Breaking: Sarah Palin does a robo-call for Ted Cruz

I picked up the phone and, lo and behold, it was Governor Sarah Palin making a robo-call for Ted Cruz in Texas. If I’d had let it go to voicemail, I could have recorded it for you.

Folks, she’s engaging. And that’s a good thing!

Cross-posted from RodericDeane.com

Here is the audio of the robo-call, courtesy of the Ted Cruz campaign.

Vetting a VP candidate…by A.B. Culvahouse

Excellent article by the man who vetted Sarah Palin:

A short list of five to 15 leading Americans soon will be notified that the presumptive Republican nominee for president believes they are serious contenders to be his running mate. They will be asked for their agreement to join him on the GOP ticket if chosen, and in the meantime, to submit to a most intrusive and far-reaching vetting by lawyers and advisers working for the campaign. No other candidate, not even the presidential nominee himself, is subjected to the same scrutiny.

I have been a lawyer on both sides of the Republican vice-presidential vetting process. I helped potential nominees navigate the vetting gauntlet in four elections, starting in 1976, and I had the honor of doing the vetting on behalf of John McCain’s 2008 campaign. For those of you who’ve managed to steer clear of the revisionist HBO movie about that campaign, I led the team that vetted Sarah Palin, apparently the five most newsworthy days of my life.

[--]

The vetting of Sarah Palin was no less rigorous, just compressed. She was a late addition to the short list, catapulted into contention by the campaign’s calculus that a woman would broaden the ticket’s appeal. Our team of lawyers churned out the expected detailed written vetting report—only we packed eight weeks of research into less than one. We pulled information from Alaska-centric websites, including her local critics’ blogs and copies of Wasilla church sermons.

You can read the whole article here.

Cross-posted from RodericDeane.com

Crony Capitalism – Part Deux

Last week, I talked with Peter Schweizer and Stephen Bannon about Peter’s new book, “Throw Them All Out!” Peter’s book is a huge eye-opener to the legalized graft that exists in Washington, D.C.

Dictionary.com provides a definition as follows:

graft [noun]

1. the acquisition of money, gain, or advantage by dishonest, unfair, or illegal means, especially through the abuse of one’s position or influence in politics, business, etc.

2. a particular instance, method, or means of thus acquiring gain or advantage.

3. the gain or advantage acquired.

Of course, there are other definitions of the word “graft”, but we’ll go the definition that suits us.

Peter Schweizer talked about a number of ways that Washington politicians take advantage of their positions and use inside knowledge to enrich themselves. His book talked about insider-trading, land acquisitions based on inside knowledge, the power of campaign contributions and lobbying efforts to sway legislation to one’s advantage. What’s really sad is that most if not all of the examples cited in his book are perfectly legal. Why, you ask? Because the people that make the laws exempt themselves from that which is enforced against us, their lowly constituents.

Since Schweizer’s book has come out, Congressional hearings have been scheduled after an outcry within Republican Max Baucus’s district. Calls for his immediate resignation after disclosures in Schweizer’s book have forced him to capitulate to these demands. He has scheduled Congressional hearings this December about insider-trading in Washington as an alternative to his resignation. The big question will be whether of not any of these hearings will really effect change.

Oh, I suspect that we’ll see a few Representatives and their staffers get slaps on the wrist, but I seriously doubt that we’ll see meaningful changes until the full scope of the problem becomes known and reported on. Mainstream media is hesitant to report on examples of this legalized graft for fear of losing access to inside sources of information so vital to their jobs.

What we know is that there is a symbiotic relationship between Congress, the mainstream media and what I’ll call Big Lobby. It is the lobbyists’ money that everyone is beholden to. It forms the basis for everything else that leads to legalized graft because it is the conduit through which all information flows.

