PALIN FLASHBACK: Palin joins nation’s elite at exclusive dinner

Governor Palin, accompanied by Meg Stapleton, arrives at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D. C. for the exclusive Alfalfa Dinner.

Erika Bolstad at the Alaska Daily News wrote about Governor Palin’s attendance at the exclusive Alfalfa Club in Washington, D. C.  in January, 2009. 

Palin joins nation’s elite at exclusive dinner

EXCLUSIVE: Palin’s higher profile got her into the annual dinner.

By ERIKA BOLSTAD

Published: January 31st, 2009 08:29 PM
Last Modified: February 1st, 2009 12:27 AM

WASHINGTON — Mere months ago, Gov. Sarah Palin was introduced to the world as a hockey mom who hunts and fishes, remains grounded in small-town values and is married to her blue-collar, snowmachine-loving high school sweetheart.

Saturday night, Palin was whisked into the governors-and-Cabinet-members-only section of one of the capital’s most exclusive parties: the Alfalfa Club dinner. Wearing an elegant black satin evening gown and a matching wrap, hair loose to her shoulders, Palin was about as far away as anyone can get from field-dressing a moose.

The dinner was held in the heart of Washington, D.C., at the Capital Hilton within sight of the White House. Palin’s invitation to the Alfalfa Club was “a coup,” said Letitia Baldrige, who served as the White House social secretary and chief of staff to Jacqueline Kennedy.

“It’s something that everybody who’s anybody in politics wants to be invited to,” Baldrige said.

If a roasting by the most powerful people in America is a sign you’ve made it, then Palin had clearly arrived. Or, at the very least, was acknowledged Saturday night as one of the most interesting women in American politics.

The outgoing president of the Alfalfa Club, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, teased Palin in a way allowable only by a fellow veteran of the vice presidential campaign trail.

“I was seriously being considered to be McCain’s pick for vice president,” said Lieberman, Al Gore’s 2000 running mate and a former Democrat who campaigned for Sen. John McCain this year.

“But then John called me,” Lieberman said. “As he always does, he got right to the point. He said, ‘Joe, I can’t do it. I need more than just a pretty face.’

“I was so close. As close as Alaska is to Russia. You could almost say that from my doorstep I could see the vice president’s mansion,” he said.

The club’s roots are deep in Washington. While it has a prestigious guest list these days, it was a drinking club first and foremost when it was founded in 1913, said Donald Ritchie, the associate historian of the U.S. Senate. That’s where Alfalfa comes in — the alfalfa plant “put down deep roots and could always get a drink,” Ritchie said. The plant would “persevere to get a drink, and so would they.”

ultra-exclusive

The Alfalfa Club was so prestigious that in the 1920s and ’30s, Washington newspapers would print the names of attendees, Ritchie said. The annual dinner remains an enduring tradition that few besides insiders are allowed to glimpse.

Because its founders were Southerners — and in 1913, Washington was a Southern town — they chose Gen. Robert E. Lee’s birthday for the date of their annual celebration. The dinner continues to be around Lee’s birthday, Jan. 19, although the club’s origins appear to have little other connection to the Civil War general.

The guest list is the embodiment of the old question: If you could have a dinner party and invite anyone, who would be on your guest list? Did we mention that President Barack Obama was there, telling jokes?

“I know that many of you are aware that this dinner began almost 100 years ago as a way to celebrate the birthday of Gen. Robert E. Lee,” Obama said. “If he were here with us tonight, the general would be 202 years old. And very confused.”

The governor’s office wouldn’t say who invited Palin, but by tradition, each member is allowed two guests.

Her host could be among any number of famous, powerful or once-powerful members, including Palin’s fellow Alaskan, former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens, who also attended Saturday’s dinner.

