There is panic in the ranks of the left this Halloween.  In today’s Times, Frank Rich, does his level best to whistle past the graveyard, but the fear is clear.  He astonishingly titles his piece, “The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York.”  I guess they feel the Hitler moniker has lost its zest, so the leftists resort to calling those on the right, Stalinists.  Their disorientation could not be more palpable.

What has them in such a tizzy?  It centers around the special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District.  The local Republican party bosses chose a candidate, Dede Scozzafava, who would never be mistaken as a conservative, although Mr. Rich actually called her, “a mainstream conservative by New York standards.”  That’s like saying David Letterman is chaste by liberal standards, as if these things are measured on a relative scale.  But that’s the way liberals and statists think.  If your neighbor is more promiscuous than you, then you must be celebate.  If you want to make Nancy Pelosi a moderate, move her to Cuba.

Ground Shift

What has Mr. Rich and his cohorts nervously clearing their throats, is that the uprising against the entrenched statists, led by the Tea Parties, actually delivered results.   Ms. Scozzafava is pro-abortion, pro-same-sex marriage, pro-Obama stimulus package, pro-card check to make it easier to form a union without a secret ballot election, and supported by ACORN.  This is what Mr. Rich calls a conservative, “by New York standards.”  What sticks in his craw is that the election was a win-win, for him and his friends.  Elect the Republican or the Democrat and it doesn’t matter much, they both hold the same basic views.  Then along came Doug Hoffman.

Doug Hoffman threw his hat in the ring on the Conservative Party line.  By this Saturday, with support pouring in all across the country from true conservatives, Hoffman was in a dead heat with the conservative and the Republican Scozzafava was fading fast.  So she decided to suspend her campaign, and Mr. Rich and company hit the panic button.

So how does Mr. Rich frame his argument?  Well he starts by saying Hoffman has no grasp of local issues.  Uh, the position is United States Congressman, not city alderman.  He well understands the issues at the national level and how the policies of the Obama Administration are bankrupting the country.  Those policies will negatively affect the people in his district.  But leave it to Mr. Rich to scoff at Hoffman, because he doesn’t know how much pork barrel spending the district needs. A true patriotic Congressman, like John Murtha, finds a way to build an airport in the district that nobody uses and hands the bill to people in other districts like, well, New York’s 23rd.  He’s going to Washington to fight those who are bleeding the Treasury dry.  So Mr. Rich fights that by calling Fort Drum, home to the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division, a “pork-dependent military base.”  Hmmm…the last time I read my copy of the Constitution, it specifically required providing for the national defense.  I couldn’t find in my copy where it required building airports no one needed so that John Murtha could get re-elected in perpetuity.  I understand it is a fine distinction, but I would have thought someone employed by the New York Times would be able to make it.

Frank Rich’s Happy Talk

Mr. Rich oddly calls the developments in New York as good news.  With a recent Gallup Poll, showing that for every self-described liberal there are two self-described conservatives, Mr. Rich says the ideologues that brought about the events in New York’s 23rd, may then start picking off other conservatives and destroy the party.  Does he mean conservatives like Arlen Specter, Lincoln Chaffee, Olympia Snow, Susan Collins, Charlie Crist, oh my!  With 73% of GOP voters saying that Congressional Republicans have lost touch with their base, this is not good news for Mr. Rich and company.  What he believes is that a small cabal of conservatives will put unelectable candidates on the ballot that voters will reject and the Democrats will gleefully reap the rewards.  In reality, the GOP leadership has for too long put weak candidates on the ballot that Democrats easily beat because the Republican base cannot get excited about them.  McCain is a war hero and worthy of our admiration, but just look at his signature legislation:  McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy.  He was not a conservative on many fronts. 

Nixon was a conservative, Ford was not.  Reagan was a conservative, Bush 41 was not and  Dole was not.  George W. started more conservative than not, but then drifted to become a big spender.  McCain was not a conservative.  Do you see a pattern here?  Conservative Republicans win.

With Obama’s approval rating going down in a virtual straight line, Mr. Rich confidently proclaims that the only politician Obama has to fear is Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan.  By all means, Mr. Rich, you keep telling your pals that.