To be fair, there are certainly other instances of legalized graft that don’t go through the network of Big Lobby, but those instances still involve insider information that Congressional leaders are privvy to. Case in point is Dennis Hastert, the former Republican Speaker of the House. He was privvy to information about the path of a new highway near certain property that he owned. The path of the highway changed and miraculously ran near or through some of his property. You all know what has happened in our communities when a new highway is built to ease congestion into and out of our cities. These highways become the new growth areas and anyone holding property rights at or near an interchange can see huge gains in the value of their land as developers clamor to acquire them.

The truly scary part about all of this is that Washington, D.C. sets the stage for every other level of government, including state, county and local. The major difference is that as politics become more local in scope, the effects on us as individuals are more apparent and measurable. When a United States Congressman takes advantage of his or her position, it is often manifested in areas outside of his or her district and outside the scope of local news reporting.

Our Framers felt very strongly about citizen legislators that would bring the concerns of their constituents to Washington. As we’ve all become part of the “information age”, we now have access to information that extends far beyond local issues. In addition, our legislators no longer deal in information unique to their local districts. As citizens, we must recognize the different world that we live in and adjust accordingly.

Our Framers gave us tools to adapt our founding principles. That doesn’t mean that we cast aside those principles, it only means that we have the ability to address current times and continue to maintain those principles. What we’re seeing today is an abomination of those principles. It’s time to go back to the drawing board and reign in the explosion of extra-Constitutional laws and activities that were never meant to be there in the first place. As Sarah Palin likes to put it, now is the time for sudden and relentless reform. Otherwise, our Constitution will cease to have meaning in our society and we will once again become subject to the powers that be in some far-off place.

Today, that place is Washington, D.C.
_______________________________________________________

You can listen to the show HERE.

The aftermath of Sarah saying NO

Monologue from today’s Roderic Deane Show:

It’s been a tough week for Palinistas out there, including me. With the exception of a few concerning comments Sarah made in a recent conversation with Greta van Susteren, I still expected her to jump in to the race for the GOP nomination. Instead, she announced on Wednesday that she will not be seeking the GOP nomination, nor would she mount a challenge on a third-party ticket.

In her speech to Liberty University yesterday, she said:

After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.

She went on to say:

From the bottom of my heart I thank those who have supported me and defended my record throughout the years, and encouraged me to run for President. Know that by working together we can bring this country back – and as I’ve always said, one doesn’t need a title to help do it.

So, does that end it?

For me, the answer is NO. Sarah released her statement and, at the very same time, joined Mark Levin at the very beginning of his radio show. During her conversation with Mark, she stressed that fact that she will be out there helping common-sense conservatives get elected and doing everything she can to put an end to the Obama administration. I think that deserves at least one, big fist-pump, don’t you?

Entertaining the thought of running for the Presidency has to be a daunting thing, especially for someone who views public service with “a servant’s heart”. I think we can all attest to the fact that blind ambition fueled the rise of Barack Obama. What’s chilling is the fact that he pursued the Presidency after voting “present” on many, many issues. Now that he’s in the Oval Office, what has he done?

Well, for starters, he gave Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Timothy Geithner free reign to write the trillion-dollar stimulus bill, which, I might add, had absolutely no effect on our economy. After that, he abdicated his leadership and allowed Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to write his own signature legislation, which we now call Obamacare. Now, he expects Congress to pass his jobs bill, which is just more of the same spend, spend, spend mentality!

Today, as we witness the protests on Wall Street and other financial centers throughout the United States, we must keep in mind one thing. Barack Obama’s roots are as a “community organizer”, or, better put, a community agitator. He has purposely supported anti-capitalist protests by giving sympathy to their cause, suggesting that their grievances are legitimate. By so doing, he has supports anti-American sentiment in our own country.

The irony of these protests comes with the death of Steve Jobs, founder and visionary leader of Apple Computers. Steve Jobs exemplified the power of free-market capitalism to transform our lives and yet the protesters want to limit an entrepreneur’s ability to succeed. Their stated goal is to strip the entrepreneur of the rewards of his or her success by levying a heavy tax on a company’s profits. In essence, they want to eliminate the entrepreneur’s motivation to succeed. This is complete madness!