Palin’s presidential running mate, Sen. John McCain, is a member. So is the man whose job she wanted: Vice President Joe Biden.

ted in the spotlight

According to accounts of the dinners of the past decade, the event retains the air of a 1950s fraternity banquet. Typically, the club’s members pick an honorary “president” each year — and do little else officially. In 2003, the Washington Post’s account reported that Stevens accepted the Alfalfans’ presidential nomination wearing a fur hat, sealskin vest and mukluks, and brandishing an oosik, a walrus penis bone.

Stevens laid out his health care platform, which, according to the Post, was to find a cure for frostbite. “When it comes to frostbite,” said Stevens, then 79, “what you have to worry about is nose, toes and something that at my age may as well be froze.”

Former first lady Barbara Bush had this comeback, according to the Post: “Ted, this is the third time you’ve brought one of those walrus things to this dinner. I hate to think what went on here before women were admitted.”

The Alfalfa Club did not allow women as members until 1993. But Saturday night, dozens of powerful women streamed in, some members, some guests: Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell on the arm of her husband, Alan Greenspan. And Palin.

palin keeps low profile

The governor’s weekend itinerary wasn’t limited to the Alfalfa Club. It included a Friday night dinner at the home of Fred Malek, who headed McCain’s campaign finance committee. She also was scheduled to meet with her Washington staff and attend a luncheon at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Palin has kept a low profile on this trip. She turned down all requests for interviews, including the other invitations that indicate one’s arrival in Washington: appearances on the Sunday morning talk shows. She also didn’t attend any events that could be perceived as partisan, including the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee, also this weekend.

What Sarah Palin Means to the World

I’ve been contemplating all that it means for Sarah Palin to run for the presidency of the United States. Yes, she’s fiscally conservative, so check one off for the Wisconsin debate to end the grip of unions on our government budgets. Yes, she’s pro-life and pro-marriage, as defined by DOMA, so check one off for social conservatives. She’s also against the ground-zero mosque, so check one off for our Christian heritage. She was also spot-on regarding enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya, so check one off for foreign affairs.

My thoughts then drifted to energy. Score another one for Sarah from the outset, as she’s been saying “drill, baby, drill” since drilling was cool. Now it’s been halted, thanks to Obama. I then thought about Obamacare. Yep, check one off there as well. Her “death panels” comment started the bill on its path to destruction, God willing.

Now I’m left with a different thought. What does Sarah Palin mean to the world?

Sarah Palin is the only politician in the world who can calm it. She doesn’t have to do much, she only has to convey a sense of resolve. I haven’t seen any resolve from Washington regarding all the events that are unfolding in the Mideast and elsewhere. I haven’t seen anyone step up on the world stage and say that this is NOT the end of times. (I’ve heard that….have you?) I don’t believe it, however, because I know how resilient the American economy is. And, after all, isn’t that what all the unrest is about: the economy?

Sarah Palin could announce that she will run for President of the United States, but it won’t be a simple announcement that will make a difference. It will be her personality and resolve to champion all things that make this country great that will have an impact. Hers is an understanding of this country’s greatness that mirrors the majority of Americans. The majority of Americans just don’t yet know that. They still only know the crap that’s being fed them by the left-wing, lamestream media. But that will change.

Ronald Reagan captured our sense of resolve and evoked a “can do” attitude when he began his campaign, which we sorely need right now. Barack Obama has done his level best to subvert our lofty expectations of the future and why? It’s quite simple, really. Barack Obama believes that government is the end-all, be-all of the American experience, which is as far from the truth as possible. Without the understanding that it’s the American people that make this country great, he is doomed. And without a strong America leading the way, our world is doomed to experience more unrest like we see today in the Mideast, northern Africa and elsewhere.

When the world senses a fading American dream, it loses its bearings and rightly so. We have to lead by example, not words. We have to lead by doing, not hoping. Moreover, we can only return to greatness if our leaders in Washington believe the same things that we do and get out of our way to prove it.