If anyone thinks that Sarah Palin is beaten and is about to become a footnote in history, I would say to them, “don’t bet the rent on it.”  In her address where she announced she was stepping down, she used a basketball analogy.  After all, it was on the basketball court where she got the name “Sarah Barracuda.”  She said what a good point guard does when facing a full court press is protect the ball, keep her head up with her eyes on the basket and she passes off at the right opportunity.  What she didn’t say was what happens next.  If anyone who watched Michael Jordan play knows, after passing off they don’t go sit on the bench.  They maneuver into position to make the big play and if you take your eye off of them, they’ll kill you every time.

The Full Court Press

In the last year Sarah Palin has been hit with eighteen ethics complaints.  Her record so far in these complaints is 15-0, with three still pending.  The results of these complaints have been a lot of needless time and money spent by state employees investigating these complaints and clearing her name every time.  The concern she expressed yesterday is that these are a distraction, a waste of state time and money robbing the people of Alaska of the limited government they deserve and it is also costing her family a fortune to defend.  As you can see below, one of the ethics complaints is that she is raising money to pay her legal fees.  So the full court press is throw every frivolous ethics complaint you can at her, complain if she tries to raise money to defend herself, bankrupt her if you can, and later you can complain that she spent too much time on these issues rather than on state business.  Here is a summary of the complaints:

1. Troopergate — this one is the well known case where a state employee was fired for not doing his job.  It also involved her sister’s ex-husband.  The firing was deemed lawful.
2. Palin was accused of helping someone get a job in state government.  I’m shocked, shocked that someone in politics actually helped someone get a job.  Complaint dismissed by state personnel board.
3. Palin was accused of taking a public position on a mining ballot initiative days before the vote.  Wow, she actually took a position.  How refreshing for a politician.  Any issue about it taking place within days of a vote is our misguided “campaign finance reforms” that curtail our First Amendment rights in the name of better government.  Complaint rejected by the Alaska Public Public Offices Commission.
4. Palin filed “self disclosure”  to get the Troopergate issue resolved once and for all.
5. Complaint filed by employee union over the firing of Mike Wooton, the trooper in Troopergate.  Complaint dismissed.
6. Monagan, the individual fired in the Troopergate ethics complaint against Palin asked for a hearing to clear his name.  The panel said there was no legal basis or jurisdiction for such a hearing.
7. Complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission about the $150,000 the Republican Party spent for her wardrobe.  FEC said the expenditure was not banned.
8. Palin charged with abuse of power for charging the state when her children traveled with her.  The personnel board found no wrongdoing.  Palin agreed to pay $10,000 to the state to cover the costs.
9. Palin was accused of conducting an interview in the Governor’s office about the Vice Presidential campaign.  Complaint dismissed by the state personnel board.  I guess she should have conducted the interview outside.  Let’s see, November in Alaska outside, perfect!
10. Palin accused of violating ethics law for campaigning for Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss.  Dismissed by state personnel board.
11. Complaint that Palin misused funds of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute to promote her political ambitions by using advertisements featuring her.  Her crime was that she allowed the board to use her image and did so before she was picked by John McCain.  Complaint dismissed after a personnel board investigation.
12. Complaint alleging interference in job hiring by an individual whose identity could never be verified.  The name used was that of a character in a British soap opera.  Palin’s attorney said that no one in  the state of Alaska could be found with that name and the filer refused to use a real name so the case was dropped.
13. This and 14 allege that two employees on Palin’s staff worked on state time to help Palin before and after her Vice Presidential campaign.  This complaint is still pending.
14. Same as 13 covering the other employee. Pending.
15. Complaint Palin improperly used state property, time and equipment for partisan political purposes, including posting on the Governor’s web site that she was running for Vice President.  Dismissed as lacking merit by the state personnel board.
16. Palin accused of a conflict of interest because she wore clothing with an “Arctic Cat” logo on it because Arctic Cat sponsored her husband’s team.  Dismissed.
17. Complaint alleged that Palin’s work with a PAC violated ethics laws by misusing her position and accepting outside employment. Dismissed as lacking merit by the state personnel board.
18. Complaint alleging Palin is misusing the governor’s office for personal gain by accepting money from the Alaska Fund Trust.  The fund was established by supporters to help Palin defray her $500,000 in legal bills run up by fighting all these ethics claims she keeps winning.  Brilliant strategy.  Hit her with baseless ethics claims and then fight her ability to pay her bills.  This is still pending.