To give these protesters a little history, Apple Computers was started in the garage of Steve Jobs with the help of Steve Wozniak. Together, these two individuals revolutionized the computer industry in ways that historians will look back on in amazement. As of the latest reports on the company, Apple Computers employs 49,400 people, 12,000 at their corporate headquarters alone.

If anything, we should be cheering on the entrepreneur. They are the ones who will bring our economy out of this terrible slump, not government.

Having said that, I think we need to be supportive of Sarah Palin’s decision not to seek the office of the Presidency. There has been a lot of caterwauling by a number of her supporters since her decision was announced. The has to stop. As Sarah said yesterday:

“You trust me to be leader of the free world but you don’t trust my decision? Come on!”

We need to trust Sarah now, as we have in the past. I have no doubt that she’s got some plans up her sleeve that will make us all proud.

…and that’s my two-cents worth for the week.
__________

Guests on today’s show:

Peter Singleton
Nicole Coulter
Mr.L
Ron Devito
Stephen K. Bannon

You can listen to the show HERE.

Defining a servant’s heart

What follows is the monologue from today’s The Roderic Deane Show:

Tell me, my friends, how do you define a servant’s heart? More importantly, how will we know when we see it?

For the record, I don’t currently entertain the thought of elective office. It’s not that I wouldn’t be willing to govern as a true servant for my constituents, it’s just that I’ve chosen a different path in life. I do try and carry a servant’s thoughts with me as I go about my job. The goal is to make things work for my clients and to do so in an ethical and honest fashion. In fact, I hold honesty as the very first ideal in my professional life. I figure that honesty will supply all the ethics I need.

But what about those who choose to govern? What standards should we expect of them?

From my standpoint, first and foremost should be honesty. As a constituent, I never want to be “spun”. I want the unvarnished truth about whatever circumstances an official was elected to deal with. If stuff ain’t workin’, tell me! I’m a big boy, but I can only deal with the truth. I need to know the facts to advise my response, not bullshit, sorry, I meant spin.

Secondly, I expect anyone I vote for to adhere to the highest standard of ethics. I expect that person to rise above whatever “laws” have been prescribed for their particular office. In fact, I expect a Biblical interpretation of ethics. A STRICT Biblical interpretation! And no, I’m not talking about “an eye for an eye” kind of stuff. I’m talking about the Golden Rule “Treat others as you want to be treated” kinda stuff.

Why do I say that? Because the laws of man can never be depended on to guide a person’s soul. A Biblical interpretation can, as can a servants heart.

Take for instance the ethics laws in the State of Texas. They don’t have a lot of restrictions, outside of prohibiting outright fraud. The intent of the laws that are there can be circumvented rather easily.The State of Alaska, however, has taken ethics to a whole new level. It doesn’t leave nearly as much to interpretation, nor should it. We know what can happen when one doesn’t take a Biblical view of ethics and depends on man’s law. You’re only get people to go with the minimum requirements.

Did you ever wonder why we have so many attorneys in this country? We’ve had to construct a myriad of laws to, basically, guide man’s ethics. The thought of a servant’s heart seems a distant memory to most. Remember when a handshake used to count so much? What about man’s word, a promise? I guess it depends on what the meaning of the word word is.

Sarah is pointing us toward something when she calls on the need for a servant’s heart. I think that the Washington elites can’t see it because they’ve invested themselves completely in the so-called “rule of law”. And yes, we are a country that believes in the “rule of law”. I’m going to up the ante a bit, however. I really think that the majority of this country believes in the “rule of God’s law”, not man’s law. Man’s law can be written to the advantage of a small group of individuals and we see that all the time. If my attorney is bigger and better than yours, I’ll win in an interpretation of man’s law. But do we need some high-priced lawyer to help us define God’s law?