Sarah Palin oozes confidence in the American dream. She knows what will inspire us and it isn’t some government program. She has confidence in us and, so far, she’s the only politician that seems to understand that and has understood it from the beginning.

The minute that Ronald Reagan was elected President, the Iran hostage situation was over. The hostage takers knew their days were numbered with Reagan in office and they were right. The minute that Sarah Palin is elected President, the world will know that the United States has resurrected itself and act accordingly, deferring to principled leadership. That, my friends, is what Sarah Palin means to the world.

Cross-posted on Generational Dysfunction.

Four-Time Iron Dog Winner Todd Palin and 2008 Iron Dog Winner Eric Quam Place Second in 2011 Iron Dog Race

Eric Quam (left) and Todd Palin (right) cross finish line in Fairbanks 17 minutes behind Huntington-Olds team (Photo by Kortnie Horazdovsky at KTUU.com)

The Anchorage Daily News has posted an excellent overall summary of the 2011 Iron Dog race. However, they stated in error that Todd Palin is a three-time Iron Dog winner. This error was subsequently repeated several times across the news services. As we wrote here, the former First Dude was an Iron dog champion in 1995, 2000 (mentioned here), 2002, and 2007.  (Also see our IronDog Race page.) We at SPWB  are rooting for Win Number 5 for Todd Palin’s Iron Dog team in 2012.

This year, Team 11 made it to Nome in second place by a mere 4 minutes.  Later they were leading the pack out of  Nenana, but a problem with one of the skis on Todd’s snowmachine cost them the final victory by 17 minutes.  But second place in the world’s toughest long distance race is nothing to sneeze at.  Congratulations, Todd Palin and Eric Baum!

Our congratulations also go to Tyler Huntington and Chris Olds for their win and a job well done.

The ADN reported: 

Tyler Huntington of Fairbanks and Chris Olds of Eagle River repeated as Iron Dog champions early Saturday evening, passing the team of Todd Palin and Eric Quam in the final 100 miles of the 2,000-mile snowmachine race across Alaska.

Huntington and Olds eked out a two-minute lead going into Tanana earlier Saturday.

But Palin, a three-time champ, and Quam, a 2008 champ, surged past them and reached Nenana 17 minutes ahead of Huntington and Olds.

But after leaving Nenana, Palin had trouble with one of the skis on his Arctic Cat F6 600 and had to stop to fix it, giving Huntington and Olds the break they needed.

They claimed the lead on the 77-mile run from Nenana to North Pole, arriving at North Pole with a 14-minute lead that more than held up over the final 35 miles to Fairbanks.

Huntington and Olds, who will share the first-place prize of $50,000, reached the finish line at 5:51 p.m. Saturday. Palin and Quam finished at 6:09 p.m. and the father-son team of Scott and Cory Davis claimed third place about 10 minutes later.

Much of the pace and outcome of the 26th edition of the race was dictated by weather.

The early leaders, Marc McKenna and Dusty Van Meter, lost command when their sleds got stuck in overflow on the Yukon River near Nulato.

And for the better part of two days, the race stalled in Nome because of what officials called “life-threatening” trail conditions. Race officials ordered the race run under a yellow caution flag for the first 250 miles of the trip to Fairbanks, from Nome to Unalakleet

Greg Johnson at The Frontiersman reported:

After a final day of racing that could’ve been scripted by a Hollywood screenwriter, Tyler Huntington and Chris Olds are the 2011 Iron Dog champions.

The team of Huntington and Olds crossed the finish line of the 2,000-mile snowmachine race in Fairbanks at 5:51 p.m., Saturday, about 18 minutes ahead of the second-place team of Todd Palin and Eric Quam. Palin’s hometown is Wasilla, while Quam is from Palmer. Palin and Quam were actually in the lead coming down the homestretch into Fairbanks, but Palin suffered a mechanical issue that allowed Huntington and Olds to pass them.

