Being “Like Ronald Reagan” The Only Positive Political Description

“Progressive” is becoming more of a dirty word, but all political labels – except “being like Ronald Reagan” – are falling into disfavor with many U.S. voters, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

“Liberal” is still the worst and remains the only political description that is viewed more negatively than positively. Being like Reagan is still the most positive thing you can say about a candidate.

So says the latest Rasmussen polling on the subject. Now for conservatives, “like Ronald Reagan” has been the only acceptable position for a politician to have, for a long, long time.

I’m sure the David Frums, Peggy Noonans, Colin Powells, and Kathleen Parkers of the world are hyperventilating right about now, as they are the ones always telling us the “era of Reagan is over.” I guess they are wrong once again! Shocking, huh?

It’s been twenty years since the great Renaldus Magnus, as he is affectionately known, has sat in the Oval Office, so why is he just as appealing today as he was back in his prime? I think it’s because Reagan was such a strong leader and just a great man, but that is probably way too simplistic.

Ronald Reagan was part of the American consciousness for most of the last century. I won’t attempt to write a biography here – there are plenty out there for folks to read and enjoy – but some of the highlights of Reagan’s career and how we came to love the man are certainly something to talk about.

Reagan was an actor, and while some called him a “B-Movie Actor,” he also gave us one of the most memorable characters of all time when he played George Gipp in the movie “Knute Rockne, All American.” While the movie itself was about famed Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne, one of the most memorable performances was Ronald Reagan playing George Gipp. Gipp was a great football player who died too young of a strep infection.

Now I’m going to tell you something I’ve kept to myself for years. None of you ever knew George Gipp. He was long before your time, but you all know what a tradition he is at Notre Dame. And the last thing he said to me, “Rock,” he said, “sometime when the team is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to go out there with all they’ve got and win just one for the Gipper. I don’t know where I’ll be then, Rock,” he said, “but I’ll know about it and I’ll be happy.”

Pat O’Brien as Knute Rockne

“Win one for the Gipper” became part of the American lexicon. As for Reagan, the Gipper nickname stuck and became just another affectionate name we know him by.

Reagan was much more than just an actor. though. He was President of the Screen Actors Guild and a solid spokesman. He was also a democrat, who famously said: “I didn’t leave the democrat party, the democrat party left me.”

And Reagan, who had a sharp wit, never missed the chance to have fun with that:

In fact, one of the things that we all loved about Ronald Reagan was his ability to speak well and deliver great one liners as well as funny stories.

But Reagan was more than a good line and a bright smile. Reagan was also someone who loved America with all of his heart. He saw America as a “shining city on a hill” the world’s last best hope. Reagan was always concerned that Americans understood our great gifts of freedom and kept a constant watch for things that would cause Americans to lose those freedoms.

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

Ronald Reagan

What really sets Reagan apart, at least for me, is how not only were his warnings appropriate for their time, but they can be applied to today’s events as well. In fact, it’s uncanny how the same things Ronald Reagan warned us about – communism and the slightly less oppressive socialism – are still real threats today.

For example, no one understood the danger to freedom and liberty that socialized medicine posed better than Ronald Reagan. Back in 1961, as they had been for decades, the democrat party was trying to shove socialized health care down an unwilling America’s throat. Reagan took part in the “Operation Coffee Cup Campaign” and went on a speaking tour, forcefully warning about the dangers of allowing the government to control health care.

Anyone who has actually read H.R. 3200, the most likely version of Obamacare to pass, knows Reagan was right then and even more right now! Obamacare is nothing less than a complete and total usurpation of the Constitution. It totally remakes American society, turning it into a communist state, with a centrally controlled government and centrally planned economy.

America was designed to be a loose confederation of states, coming together as a Republic for mutual benefit but with each remaining sovereign. It’s what the 10th Amendment to the Constitution is all about. Once Obamacare is passed, states rights and most individual rights go right out the window.

If we as Americans are to retain our freedoms and liberties, it is imperative that we listen to Ronald Reagan. It is imperative that we stop the government’s attempt to “reform” health care.

Now I am not saying health care doesn’t have its issues. It does. But health care in America is still the best in the world, has the highest quality, and is available in the most timely manner to the greatest number of people.

There are common sense plans out there. Plans that include major tort reform and the ability for Americans to shop for insurance nationwide rather than just within their state. There are thousands of insurance companies nationwide. The Obama regime claims to want “more competition” for the consumer’s dollar. What better way than to open the door for all Americans to shop all of the various insurance companies nationwide?

Ronald Reagan didn’t just warn us about socialized medicine, though. Few understood better than Reagan that liberalism was a losing proposition. That liberalism made absolutely no sense whatsoever. That liberalism was a contradiction all unto itself.

“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”

Ronald Reagan

In another speech that absolutely applies today, Ronald Reagan speaks out on the dangers of allowing liberals to be elected to positions of responsibility.

