You betcha! .......Sorta

Sarah Palin was in town last night for a speech to a sellout crowd at the Ritz. This morning's Naples Daily News headline brought us up short:

Palin in 2012? You Betcha!

Had Sarah announced for the big dance?

Upon closer inspection (i.e. We read the article) there was really no new news in the news:

“I’m thinking about it and praying about it,” Palin said when asked whether she’d run for president in 2012. “(But) whether I’m a candidate or not … I’m going to stay engaged.”

No harm done, we guess, if the local editor was trying to sell a few papers to those of us without the wherewithal to catch the speech in person. What came as a bit of a surprise was the negative tone of readers comments regarding Sarah's suitability for candidacy. Being from a blue state, we were ready for the nasty comments from the left, but there also seemed to be a lot of grousing coming from the other side of the aisle. Click HERE to check out the article and comments.

Sarah may not be our first choice for the 2012 Republican nomination, but we in no way subscribe to the over-the-top dismissal of her as a total light weight. I mean, last time around we elected a community organiser who, while he apparently did attend Columbia, managed to avoid any study of economics. And Harvard Law School where he seems to have been MIA when they covered constitutional law. So Sarah had to settle for plebeian state universities, but last we heard, the ivies, fine institutions that they are, do not have an exclusive on effective education. And lets not get too hasty in minimizing Sarah's experience as the Governor of Alaska. Of the four candidates in the last presidential election, she had more administrative experience than the other three combined. She also seemed to be the only one who could speak with experience regarding energy issues.

We welcome Sarah Palin's participation in the primary process and let the chips fall where they may. There are at least six serious candidates poised to toss their hats in the presidential ring. But as of last night, the only hat actually in the ring belongs to Tim Pawlenty. Wait, is that a hockey helmet?

And So it Starts - Pawlenty is In

Some say that it doesn't seem possible that we are once again at the beginning of the next presidential campaign. Others, including the View, think that it can't come fast enough if we are to sort out and resolve the confusion, uncertainty and gibberish that has symbolized the current administration's governance, first revealed in the jumble of domestic programs such as the massive health-care bill that still defies understanding and, more recently in the arena of international affairs. But with 2012 just around the corner, it is clearly time to start the process that will identify and nominate a candidate to run on the Republican ticket next year. Amid the six, or so, individuals generally seen as the most likely contenders, Tim Pawlenty stands out for a number of reasons.

First of all, Pawlenty may well be the least well-known of the field. But as the former two-term governor of Blue-state Minnesota, he established the reputation for effective management while dealing with a democratic legislature and strong public unions. He presents strong conservative bona-fides and is well-grounded in understanding the concerns of the average voters.

There are several reasons why Tim Pawlenty may well be the candidate we need in 2012:

We need a president with strong executive skills to effectively manage the massive federal government, ensuring that the purpose for each agency continues to be a high priority and revamping, or even eliminating, agencies where this is not the case.

We need a president who can establish and maintain a meaningful discussion as to which of our national goals should be pursued and which should be deferred so as to accommodate economic policies designed to preserve and defend the public fisc for generations yet to come.

And we need a president who can lead the movement to re-charge the American tradition of opportunity, rather than a handout, for all its citizens.

Last, but certainly not least, we need a president who recognizes and defends the role of the social structures and values that have provided solid underpinning to America's greatness for over two and one half centuries.

Job one for the rest of us is to get to know Tim. A good place to start is to view his recent facebook announcement message by clicking HERE Listen to his message and commit to find out more about him. Then, compare him with the other candidates. I think you will agree that Tim Pawlenty deserves a place on our short list.

Gentlemen, Start your Volvos

Former NPR commentator Juan Williams writing in the New York Post, March 15:

The recent videotape showing NPR chief fund-raiser Ron Schiller . . . is just an open microphone on what I've been hearing from NPR top executives and editors for years. They're willing to do anything in service to any liberal with money, and then they'll turn around and in self-righteous indignation claim that they have cleaner hands than anybody in the news business who accepts advertising or expresses a point of view.

Ron Schiller's performance on videotape—which included lecturing two young men pretending to be Muslims on how to select wine—is a "South Park"-worthy caricature of the American liberal as an effete, Volvo-driving, wine-sipping, NPR-listening dunderhead.

NPR's many outstanding journalists are caught in a game where they are trying to please a leadership that doesn't want to hear stories that contradict the official point of view. . . . This just confirms my belief that it is time for our government to get out of the business of funding NPR. The idea, to me, of government-funded media doesn't fit the United States.

Do you think that NPR regrets firing Juan?

YAWN!!!

Bears hibernate in the winter, probably because its cheaper and easier than migrating to a warmer climate. Not having known many bears on a personal basis, however, I'm not real sure how long it takes for the bear to re-acclimate once it has climbed back out into the real world. All of which is a round about excuse for the lack of posts over the past two months. Now that The View is ensconced in its southern quarters in sunny Florida, perhaps the creative juices might begin to thaw.

Fortunately for Western Civilization, current events have continued during our extended winter recess, and there is ample material crying for comment.

To wit, the labor wars in Wisconsin have provided quite a spectacle. There they are, the rank and file, chanting and beating on drums, protesting the Governor's efforts at achieving something approaching balance with regard to the public fisc. This standoff has raised a long overdue discussion about the rationale for public employee unions. But before we get all tied up in a discussion of the linkages, or lack thereof, between teachers union and the efficacy of the public schools, some thought needs to be given to whether such unions make sense in the first place.

Writing in today's Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan makes an excellent point about the difference between public employee union negotiations and real world union negotiations. The Pegster is one of our faves, even if she does get a little off track now and again. Fortunately for all, she is spot on here:

When union leaders negotiate with a politician, they're negotiating with someone they can hire and fire. Public unions have numbers and money, and politicians need both. And politicians fear strikes because the public hates them. When governors negotiate with unions, it's not collective bargaining, it's more like collusion. Someone said last week the taxpayers aren't at the table. The taxpayers aren't even in the room.

Given the ever-tightening fiscal noose, it will not be long before the question of public employee unions comes to a municipality near you. stay tuned.

You also might want to read all of Peggy's article and decide who we might select to play Johnny Friendly in the inevitable remake of "On The Waterfront". Instead of a longshoreman played by Marlin Brando, we could have Jonathan Kozol as head of the Romance Language department at Boston Latin leading the charge for union equity. Click HERE for the entire article