, was his stuborn backing of DeDe Scozzafava over Doug Hoffman in the New York special election.

Even after Sarah Palin, and every Conservative worth mentioning, endorsed Hoffman, Newt clung on to Scozzafava. When it was pointed out that Scozzafava, a "Margret Sanger Award" winner, was to the left of the Marxist-democrat in the race, Newt started badmouthing Conservatives, and claimed she was "conservative enough." Newt went through some serious verbal gymnastics trying to justify his pick. In the end, Scozzafava dropped out while Hoffman surged. To pay back Newt and the rest of the GOP establishment elite for their loyalty, she promptly endorsed the Marxist-democrat, who won in a squeaker.

Newt ain't happenin'.

Same can be said for Mitt Romney. Oh, he'll run, but between his less than stellar record as Governor of the Bay State and his lifelong record of flip-flopping on every single issue, depending on who he needed to be to what group, it seems like the supreme exercise in futility. Oh, and do we even need to mention RomneyCare?

No one, but Sarah Palin knows what her plans are for 2012. Right now she is focused on November, like we all must be. She knows if we don't take back Congress, and stop Obama, there won't be anything left to be President of. It's our gut feeling though that once she helps place some strong leaders in Congress, and takes a short breather to promote her new book, she will indeed announce her run, most likely on Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday. This will be the time to celebrate.

Obama and the rest of the Marxist-progressive movement will never know what hit them.

SRLC: Kristi King & I Interviewed By AFP (w/ pics)

By Adrienne Ross - www.motivationtruth.com



Immediately after Governor Palin's speech at SRLC, my good friend and fellow 2012 Draft Sarah Committee Organizer (Missouri), Kristi King, and I were stopped and interviewed by AFP.

Writer Allen Johnson first highlighted the governor's speech:

Sarah Palin, one of nine presidential hopefuls on the weekend straw ballot at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, brought cheering delegates to their feet as she advanced conservative policies for energy, nuclear weapons, and other issues for the congressional mid-term elections in November.

"The election is only seven months away," Palin said, then in a clear dig at Obama's signature theme, added: "Now, when they say - 'yes, we can', we stand up and say - 'oh, no you don't.'"

Palin advocated for stronger national security and economy by increasing domestic oil and gas production.

He also discussed Newt Gingrich's speech from the previous night:

Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives and another candidate on the Republican straw poll for president, called Obama "the most radical president in American history."

In an address to the conference Thursday night, Gingrich accused Obama and his fellow Democrats of building a "secular, socialist machine" to expand government at the expense of taxpayers.

Gingrich also said Republicans who win congressional seats in November should refuse to fund the Obama administration's health care reforms. A Republican Party icon, Gingrich says he has not yet decided whether to run for president.

He introduced his interview with Kristi and me by piggy-backing off those two speeches:

Meanwhile, Palin's 27-minute address on Friday to Southern Republicans, seemed to energize her supporters at the conference, especially women.

"Newt Gingrich is a very smart man," Kristi King, 36, a retail manager at an optical company in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, said moments after Palin's address.

"But he's not Sarah," said her fellow delegate Adrienne Ross, 39, a 7th grade English teacher at Hudson, New York.

"She doesn't talk over people; her appeal is common sense conservatism," said Ross, one of the few African-American delegates at the conference. Part of Palin's appeal is her unequivocal support for Israel, said Ross, adding: "Our president is sort of flip-flopping on Israel right now - that makes me nervous."

Allen Johnson certainly captured my approval of Governor Palin's substantive, passionate, and energetic speech.

My one beef with the way he wrote up the article is the manner in which he quoted Kristi. It comes off like she was talking up Newt Gingrich and I was interrupting to state that Governor Palin was better. Actually, when asked about Gingrich, Kristi made it clear that his intelligence was to be respected, but that he did not have the appeal, energy, or support of Governor Palin. She made it clear that although Gingrich was definitely deserving of admiration, Governor Palin was the clear leader. The night before, in fact, during his speech, Kristi tweeted:

Is listening to Newt Gingrich...he's a smart man but he ain't no Sarah Palin!

Of course Kristi was right, and I agreed wholeheartedly with her. Governor Palin espouses common sense conservative principles and articulates them in such a way that has caused multitudes to stand up and take notice.

Read Johnson's full article here.