“We had all kinds of neck-and-neck and back-and-forth going on,” said Iron Dog Executive Director Kevin Kastner. “At one point, (Marc) McKenna and (Dustin) Van Meter were blasting along and they went into the drink. In the end, the net result that ended up making the decision was Palin had an accident and nearly tore the ski off his sled.”

McKenna and Van Meter led the race into Nome at the halfway checkpoint, when most of the racers were held up by bad weather. In fact, race officials on Thursday thought the delays would push the expected finish from Saturday to Sunday, but the weather cleared up enough to allow the racers to continue, Kastner said.

[…]

The result, he said, was a successful finish that gave fans some excitement in Fairbanks. Last year’s winner came in two hours before the second-place finisher, he said. On Saturday, the top seven teams were all in less than two hours from each other.

Despite the weather delays and challenges, 12 teams finished the Iron Dog, one more than last year, Kastner said. For winning the Iron Dog, Huntington and Olds earned $50,000.

Renee Thony at the Daily News-Miner wrote:

At 3:55 p.m. Saturday, Tyler Huntington and Chris Olds trailed race leaders Todd Palin and Eric Quam by 17 minutes, but when 5:51 rolled around, team No. 10, the Huntington-Olds duo, were first across the finish line of the 2011 Iron Dog snowmachine race.

“I feel like 25,000 bucks,” Huntington said after crossing the finish line and passing the safety inspection on the Chena River in downtown Fairbanks. The team won the $50,000 paycheck for the second year in a row.

Palin and Quam, team No. 11, finished second at 6:09.

The two teams were neck-in-neck throughout the day Saturday, and it was near the mouth of the Chena that Olds said he and Huntington caught up to Palin and Quam.

“We were taking it easy heading into Nenana and then we just took off after that,” he said, adding that he speculates Team 11 ran into some trouble along the way and that’s why his team managed to catch up. “We caught up with those guys around the mouth of the Chena.”

As he looked down at the left front ski of his sled, secured with a bright green rope, Palin confirmed Olds’ assumptions.

“The sleds looked good until about 60 miles ago,” the 18-time Iron Dog competitor said. “It’s just part of the race, though. You can be clean up until the very end.”

Huntington and Olds saw their fair share of troubles, as well, including a blown belt in Manley.

“On the first day, we got, well not really lost,” Olds said, “but we just misplaced the trail and that wasted some time. These were excellent machines for us. We didn’t have to turn a wrench on them. They were so durable.”

Whispers heard around the finish line were mostly about Mother Nature and how she had dictated most of this year’s race. For the better part of two days, the race was stalled in Nome on account of “life-threatening” conditions. Race officials postponed the restart there on Thursday and ordered the race to be put under a yellow flag for the first 250 miles of the return to Fairbanks.

“There was lots of snow this year from beginning to end,” Olds said of the course. “It was crazy.”

“Lots of snow,” Huntington, a Fairbanks native, added, “but we just kept going and going and going. When we got stuck, we just got unstuck.”

Although he said he saw “little trail, all snow,” Quam was pleased with the hospitality of the villages the racers stopped in along the way.

“The villages were really good. They always are,” he said. “They were so warm to take us into their homes and take care of us.”

Piper Palin waits to wave the checkered flag when her father crosses the 2011 Iron Dog finish line. (Photo by Tim Akimoff at KTUU.com)

KTUU-TV  reported:

As she does more often than not, Mother Nature dictated the terms of the 2011 Iron Dog snowmachine race, but the team of Tyler Huntington and Chris Olds came prepared and won the trophy this year.

The defending Iron Dog champions crossed the finish line Saturday evening to a cheering crowd in downtown Fairbanks.

This year Olds and Huntington rode to bring awareness to Alaska’s high suicide rate, working with state agencies to distribute educational material to the villages along the course route.

The top five money winners in the 2011 Iron Dog were: #10 Huntington/Olds, #11 Palin/Quam, #7 Davis and Davis, #21 Branholm and Spernak, #14 McKenna and Van Meter.

