Obama - A Leader Unable to Lead - An American Tragedy

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America has had it share of presidents who, once elected, have failed to inspire and lead the nation through tough years. With the collapse of his popularity polls, his failure to make corrections to his operation, his lack of plans and policy and his aloof attitude toward the very people who elected him President Obama stands on the threshold of throwing away a presidency of promise and change.



I come from the old American view that everyone should want our president to succeed, no matter what political party he may subscribe to in getting elected. Long ago the political parties dominating the American landscape lost their control over their own candidates because once elected their candidates chose to serve the people, not their party platform.

In fact the whole concept of a political party with a rigid agenda that is good for all Americans has long been accepted as nonsense which is why more voters now see themselves as independents, not Democrats or Republicans. That is how it should be in a Republic such as ours. Once elected the president must accept responsibility for all Americans, not just those who voted for them.



When a president learns that lesson they start to become effective. John Kennedy became popular when he moved to the center and stop adhering to a social, spend free liberal platform advocated by his own party and he started doing what was best for all Americans.

Ronald Reagan overcame a disastrous economy and slammed through his Reaganomics agenda with tax cuts and reduced federal government interference his first term, then turned his attention to stopping the Cold War and foreign affairs his second term. His success swept him to a landside re-election.



Bill Clinton had to take a few defeats before he saw the light and moved to the center embracing the dreaded business community over the social activists. It seems he didn't realize it was Ross Perot and his independent movement who got him elected and not the Democratic platform. But once he made the change he was able to survive many personal difficulties and gain popularity.

Even George Bush was able to serve out two terms because his agenda was what the people wanted, even if he was not the most popular president. Like him or not the Bush administration fought and won battle after battle with the Congress, Democratically control for much of his tenure, by demonstrating that the will of the people was not represented in the will of Congress.



Obama tapped into the unrest of the people with government but lost his compass on the way to the Inaugural address when the union and social activists on the one hand and his silent and well concealed backers from Wall Street on the other took control of his agenda and set him on a path in direct opposition with the people who elected him.



It was not the unions, social activists or Wall Street executives who elected him, they have never elected anyone to the presidency. It was middle America with their distain for big government and independence from political parties and tactics who put him in office. Sadly, as he did offer hope to an electorate tired of business as usual, he settled into the role of business as usual.

A year into office he has accomplished nothing for the people although he did a number of things to reward the small group of Wall Street, union and social activists who felt they elected him. How he fell into the trap is what is makes his fall from grace so unusual. His problems are only compounded by his arrogant refusal to hear the people.



Obama seems to come from the laissez-faire approach to big business, (let them do whatever they want), his consensus building approach to policy, (don't be responsible for what happens), his seemingly professorial aloofness to communicating with the public, (if you only knew what I know you'd know I knew best), and his penchant for blaming everything wrong all the time on everyone else, (I didn't get us into this mess).

If you were a tenured professor from Harvard with a Nobel prize for excellence and accomplishment you might be able to get away with such an approach but even the Harvard professors would probably have a plan or policy to follow. Now Obama is a professor from Harvard but his Nobel prize was not for excellence or achievement but for empty promises. And he is not a professor at Harvard but the President of the United States.



We elect presidents to lead, not pontificate. We elect them to be responsible, not point fingers. We elect them to represent all the people, not just his campaign contributors. And we elect them to tell the truth, not proclaim transparency while making more secret deals with contributors than Huey Long in his prime in Louisiana where he was known for his flamboyant style and brazen deeds.



For some reason it seems that the only people concerned about controlling big deficit spending, bigger national debt, eliminating special interest influence and restoring honesty and integrity to government are the people, not the politicians and the special interests who own them who rape and pillage our national government in Washington.

Today, the first anniversary of the Obama stimulus, we should all ask if we are better off now than when he was elected? Did he shut down the bad guys on Wall Street? Did he throw out the lobbyists and special interests prowling our nation's capitol? Did he fix health care or is he trying to take over health care for the unions and special interests? Did he move us toward energy independence or did he just make a few liberals rich with cap and trade and alternative energy projects while the gas, oil and coal needed to be independent remain in the ground?