*** Check back to read more on SRLC and see pictures of Governor Palin and others.

Sarah: Braver Than Most- A Post by Conservative Girl with a Voice

Perhaps the thing I admire most about Sarah Palin, other than the fact that she's a phenomenal wife and mother and advocate for special needs children and women, is the fact that she is not afraid to call out individuals regardless of party. This has been the norm for her throughout her political career. As governor, she worked with all parties, and it was a common occurrence to see her reach across the aisle. Just because Sarah stepped down from the governor's office in no way means that she is going to huddle in a corner or simply speak out in favor of all things Republican.

We saw this very recently when Sarah supported the third party candidate, Doug Hoffman, in the NY 23 race. Not only did she prove that values are more important than party, but she successfully illustrated how important the conservative base is to the Republican Party. Following her endorsement of Hoffman, Hoffman's campaign donations and volunteer levels skyrocketed. This is all because of Sarah. No other Republican name has the same power; she is a star. I believe Sarah is the reason Rino candidate, Dede Scozzafava dropped out of the race early Saturday morning. When Sarah speaks, people listen. Just in September, Scozzafava was ahead of both Hoffman and the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens. When people began to discover how liberal this woman was, they began to look elsewhere, which illustrates why the latest poll, released this past weekend, placed her behind the other two candidates.



Sarah was right yet again. When she endorsed Hoffman, many political analysts questioned her and criticized the endorsement. Some analysts said if her political career wasn't over before the endorsement, it was definitely over now. Little did they know that Sarah's endorsement of Hoffman was a slam-dunk in defining how smart she really is. I've always known how smart and savvy she is, and you have always known this as well, but many who didn't are beginning to see how right we have been all along. Furthermore, her endorsing Hoffman not only proves her political brilliance, but also illustrates how fearful so many in the Republican Party are of standing up and speaking out. While Sarah was right, Newt Gingrich was wrong. When he endorsed Scozzafava, conservatives turned on him, and I know I wouldn't want to face the wrath of the grassroots conservative political movement. I know and you know that conservatives are always going to have Gingrich's Scozzafava endorsement in the back of their minds. When he endorsed her, he stepped in a huge pile of dog do- do, and when Scozzafava turned around and endorsed the Democratic candidate, Gingrich basically was left out in the cold in the dog house. Sarah led the way for other candidates to see that it was okay and necessary to endorse Hoffman. We began to see others like Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Tim Pawlenty stand up and speak out. These individuals have Sarah to thank for leading the way to doing what is right.



While Sarah is not afraid to go against her party, when she sees that the party is moving in the wrong direction, she is also not afraid to stand with her party when she sees that it is doing the right thing. This is exactly what she did this past Friday when she posted a note on Facebook encouraging individuals to listen to the Republican Party's Saturday Address by House Minority Leader John Boehner. Like us, Sarah knows that health care reform is needed (Medicare and Medicaid reform is necessary as well), but the Democratic Party is going about reform the wrong way. She stands with Republicans agreeing that free-market principles like Tort Reform, purchasing health insurance across state lines, reigning in malpractice lawsuits and allowing individuals to, according to Boehner, "pool together" to buy insurance at lower prices are some of the options. Unlike the outrageous provisions sought by the Democrats, these are real solutions that will not only drive down health care costs, but also allow people to have choice when it comes to their health care decisions without government interference. The government is the problem, not the solution. I sure as hell don't want the government controlling my health care decision. Do you?



Like the good parent she is, Sarah is not afraid to chastise her party when it does wrong and praise it when it does right. What an awesome woman! As I have repeatedly noted, the Republican Party finds itself out in the wilderness. While they are out in the wilderness, Sarah is waiting at home with the porch light on, and she is going to do everything in her power to help her party see the light. In praising Boehner and the Republican Party, she seemed to be saying, "I will stand with my party when it does the right thing, but I will also call my party out when it veers away from its conservative principles." Way to go, Sarah! When so many make the mistake of following the herd, you take a different path, the right path. You illustrate that the status quo is not always the right option. On the contrary, most of the time it is the wrong option. You are not afraid to stand up and speak out, which is so refreshing and http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifinspiring. With Sarah leading the way, America will once again see the Republican Party that accomplished so much during the years of Ronald Reagan. America will prosper once again as long as we as conservatives stand together and hold the Republican Party accountable. Dede Scozzafava learned a valuable lesson this past week. She learned that if you turn on the conservative base, you will not succeed and win the war. Let's hope others will to Scozzafava, the candidate, as an example of what happens when you turn on the all-too-important conservative base. Sarah knows this, and you and I know this too.


(I'm a Conservative Girl with a Voice!!! Visit my blog and become a follower: http://www.conservativegirlwithavoice.com. I'm on Twitter too: http://www.twitter.com/rachellefriberg.)