In the past, who did we depend on to help us understand God’s law? The answer is simple. We depended on our spiritual counselor, our preacher or our pastor. But even with the very best of intentions, we’ve seen where the bureaucracy of a church can thwart the rule of God’s law. Look no further than the Catholic Church and their terrible lack of an immediate response to all the pedofiles in their midst. Look no further than the scandals that have continued to rock the world of televangelism. Look at the terrible consequences that have been wrought on the world by the medieval tenets of sharia law.

We have always governed ourselves as a Judeo-Christian nation and the vast majority of Americans still believe we should continue to. I would venture to say that we have supplanted the term “conservative” for “Judeo-Christian” in these politically-correct times. We’ve lost sight of our roots and run from them for fear of persecution. Many now run for fear of being persecuted due to their “conservative” beliefs. It’s no different than Peter denying knowing Jesus three times. The good news is that Peter recognized what he had done and took himself to task for it. Now, too, we see many Americans awakening to what they have denied in the past. We’re seeing it in the Tea Party today. Why do you think that so many people are now telling pollsters that their support of the Tea Party has waned? It’s because they fear persecution, it’s not because they don’t still believe in what the Tea Party stands for.

That notion was borne out in the November, 2010 elections and it’s going to happen again in 2012. The difference will be who we choose to lead the Republican ticket in the Presidential election. We need someone to embody the principles of the Tea Party, of conservatives and of Judeo-Christian belief. We need someone that understands how much more important God’s law is to our growing worship of man’s law. We need someone with a true servant’s heart to lead us back to our roots.

If we try to define what “a servant’s heart” is, we must first look at the Bible. A “servant” is one who does his master’s bidding. In Judeo-Christian belief, we have but one master in this life and that is Almighty God. Maybe now you can begin to understand why Sarah Palin, Judeo-Christians, the Tea Party and conservatives are all intertwined. It’s because they all implicitly understand the meaning of “a servant’s heart”. It also why those who oppose these groups are so afraid. They know fully well that only God’s law is a threat to man’s law and their cling to power.

…and that’s my two-cents worth for the week.

You can listen to the show HERE.

In the aftermath of a blockbuster Sunday show…

As I reflect back on the show from yesterday, I want to let you know what happened during the show and provide my observations of the aftermath. I have to tell you, it is absolutely maddening when something doesn’t go right during a live broadcast, which happened at the start of the show. Of all days to experience an issue, yesterday was not the day I wanted to deal with Murphy’s Law!

As I started the show and began my monologue, I could hear a repeat of what I was saying that followed with a ~10 second delay. At first, I worried that this feedback was being broadcast. I then reasoned that it couldn’t be, because my call-screener was not alerting me to anything wrong.

As I focused on my monologue, it was hard to fight the urge to trouble-shoot the issue. I told myself that I had a live audience and had to keep forging ahead, despite the fact that I was hearing my own words repeated back to me in my headset. When I ended my monologue and brought Ivan on the show, it gave me a brief respite while he talked so I could try to understand what was happening. I thought that one of my audio feeds must have been causing the problem and MUTED my broadcast feed, thinking it was something other than what it was! Thank God Ivan was on site. He rushed into the studio and told me he couldn’t hear anything.

I took my feed off mute and stumbled into a conversation with Peter Singleton, after having given my introduction while muted. Sheesh! After I greeted Peter and gave him an opportunity to speak, I noticed something. I had opened up a separate browser window in addition to my broadcast page. Unbeknownst to me, when the show started, that other browser window, which was on the show page, started playing my broadcast, with a 10 second delay. No one could hear it except me!

When I realized what I’d done, I immediately closed that window and, to my relief, the feedback stopped! I kept moving forward in my conversation with Peter Singleton, thinking that the rest of the show would go off without a hitch. Au Contaire!

The show continued to move forward on schedule, leading up to the second biggest “get” I’ve ever had (Jedediah Bila was the first): an interview with Stephen Bannon! I was really looking forward to the conversation, but as the show approached the time of his call-in, Murphy’s Law visited me again: he wasn’t there! I felt terrible keeping Adrienne Ross on the line because I knew she still wasn’t feeling up to par. On the fly, I decided to thank Adrienne and end my conversation with her. The problem was, my next guest wasn’t there!