I could go on and on but you all know the truth. The question is how is our president reacting? Today he again blamed the Bush Administration for his failures and the Republicans for stopping his agenda. We have no idea what that agenda might be since he seems to have no long term policy or plan to fix our nation.

As for the Republicans, Obama has had total control of the House and Senate with enough votes to shove legislation down our throats with no Republican votes. If his agenda was good for the people don't you think he might have done it? But if his agenda is littered with special deals, secret payoffs and hidden agendas then he might want to stay out of it and let Congress look like the fools, because the ultra liberal hidden agenda will in time be exposed and fail.



His White House staff today is continuing to spin all the benefits from his first year in office, how the millions that became unemployed under Obama were not his fault either, and how the Republicans in Congress are to blame for no action by Congress. If the big government, big spending, big deficit and big national debt are all that was proposed by the Democrats in Congress and the mouthpiece for the Democrats in the White House then maybe we owe the do nothing Republicans a great deal for saving us from a socialist takeover and national bankruptcy.



Yet the defenders of our Democratically controlled Congress are also in the news today proclaiming all the good Congress has done this past year. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says Congress had a great year and things would have been much worse without their leadership. What tea leaves is he reading? What in the world are the pharmaceutical companies protected by Congress putting into the water in Washington, Prozac?



If Obama and our Congressional leaders say things are well on the way to recovery then the best thing that can happen is for Congress to do nothing while the people systematically vote them out of office. We deserve better than that. Yes "We", those people our forefathers proclaimed as the heart and soul of our Republic. Maybe Congress should read again our Declaration of Independence and remember it is not our declaration of partisan or special interest dependence.

To quote just a little of our Declaration:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

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Way To Go Joe - Vp’s Motorcade Injures 2 Former Olympic Gold Medalists At Vancouver Games

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There must be a reason Obama selected Joe Biden as his vice president, perhaps for comic and sometime tragic relief.



Wasn't it was just three months ago that Vice President Joe Biden’s motorcade struck and killed a pedestrian in Washington, DC.



Later that same month, a car in Biden’s motorcade hit a sheriff’s deputy in New Mexico.



Then, the vice president’s advance security detail crashed into a cab in New York City.



And now, Biden’s one man demolition derby has reached international proportions as he struck again, this time nearly wiping out Peggy Fleming, a crown jewel of our Olympic delegation at the Vancouver Games along with another USA gold medal winner Vonetta Flowers.



Both were treated for injuries and taken to a hospital but seem to have fared better than most Biden victims.



So here we go Joe, do not pick up passengers in your motorcade. We know you are the defender of the administration's economic stimulus plans but you will never generate many jobs wrecking your motorcade over and over again.



There are easier ways to help the auto industry sales and to protect our national champions so in the future do your part, fly instead of drive to your meetings, promotions, Olympic games and whatever else you do to keep up appearances as our vice president.

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Did Senator Evan Bayh Retire to Replace Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff?

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The Associated Press said in yesterday's stunning announcement that:

"Two-term Sen. Evan Bayh says ever-shriller partisanship and the frustrations of gridlock made it time for him to leave Congress. Republicans aren't buying it, saying he and fellow Democrats sense that voters will be after their heads this fall.

The Indiana Democrat, a moderate who twice came close to being added to his party's national ticket, said Monday he will not seek re-election this November. The announcement gives Republicans a strong chance of capturing his seat and makes it likelier that the 59 votes that give Democrats command of the 100-seat Senate will dwindle.

Bayh, 54, said his passion for helping people is "not highly valued in Congress." He said he did not love the institution in which his father, Birch Bayh, had also represented Indiana."



Well I for one don't really believe his explanation. Bayh was a potential powerhouse among moderate Democrats with a history of working for bi-partisan government. His credentials were everything the American people are looking for in leaders of the new America.