“It feels great,” Tyler Huntington said. “Like $25,000 bucks.” 

Racers survived tough, wet, snowy conditions all the way to Nome, and then blizzard-like conditions held them up for a day in Nome.

Race Marshal Chris Graeber had racers proceed under a yellow caution flag from Nome back to Unalakleet, where the race was officially restarted.

“We kept going as fast as we can as as long as we can,” Huntington said. “We kind of toughed it out.”

A tight race between Team 10 Huntington/Olds and Team 11 Palin/Quam ensued, with the lead changing hands several times down the icy river on a picture-perfect day.

KTUU-TV, which livestreamed the 2011 Iron Dog finish, also has 4 videoclips of the event and a photogallery of the finish.  There is also a photogallery of the Iron Dog Trail.

The Anchorage Daily News also has a photogallery of the 2011 Iron Dog start at Big Lake.

Anti-Palin (“Fading Star”) MCClatchy Press Ignores Polling History “Carter 65% Reagan 31%”

In an article from the consistently anti-Palin MCClatchy Group of Newspapers the author determined,by reporting on a meeting of 150 Republican activists in South Carolina and taking selective quotes that “Palin’s star is fading.”

There were selective, unfavorable quotes about other possible GOP 2102 candidates as well but the author chose to headline the article with his impressions-I wonder why?

To emphasis further how Palin is, apparently according to their own pollster on the way out, and with no chance against President Obama, they quote their polling showing, in a head to head match up Obama 56% and Palin 30%. What they don’t of course mention is the Democratic Party aligned PPP Poll (on the radical Kos website) from February 16th showing Obama at 52% to Palin at 40%. This was a substantial rise for Palin from 55% to 38% from the same pollster in January.

The PPP and MCClatchy polls, when put into an historical framework prove they mean next to nothing as predictors if we look at examples from actual election years rather than two years out.

In the 1988 campaign, as documented by Goldman and Mathews “Quest For The Presidency 1988” Vice President, as he was then, George H.W. Bush, with all the power of office and as second in command to a hugely popular president, was at the commencement of campaigning in May of that year 16 percentage points behind the challenger Michael Dukakis who was polling (KRC Hotline poll) at 54% compared to Bush at 38%.

After the Democratic Party held their July convention the Gallup poll result was Dukakis 54% and Bush 37% a seemingly insurmountable 17% lead with only just about four months campaigning time left against a fired up opposition.The result on election day however was Bush 53.4% and Dukakis 45.7 %. A massive turnaround for Bush changing a 17% deficit into a near 8% winning margin.

Palin, according to PPP has a smaller deficit 12% than Bush had with the obvious difference being that she has not three months or so to catch up and pass Obama but nearly two years . Given Palin’s incredible capacity to recover from the most vicious campaign ever mounted against a candidate, her growth in stature as each month passes, the massive support/structural base in people (including the many candidates she is helping to get elected or re-elected) and money she is building up it would be foolhardy in the extreme to believe she is not capable of achieving that result.

It is interesting to consider the opinions of Bush’s inner circle, who gave him only 60-40 odds of winning as their private polls showed a deficit of 18% at the commencement of the campaign, and the authors comment that “The press and political industry had already been consigning him to an early (political ) grave”. This of Bush who, with respect is not perceived as the sort of fighter that Palin is by nature, but rather had to be dragooned into mounting an effective campaign by his handlers.

There is a striking point of similarity between the elder Bush and Palin however which is clear by this comment “To be sure he had values….he could fairly claim to have lived an exemplary life of service to God, country and family and to the ideals of honor, achievement and common decency”. As this is a true and valid comment on Palin too there is no reason to doubt that those shared values will enable her to overcome the same electoral challenges-especially given the much longer time frame she has to work in.