I segued into my recorded conversation with O.P. Ditch. O.P., if you’re reading this, you saved my bacon! After I started the audio clip, I sent an email to Stephen Bannon. My message was simple: “Stephen, waiting for you to call in to the Roderic Deane Show at 877-478-5783″.

I had to split my audio file with O.P. into two parts, thanks to the constraints of BlogTalkRadio. By the time I had found Stephen’s email address and sent him an email, the first clip of my conversation with O.P. was winding down. I provided a brief introduction to my second clip with O.P. and started that audio file.

To my never-ending relief, I noticed a new call on the line and I waited to be alerted by Ivan, my call-screener. As I watched the monitor, all of a sudden the notice came up: Stephen is on!

I now had to figure out how to end the audio clip that was playing. As Stephen waited in the “wings”, so to speak, we both listened to my conversation with O.P. When the audio clip provided an appropriate break, I cut it off and sequed into an introduction of Stephen Bannon, after offering an apology to O.P.

Stephen delivered a great conversation for the rest of the show. As I looked at the time, I thanked Stephen for calling in and went into my lead-out routine. The show ended with 30 seconds to spare.

Epilogue:
After the show was over, I knew I wasn’t done. I had to contend with the “technical issues” at the start of the show. Live listeners are great, but the beauty of BlogTalkRadio is having your broadcast available to anyone at the time of their choosing. I knew I had to “fix” the start of the show.

I went back to my studio and re-recorded the entire start of the show, including my monologue. I copied the newly-recorded start into the downloaded show, replacing the live version. After finishing, I uploaded the new audio file to BlogTalkRadio in the hopes that archive listeners would not have to experience all my technical difficulties.

By 4:00pm, 3 hours after the show ended, the new audio was available on BlogTalkRadio. I emailed the audio file to Stephen Bannon’s technical team, at his request. At that moment, I suddenly started feeling exhausted, having FINALLY completed the day of my blockbuster show. But I wasn’t finished. I had promised Stephen Bannon that I would listen to his radio broadcast later that night.

I have to be honest. I did stay awake long enough to listen to Stephen Bannon’s show, but I don’t remember anything about it. As soon as it was over, I turned off my laptop and went to bed. It was 9:30pm Central Time.

What a day!

You can listen to the show HERE.

Cross-posted from Roderic Deane

Waiting for Sarah Palin

Monologue from today’s The Roderic Deane Show:

Sarah Palin told us all to keep our powder dry. Who on earth says that?

Well, no commander would tell their troops to keep their powder dry if he (or she) wasn’t intending to use that ammunition for a specific purpose. Despite our best intentions, we do not know what the commander’s plan is, nor should we. If we did, we could subject it to ruin.

Do you remember hearing about one of the public maxims during WWII? “Loose lips sink ships!” This was a reminder to everyone that they, too, had a responsibility for maintaining our security during the war. Such is the reason we trust in our commanders.

One of the things that troops are expected to do as they await battle is to ready themselves. They make sure that their weapons and other equipment are in tip-top working order. They maintain their fitness, not knowing when they’ll be called upon to take themselves to the limit. They often keep journals to provide both themselves and their loved ones with a chronicle of their experiences. They develop strong bonds with fellow soldiers, for that fellowship will be needed in battle. They practice and drill to make sure that their skills do not fail them under fire.

Blockbuster show on Sunday!

I’ve wanted to focus on what people are doing as we wait for the dust to settle from the GOP debates and before Sarah Palin announces her intentions. I decided to reach out to the Palin blogosphere and elsewhere to help me with my show.

Here is the line-up for this Sunday’s “The Roderic Deane Show”, airing at 11am CT, noon ET:

Hour 1: Peter Singleton, Co-Coordinator of O4P (Organize4Palin) in Iowa; Ron Devito, “US4Palin” blogger and Coordinator of the NY Chapter of Organize4Palin (NY4Palin).