Sarah Palin Stole the Show

In spite of numerous attempts to spin it otherwise, the truth is that Sarah Palin stole the show at the RNCC Convention last night. Small wonder the party “elite,” afraid she would upstage Newt Gingrich’s speech, didn’t want her to speak. She didn’t have to – she was the center of attention anyway. Just walking across the stage, she drew cheers from the crowd. And whose table did they gather around during a break – none other than Sarah Palin’s. What these stuffed shirts don’t realize is that they did themselves and the Republican Party a disservice by snubbing the GOP’s most compelling and charismatic figure.


Palin center of attention at big GOP dinner

From Peter Hamby
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Newt Gingrich was the keynote speaker at Monday night's fundraising dinner for the Senate and House Republican campaign committees, but it was Sarah Palin who stole the show.

The Alaska governor's last-minute appearance at the GOP's biggest fundraiser of the year ended 24 hours of speculation that the she might skip the event. A late attempt to have her speak at the dinner fell through when organizers feared she might upstage Gingrich, the onetime House speaker.

Hours before the event was slated to begin, an aide to Palin would not confirm that she would be attending. But when Palin and her husband, Todd, sauntered across the stage with Gingrich and his wife, Callista, shortly before the program commenced, their appearance was met with cheers from the audience of 2,000 party loyalists.

Sen. John McCain, who shared last year's Republican presidential ticket with Palin, greeted his former running mate as she made her way to her table. Soon after, the former GOP presidential nominee tweeted: "Great to see Sarah and Todd at the dinner tonight -- nice reunion!"
Palin did not speak at the event, but during a break in the program for dinner, Republicans clustered around the former vice presidential nominee's table near the front of the ballroom, eager to meet the governor and pose for pictures. Watch CNN's Candy Crowley report on the big evening »

It was the only table in the vast ballroom that had a crowd gathered around it -- and despite their distance from Palin's table, multiple television cameras kept their lenses trained on the governor for much of the night.

The guest list included 33 Republican senators and Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele. Sen. John Cornyn, who as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee helped organize the dinner, sat with Palin and her husband during the event.
Cornyn briefly acknowledged Palin when he appeared on stage to thank his Republican colleagues for their work on behalf of the party.

"Thank you for being here with us tonight," Cornyn told her. "Thank you for your leadership, we appreciate it every much."

Gingrich, the event headliner, also thanked Palin for attending. He said "this country would be amazingly better off" had McCain and Palin been elected.

In a lengthy speech that touched on topics ranging from health care to border security, Gingrich railed against the Obama administration's "disastrous" approach to federal spending and national security policy. He acknowledged the intra-party squabbles that have roiled the Republican party since last year's election, but he said such debates are to be expected and will never really disappear.

"I am happy that Dick Cheney is a Republican," he said. "I am also happy that Colin Powell is a Republican. A majority Republican Party will have lots of debates within the party. That is the nature of majorities."

Gingrich held up former Cheney, the former vice president, as an expert voice on national security, and he called the White House's administration's decision to engage Cheney on the national security issues "the first big mistake" of Obama's presidency.

Pointing to last month's dueling national security speeches from Obama and Cheney, Gingrich said that Cheney laid out facts, while Obama resorted to little more than high-minded oratory. Gingrich said that like Reagan, Obama has brilliant rhetorical skills -- but unlike Reagan, he said, Obama "uses his rhetorical skills to hide from fundamental facts." Watch Gingrich speak at dinner »

The dinner raised $14.45 million for congressional Republicans, money that will be split evenly between the Senate and House campaign committees as they seek to win back majorities in next year's midterm elections.

In its most recent financial disclosure, the National Republican Congressional Committee reported $3.69 million in the bank and $5 million in debt. The NRSC, meanwhile, entered May debt-free and reported $2.69 million in its campaign war chest.

Actor Jon Voight, an outspoken conservative who stars in the popular television series "24," emceed the event. In his opening comments, Voight blasted President Obama as "a false prophet" and "a soft-spoken Caesar" who bullies Israel and employed pleasant-sounding language to dupe the country into voting for him last November. Watch Voight's comments on Obama »

"Ayers, Wright, Pfleger, Alinsky," he said, listing some of the liberal figures who became flash points in the 2008 race. "It didn't matter one iota. Obama portrayed himself as a moderate, but turned out to be wildly radical."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/09/GOP.fundraiser.palin/index.html?section=cnn_latest

UPDATE:

See this article also (hat tip @ivyfrye):
Keynoter or Not, Palin Steals Spotlight at GOP Fundraiser http://tinyurl.com/kkt2z9