There are several reasons I think he retired and having watched his career, I do not doubt the veracity of what he said. His Midwest background and father's influence are indeed significant causes for him to express frustration with liberal Democrats and the inertia of Congress. His acute awareness of the unfair need for elected officials to spend much of their time raising money for the next campaign is exactly why I got out of politics so I am encouraged he pointed out the huge flaw in our political system.



Yet there is more I suspect beneath the surface because a person like Bayh is needed now more than ever. To explain let me first outline what else happened yesterday when he announced he was retiring at the end of the year. The most powerful person in the Senate, Democratic leader Harry Reid, did not find out about this dramatic development until after Bayh made the announcement. It is unheard of that a party boss would be left out in the cold on such an important matter impacting on the future control of the US Senate by the Democrats.

Yet immediately after he made the announcement the President and White House praised Bayh and said they were aware of his decision beforehand. Why would he consult the president and not the leader of the Senate where he is a member? Let me give you a clue.

The White House has demonstrated how to mismanage the presidency to a degree not often seen before with tactics that infuriated both the Democrats controlling the House and Senate as well as the public and the Republicans. Since before Obama took office I pointed out how they were making one of the first sins of government, expecting the hard nosed opportunists from the campaign to be able to run the nation's government.



No newly elected president has done that because they know the campaign people have neither the experience nor the ability to work with all elected officials, Democrats and Republicans, once elected. By nature the campaign people are paranoid, living in constant fear the other politicians will undermine their efforts. To compensate they use heavy handed tactics to force loyalty from their own party, Democrats, and use intimidation and threats to try and control the opposition party, the Republicans.

It never works. All new administrations make a series of staff mistakes that take one to two years to correct. Obama made these mistakes throughout his fledgling administration loading his staff with friends and associates, campaign contributors and lobbyists. Time after time his own people have been his biggest burden and their actions have upset those who know what makes the government tick.



To be successful a president must surround himself with people who are not paranoid and who know they must govern for all the people, not just those throwing money at them. Thus the White House staff is a sea of turmoil when they have no policy, executive nor practical experience in a bi-partisan world.

Such appointments are not necessarily a sign of weakness but a sign of inexperience. In time the polls and the inability of the president to govern make these mistakes obvious. Perhaps Obama has finally seen the light and realizes his strident and petty staff are his own worst enemy.



Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been the most striking example of how a staff member can get a president in trouble. Every major failure of the Obama administration can be laid at the doorstep of the Chief of Staff from secret deals with the pharmaceutical companies and unions (SEIU) to interfering in local elections (New Jersey, Virginia and Massachusetts).

When your key aide is the cause of your failure to govern the key aide becomes an untenable liability and now many people are questioning the judgment of Obama's Little Napoleon. I suspect the reason Obama knew about the Bayh resignation in advance is that Obama may have talked to Bayh about taking over as his new Chief of Staff. It was necessary for Bayh to clear the way to move to the White House and take over.

By announcing his retirement when he did, the day before the filing deadline for someone to run for his Senate seat, it left no one time to file as the Democratic candidate for Senate from Indiana. Since no one expected Bayh to leave no one was prepared to file the next day. This means the State Democratic party in Indiana can select the next candidate for the people, giving them time to recruit the best possible candidate for the race.

It is all too convenient for Bayh to end up taking over as Chief of Staff for Obama and solving one of the biggest headaches for the president, how to get Emanuel out of there. Bayh could resign at any time and his seat would be filled by governor's appointment. The governor is a Republican in Indiana but Bayh could make a deal with him on his replacement, appointing a Democrat who will not run for office in the fall. The Indiana governor is a weak form of state organization so he may very well make a deal to get the seat open and to get a friend (Bayh) in the White House.



If Obama does not make moves to fix his White House staff there will be a series of resignations by cabinet members like Hillary Clinton who are sick and tired of the backroom politics of Emanuel and the other staff members and see their ability to represent the United States being undermined by the politics in the White House. Bayh would be in a great position to help the president and smooth over the ruffled feathers on Capitol Hill.