Add to this the personal attacks by the likes of David Letterman, the recent Vanity Fair article and her enemies standing at the ready to file ethics complaints every time she tries to defend herself, let’s her opponents set the agenda.  If allowed unchecked for the next three years, no one could recover from that.  On top of that is her personal focus to do what is best for her state.  She does not want to waste state money and time on dealing with ethics complaints rather than governing, but these complaints have to be dealt with and they seem to be coming at a rate of about one every three weeks.  She defeats everyone of them but it is a drain.

An Unconventional Move

The pundits are saying this is the end of her career.  But let’s look at this.

• By stepping down, the ethics complaints will stop.
• The people of Alaska can have a government that is not wasting time on these issues.
• Her legal bills will stop climbing
• She can probably make $50,000 to $100,000 per speech on the speaking circuit and quickly pay off her legal bills
• She can hit the campaign trail for Congressional and Senate candidates in 2010.  She is still very popular and a very successful fund raiser.  This will pile up political IOUs for 2012
• She can speak out forcefully against the reckless policies of the Obama administration, raising her profile without complaint (ethics and otherwise) that she is neglecting her state duties.
• She can work on burnishing her foreign policy credentials.  Remember she was only on the campaign trail for about 60+ days, trying to get in sync with John McCain’s positions while being mishandled by his staff.  Now she can stake out her own positions, carefully and thoughtfully

Is this a risky move?  Sure.  But to continue the basketball analogy, how conventional was Michael Jordan’s style of play?  He did things that no one ever saw coming.

The 2012 Campaign

Some pundits are saying that Mitt Romney probably can’t stop pinching himself with his new found good fortune.  Is that premature?  After all, he and Sarah Palin are basically in the same position.  They are both former governors.  Yes, it can be said that Romney finished his term in office while Palin is stepping down.  However, Romney as governor of liberal Massachusetts has some things on his resume that he would probably like to live down.  Palin accomplished a lot in a short time in office without the same albatrosses.  She is doing what she thinks is right for herself and for Alaska, not following some tired political playbook.  Her approval/disapproval rating among Republicans is 73/17 compared to Romney’s 57/18.

Brand New Ballgame

Not being in office allows her to set the agenda rather than having to react to other people’s agendas.  She doesn’t have to hold back.  Consider how Dick Cheney came out forcefully so speak against Obama’s policies when others in the Republican party were trying to find their voice.  His poll numbers rose dramatically.

Sarah Palin can speak with conservative principles that win elections.  When Republicans stick to their conservative roots they win.  When they try to be moderate they lose.  It will be interesting to see how this unfolds, but I can see Palin having just passed off the ball driving to the basket while her opponents watch the ball, and soar into the air for the ally oop and the score.

Politics Over Core Beliefs

Now that Arlen Specter has jumped ship to the Democratic Party, there is outrage amongst the Republicans.  Sorry, folks, but I don’t share your outrage so point that muzzle away from your other foot.  In 2004, Arlen Specter had a strong primary challenge from Pat Toomey, a conservative.  Toomey came within two percentage points of beating Specter and taking the Republican nomination.  Not sure that Toomey could win the general election and fearing losing control of the Senate to the Democrats, President Bush and Senator Rick Santorum, also a conservative, threw their weight behind Specter, a moderate at best, though a liberal label would fit all the same.

So, where do we stand today?  Bush is gone. Santorum is gone. The Democrats not only control the Senate but are a whisker away, with Specter’s help, of gaining filibuster-proof control.  It’s the same old story.  Republicans get weak kneed about being strong conservatives and then wonder why they lose?  They cut deals with liberals or statists as Mark Levin aptly calls them, and then get their heads handed to them on Election Day. Bush and Santorum should have either stayed out of the race or thrown their support behind Toomey back in ’04.  Specter won the primary and the general election and proceeded to thank Bush by sticking his thumb in Bush’s eye whenever he got the chance.

So spare me the angst, the hand ringing, the “how could yous?”.  Republicans had the chance to fix this in 2004 but they went wobbly, as Margaret Thatcher used to say.  So stop your whining and learn your lessons and don’t do it again.