Hour 2: Adrienne Ross, “MotivationTruth” blogger and major contributor to the C4P (Conservatives4Palin) website; Stephen K. Bannon, Producer and Director of the Sarah Palin documentary “The Undefeated“; O.P. Ditch, “Vets4Sarah” organizer and major participant in the Maryland chapter of O4P.

I’m really looking forward to the show and I hope you are too!

Major hat tip to: Nicole Coulter, for helping me gain introductions to so many folks.

Cross-posted from Roderic Deane

A funny thing happened on the way to 2012

If you’re at all like me, you’re starting to get antsy about the 2012 election. The economy seems to be going nowhere, jobs are not being created and our officials in Washington are mindlessly playing cat and mouse games, or, as Rush calls it, “Chess”. The better question is: Who is the cat and who is the mouse? I tend to think that Washington in general seems to think they are the cat and we, their constituents, are the mouse.

Au contraire! (That’s vichy-speak for “on the contrary”.) I see things differently. I see Washington as the mouse and all of us conservative, Tea Party types as the cat. We’re just waiting for the opportunity to pounce, but alas, we have to wait until next year.

Or do we?

What should we make of the current GOP field? What should we make of the spectacle of debate so far? In a word: NOTHING! The current GOP field is wasting its powder in a comical, yet tragic, circular firing squad. They just can’t seem to rise above the politics of the establishment’s nomination process. Further, they just can’t seem to distinguish themselves to the electorate (us) in a meaningful way. How sad….

As we watch this tragedy of the absurd, we hear the pundits in Washington suggest that more fodder is needed for the cannons of mediocrity. If I were a potential candidate thinking of getting into the race, I’d take pause before jumping in right now. Why participate in a circular firing squad? Why not wait until the smoke has cleared and you can see who has survived the month of September?

No, in my book, this is a waiting game. Although it’s always been a game of “last man standing”, it doesn’t have to be. The person who defines the game in his (or her) own terms can win. It just takes a steel spine to believe in your tactics. It also takes an ability to convince your troops to keep their powder dry.

Sarah Palin is playing the most significant cat and mouse game in our collective memory. While extolling her troops to keep their powder dry, she has served up a magnificent feast of issues that resonate across recent history. With her Iowa Tea Party speech, she turned the popular narrative to a discussion about the perils of corporate, crony-capitalism. Those perils are unfolding before our eyes as we learn about Gardasil, Solyndra and, most recently, LightSquared.

Nope, it appears that Sarah Palin has hit the nail on the head. The current field of GOP candidates is well-advised to follow her lead, or, of course, they can continue to blaze away in their current circular firing squad.

This reminds me of a play, only this time, the title should be “A funny thing happened on the way to 2012!”

Cross-posted from Roderic Deane

Help wanted, incumbents need not apply

Looking for a conservative candidate that can espouse and demonstrate an understanding of the United States Constitution. This candidate must have a very strong history of adhering to ethics and show a willingness to challenge the status quo, despite the consequences. Any past, negative media campaigns that were initiated to undermine this candidate’s conservative, constitutional governing style will be considered a plus in this candidate’s application.

A keen sense of fiscal restraint and cost-cutting abilities are a must. The candidate must also have executive experience at running a large organization. Candidates should also have a proven ability to attract and employ conservative subordinates who will also conform to the guiding principles of the United States Constitution.

This candidate must demonstrate an ability to “think outside the box”, challenging conventional wisdom with regards to established, mainstream political thought and opinion. A proven ability to develop bi-partisan legislative majorities is a needed requirement for this position.

This candidate should submit their application in such a way that ensures their inclusion as a balloted candidate in all state’s nominating elections. The successful navigation of this nominating process will be tantamount for consideration of this position.

Incumbents need not apply. Candidates would be well-advised to submit their application with a first name listed as “Sarah”.

Cross-posted from Roderic Deane