Remember, President Reagan was successful because he had former Congressman and moderate James Baker as his Chief of Staff. Obama could learn from Reagan's experience. It was Baker who helped make Reagan one of the most popular presidents of all time. Oh yes, as an early supporter of Hillary in her campaign for president Bayh would go a long ways toward healing the deep wounds between Obama and the Clintons.

Stay tuned...

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Walter B. Dorsey, Third Generation Political Legend, Remembered

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Last December 6 Southern Maryland lost a fascinating political legend, a brilliant legal mind, one of the most colorful prosecutors and defenders in Maryland and a founder of the conservative movement within the Democratic party that has now extended from coast to coast when Walter B. Dorsey lost a decades long battle to cancer.



I was honored to spend time interviewing Walter shortly before his death and to gain a deep appreciation of the fascinating family history interwoven into the Maryland political landscape by the Dorsey family. Talking to Walter, in spite of the medical difficulties he experienced, was a bit like listening to a famed politician like Tip O'Neil from Massachusetts, former Speaker of the House and legendary story teller. I had occasion to visit with Tip and Walter holds his own in that league.



His love of life, even with his condition, always trumped the difficulties he faced and after we talked Walter was off in a car driving to Florida with his oxygen bottles and survival gear daring the Angel of Death to just try and take him. There simply are no more politicians like Walter left and it would be a crying shame if the lessons he could teach us are not learned.



When he died it was the end of a tumultuous yet golden era in Southern Maryland and statewide politics as this third generation public servant put his indelible stamp on history and left a rich legacy of service, a shrewd record of political survival and a mosaic of interwoven personal experiences that made Walter bigger than life.



Then again, it was only appropriate that this son of a son of a son of an Irishman would use his Irish wit, his Leprechaun mischief, his command of language and gift of storytelling to mesmerize juries, outwit the opposition and more likely than not aggravate the judges while amassing a stunning record of victory in court and politics.



Walter was first and foremost a people person with a love of knowledge, a hunger for defending the little people and a panache for competition and controversy. He came from two generations of political activists, a heritage in Southern Maryland transcending centuries and a desire to fight for what was right.



Before that the ancestral family came from Ireland by way of England, France and Nordic countries with the name changing from D'Arcy in France to Dorsey in Ireland. It was Ireland where Phil's brother John met the Mayor of Dublin, John Dorsey, on a trip.



Fate put him in a family where politics ran in the blood. His great grandfather was Philip Dorsey, born in Calvert County but an adventurer who was part of the 1849 gold rush in California. Walter once told me family lore says his great grandfather Philip found gold and once owned a claim to what became San Francisco. Then he caught a ship for home that sailed around South America.



Family legend has it the ship wrecked rounding Cape Horn off Chile and Philip was lost at sea and given up for dead. More than two years later he showed up in Maryland saying he walked all the way up the Amazon through South, Central and North America to St. Mary's County, Maryland. As for his claim for San Francisco, he probably lost it in a poker game.



His grandfather, Walter B. Dorsey, was first elected to the Maryland House of delegates in 1911 while his father, Judge Philip H. Dorsey was a Circuit Court Judge who was elected Senator in 1926 and to the House of Delegates in 1930 and 1934. Walter was first elected State Attorney in 1954, then elected to the State Senate in 1958, the third generation Dorsey to serve in the state legislature. He was then elected State Attorney again in 1982, 1986, 1990 and 1994. From 1962-66 he served as Assistant Attorney General for the state and in the 1970's he served as the Deputy Maryland Public Defender.



During the three generations of Dorsey politics Southern Maryland became a hotbed for statewide politics and many a weekend was spent at the Dorsey home with whoever the presiding governor of Maryland might be. You see, in those days the Democrats controlled the Baltimore area and the Republicans controlled the Washington suburbs. To win you often needed St. Mary's County and that meant the Dorsey family.



After a volatile, stellar and most unusual political career Walter then went on to build businesses with his brother and son and was behind many developments in St. Mary's County along with building a Checkers hamburger franchise of nearly a dozen stores throughout Maryland.