It is instructive also to note that as late as August in the 1948 election Harry Truman was eleven points behind Dewey and ended up winning by 4.5% (49.55/45.07). President Ford was, as late as July 1976 an incredible 33% points behind Jimmy Carter and on election day lost by 2% (50.08% for Carter to 48.02% to Ford) an incredible recovery by Ford which makes Palin’s hurdle pale into insignificance. It is more than probable in fact that if Ford had not made such a terrible gaffe about the Soviets influence in Eastern Europe he would have won.

In June 2000 Al Gore was 17 points behind G.W. and even as late as October he was 8 points behind 50/42 but went on to win the popular vote by half a million. But the best example of why the anti-Palin media should be ignored is this Harris/ABC Poll from Election year 1980:

CARTER NOW FAR AHEAD OF BOTH REAGAN AND BUSH

“President Ca r t e r so dominates the American political scene now that his margin over Ronald Reagan has risen to an overwhelming 65-31% ”

Original post at: M.Joseph Sheppard’s “A Point Of View”

If Palin wants and receives the nomination the ultimate prize is very much there to be won.

If The USA Was Run By President Palin Offshore Drilling Could Make Alaska World’s 8th Largest Oil Producer

If The USA Was Run By President Palin Offshore Drilling Could Make Alaska World’s 8th Largest Oil Producer
By: Senior “Point Of View” Editorial Correspondent Lisa Gilmer

A new study came out about drilling in Palin’s home state of Alaska:

Offshore Drilling Could Make Alaska the Eighth Largest Oil Producer in the World – Ahead of Libya and Nigeria

“February 25, 2011 (CNSNews.com) – A new study says drilling on Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) could make Alaska the eighth largest oil resource province in the world — ahead of Nigeria, Libya, Russia and Norway.

The report — by the consulting firm Northern Economics and the University of Alaska-Anchorage’s Institute of Social and Economic Research — says that developing Alaska’s OCS could produce almost 10 billion barrels of oil and 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, create around 55,000 new jobs and produce $145 billion in new payroll nationally, generating a total of $193 billion in government revenue through the year 2057.”

So who could make this a reality for America? Would this opportunity for resource development ever have a chance in hell to come to fruition under the current feckless, statist regime running Washington?

Hardy har har har! I laugh!

But what if the USA was run by a President Palin? I betcha she would seriously consider making this study into a reality if it was good for America.

Absolutely NOTHING the current regime is doing is “good” for America. Socialism never has worked and never will work.

America needs to be restored and a Palin Presidency just might be the – oh, so perfect solution in so many respects.

I conclude my February 2011 Palin posts by listing just a few more traits, besides being a pro-exploring America resources person. She has many positive traits which would make her an excellent POTUS:

1) truly understands bipartisanship
2) has governing experience of all male state
3) has 60-80% of Americans support
4) is pro individualism
5) is pro USA founders and religious faith
6) very family oriented
7) gets things done
8) is honest
9) is trustworthy

Other strong Palin-for-POTUS traits I listed this month are below. She is a:

10) hard worker
11) pro Israel
12) Reagan principled conservative
13) corruption fighter
14) leader
15) environment conservationist
16) smaller federal gubmit
17) smart & savvy
18) smart energy, drill locally
19) pro-life
20) proud American patriot
21) pro USA states
22) author, writer and no-prompter speaker
23) pro military
24) calls out leftist nonsense
25) believes in American exceptionalism
26) momma grizzly on budget
27) pro small business
28) regular populist, not elitist

How does YOUR favorite candidate for 2012 stack up? Who else has a stronger list of character traits and conservative values than Sarah Palin? I would be curious to hear a logical argument for someone else and your list of 28 or more… Go for it…

In the meantime, enjoy a radio show clip posted this week around the blogosphere which sums up how the more the left attacks her, the more it will make the center/right stand up and proudly support her candidacy if she chooses to run… (let’s hope she does):
Original post at M.Joseph Sheppard’s “A Point Of View”