Though not a Catholic he was a friend of many Catholic leaders in the Archdiocese and often the Catholic sermons in the county included a priest singing the praises of the latest Dorsey candidate for public office. He was also generous to a fault and never hesitated to help out an organization working to benefit the people of the county.



His years in public service saw many landmark legal cases, numerous precedent setting decisions, and a colorful history that will never be matched again. Maryland will be without a proper and accurate history of the 20th century if the Dorsey story is not told by his surviving children, Philip H. Dorsey, III, Helen Marie Dorsey and John Michael Dorsey. Then again, a fourth generation Dorsey in politics might just be a good thing as well.



In terms of family heritage in Coltons Point, the family still has property in Coltons Point overlooking St. Clement's Island. They are directly related to the Blackistone family who owned St. Clement's Island and Manor having acquired it in the 1600's through marriage to the Gerard family. The Gerards were the original aristocrats of St. Clement's Island and Manor fame and they were financiers of the Ark and the Dove trip to Maryland in 1633.



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Don't You Just Love America's Humor?

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A billboard in Minnesota gives a chuckle to a nation weary of politics.

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Sarah Palin - America's Valentine's Day Gift to Liberals

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Why is it the elite liberals of America have such an obsessive attraction to Sarah Palin, the people's voice from the wilderness whose determination to rid the establishment of old time politicians drives a stake into the heart of liberals leaving them frothing at the mouth when she speaks or Twitters?

Of all people it is the intellectual wing of the liberal cause that is first and most furious to react to virtually any act, words or appearances of Palin from the writing on her hand to the words from her mouth. You would think after all these years in politics they would understand when it comes to Palin, it is the far left that empowers her, keeps her in the limelight, and makes her bigger than life.



Now I have been involved in politics a long time working for Democrats, Republicans and Independents over the years and with the exception of Ross Perot, whose Independent movement brought down a Republican president 18 years ago, there has never been a phenomena quite like Sarah. It seems that all those in opposition to Palin have gone brain dead in trying to deal with her.

First take a look at the polls. Palin's claim to fame before the vice presidential race was being governor of Alaska, a state few know anything about. Her meteoric rise as vice president candidate was fueled by the most vicious attacks in politics ever seen bringing truth to the old adage that the more you attack the more sympathy the public is likely to give that person. American's like underdogs and never was the media and liberal community more guilty of creating the very underdog they came to fear and loath.



But you would have thought the election of Obama would have ended that. When she resigned as Alaska governor six months later and two years before the end of her term, a sure sign of political fatigue, it should have been the last we heard from the moose hunter from Alaska. But it was only the beginning of her rise to standard bearer for all who are fed up with politics as usual.

Palin has defied the odds over and over again in spite of the increasing outcry by the White House, liberals, the media and special interests who keep her in the spotlight and have brought her to the consciousness of every voter in America. The vicious nature of attacks and incredible manipulation of the truth about her make her bigger than life and her opponents are to blame.

In politics, the first truism is people have got to know who you are, the infamous name recognition argument that rings true every election cycle. To keep people out of the news you ignore them. To keep people in the news you attack them. Those who do the latter lose and no one is more responsible for the astonishing name recognition of Sarah Palin than the liberal media and leftist intellectuals, with the sole exception of the White House staff and VP Joe Biden who remains somewhat detached from the elitist intellectuals running the White House.

In Biden's case his role is stalking horse for the president, a role he fulfills with blinders and quite well. Yet even Obama says Biden is deeply involved in everything done by the president so we must take Obama at his word, when Biden speaks about Palin it is the president who is speaking through him. The same with the Chicago gang in the White House who never miss a chance to discredit Palin no matter how far they have to stray from the truth. Their words are those of Obama.



Now acknowledging that the Obama campaign machine and the liberal media machine both blew it by failing to ignore her and in turn making Palin bigger than life, what is going on? I believe the hatred of Palin is so deeply entrenched that the liberals, especially media and intellectuals, and the White House elitists are so consumed they will never see the light and leave Sarah alone.

Palin does everything they expected to control and she has trampled on their perception of the role of the elite in society today. The liberals champion causes yet Palin can take on any cause and threaten their goals. For example take energy. She knows how to get energy independence with existing energy. They only believe their green society, Wall Street alignments and new energy are the future. Just when they expected Obama to implement all their untried and untested theories along comes Palin and stops them dead in their tracks.

They paint her as a fool yet she stops cap and trade legislation by telling the people the truth about it. A defeated candidate who resigned from her own office has the power to stop the special interests with no office, no base, not even support from her own political party. The same is true with the Obama secret deals with Wall Street, the ineffectiveness of stimulus and bailouts, the sheer idiocy of the health care potpourri and by raising questions about the sanctity of life.

No outsider with no political base has ever dominated the agenda of our Washington politicians and national media like Sarah and no outsider has generated the response, the attacks, the fear as Sarah has on the liberals and those trying to preserve the status quo.



Oh the incessant attacks have swayed some voters, mostly those members of the very special interests trying to steal America. But as Palin conquers one step at a time in capturing the consciousness of America her base grows as people don't have to believe she is qualified to be president, they just have to believe that she is honest, has family values, common sense and a desire to bring the government under control. She is the heart of the public and the voice of the silent Americans just as she is the only national figure who seems to listen and genuinely want to hear what the public has to say.



When Palin released a book, Going Rogue, that outsold all other political books in history, now surpassing two million copies, far more than any liberal or media person ever dreamed of selling, it was the last straw for the elite. How dare this half-baked grandmother from Alaska, a former beauty queen who dared marry her local sweetheart, who raised five kids and loved one with down syndrome, who hunted with real guns and even fished, who flew her own plane and dared speak for the people. It was just not right that the intellectuals could not sell books like Sarah.

So here we are, a year after her election defeat, six months after she resigned as governor, and what is Sarah doing? Well, this best selling author is leading the charge to throw the Democrats out of office, and the outsiders are three for three to date. She is now a Fox News commentator no longer needing the media for exposure. She is one of the highest paid speakers in America and has a powerful campaign committee helping out new politicians around the nation.

In this past week when the entire Northeast was buried under a snowstorm and the politicians were silent, it was the Beauty Queen from Alaska who dominated the media, stole the agenda of America, and simply refuses to go away. In response she has been blasted on every liberal media outlet every single day over stupid things while she was busy addressing issues and demonstrating that she has indeed changed since the elections.



Larry King had Vice President Biden on television talking about Palin. The White House resorted to their juvenile smear tactics to make fun of her notes on her hand. Liberal polls bombarded the media showing Palin was bad in a dozen different ways though Palin is not running for anything. The frenzy of attacks on Sarah was as great as any time during the last campaign and what happened during the campaign was one of the darker moments of our political history.

Still, if you ignored the political babbling there were stories and op-ed pieces about Palin by those who once upon a time were out to destroy her and suddenly a different tone was starting to be heard about the beast from the northwest. Both The New York Times and Washington Post ran articles warning the liberals that Sarah Palin deserved to be heard. She had a connection to Americans that should not be ignored.

The shock of Sarah in the media was suddenly overwhelmed by the far worse shock that some liberal media were saying maybe she did deserve to be heard

Love her or hate her, Sarah Palin is a political force that defies the odds and breaks the mold. She came from the backwoods and dominates the realm of the elite, the Internet, with her incessant Face Book barrages and multi-million book sales. Sarah makes life interesting, makes politicians accountable and brings family values and honesty to politics. Everyone, friend and foe, benefits from her crusade.



Clearly Sarah Palin is our Valentine's Day gift to liberals because if they accept the gift rather than reject it maybe Sarah will get a break, the media will leave her alone, and the liberals will stop making her bigger than life. We kind of like her being a moose hunter from Alaska with a bulls eye on the Wall Street and Washington establishments. You know you cannot stop her. Why don't you just leave our voice in the wilderness alone? Oh did I mention she just turned a young 46? Sarah may be around for quite a while.

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