In 1964 Reagan gave this speech at the Republican National Convention in support of Barry Goldwater, the candidate for President. The speech, entitled “A Time For Choosing” is one of the most iconic of all time. In fact, it has come to be known simply as “The Speech.”

If I had my way, this video would be required viewing by every school kid in America. In fact, it would be a required course to get a high school diploma, and there would be advanced teaching on it in colleges and universities nationwide.

It’s just that important!

What is rather chilling is how we can listen to Ronald Reagan 45 years later and apply absolutely everything he is saying to our current situation.

This might help explain why “like Ronald Reagan” is still the best thing you can say about a politician!

“The Speech”

Here’s a bit of an exercise for you. After watching the video, write down just how many things Reagan was talking about that not only exist in our current climate, but are even a greater threat today. Reagan understood all too well just how dangerous it was to allow government to grow too large and too powerful.

Ronald Reagan also warned that the “once honorable democrat party” was on a strong march towards socialism, or Marxism, as he called it. Today, we understand it as communism, plain and simple. We now have a President who was raised by communists, mentored by communists, and is now surrounded by and seeks advice from self avowed communists.

“A socialist is someone who has read Lenin and Marx. An anti-socialist is someone who understands Lenin and Marx”

Ronald Reagan

We are left asking ourselves just how in the hell this happened!

Ronald Reagan was an inspiration to America at a time when we needed it the most. America was in a slump. The American morale was as low as it had ever been, and the current national embarrassment, Jimmy Carter, had all but destroyed the economy forever. Carter had also allowed our military readiness to become dangerously low.

Our foreign policy was a joke. Under Carter, radical Islam was able to come to power in Iran and the greater Middle East. We are all suffering to this day because of Carter’s failures in this area. And frankly, our current White House occupant is following Carter’s lead.

I always laugh at the imagery surrounding Barack Obama. We were told when he was elected that the sea levels would lower, the skies would be brighter, and it would be rainbows and unicorns for all.

Well, I remember just how defeated Americans felt during the Carter years. Just how bad it was. We actually had a “misery index” concocted by the media just to tell us how bad our life sucked on any given day. Double digit unemployment, double digit inflation, and double digit interest rates on loans was the way of life in America.

Ronald Reagan represented real hope. It truly was “morning in America” once Reagan was elected. Reagan brought an intangible “it” factor with him that many leaders will never have. Reagan exuded optimism. He was our oldest President ever to take office, and yet he was the very picture of virility. Reagan was both a strong and forceful leader and America’s father figure, a kind man with a reassuring smile that simply told you everything was going to be just fine.

In no time America’s morale was high. America’s confidence was on the rebound. People were very proud to be Americans again. I remember those days well, and they were simply electric. The new feeling of optimism was amazing. You honestly felt like you could achieve anything.

I was a young man back then, but the feelings of this energy effected me greatly. Reagan had so much confidence that it spilled over onto the rest of us. It made us all see that absolutely anything was possible.

Now it took more than a few years for America to start to recover from the Carter fiasco – in fact, almost all of Reagan’s two terms. If a person were to go back, and just look at raw numbers, they would see that much of Reagan’s presidency saw economic numbers that, until the Obama presidency, wouldn’t have been all that stellar, but compared to where we had been, they were great.

The greatest affirmation of the difference Reagan made and of the love for him back then was his 1984 re-election. Now Reagan won an absolute landslide when he defeated Jimmy Carter in 1980. Reagan won 44 of 50 states in a three-way race that saw Republican John Anderson run as an Independent. Anderson being what we would call a RINO today. Reagan got 50.7 percent of the raw vote and Carter got 41 percent.

In 1984 though, the American people rewarded Reagan with an incredible 49 state win against former Vice President Walter Mondale, who barely won his home state and carried D.C. The Electoral College victory was 525 to 13, raw vote 58.8 percent to 40.6. To me that says it all about the confidence America had in Ronald Reagan.

History tells us that Reagan wasn’t a perfect man, but he was a great man. Reagan was able to shepherd American through some tough times. He defeated the Soviet Union without firing a shot. He brought new confidence to America, something that had been lacking. In time, it was the Reagan revolution that would end the 40 years of disastrous Democrat Party control of Congress, leading to a stunning victory for congressional Republicans in 1994.

It was truly Reagan’s moral compass, though, his strength and integrity, that made him such a great leader. A man among men. It was the moral clarity he had that allowed him to look into the eyes of the American people and tell them liberalism, communism, and socialism were evil. It was that same moral clarity that allowed him to stand at the Berlin Wall and demand, “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

It was that same moral clarity, that same strength and integrity Reagan had then, that still makes being “like Ronald Reagan” so desired today.

So where do we take it from here? Who is “like Ronald Reagan”?

Some names that come to mind are people like Dick Cheney. Say what you will about the former Vice President – when he speaks, he speaks with moral clarity, strength, wisdom, and with the love of our nation in his heart.

Liz Cheney is her father’s daughter. She is sharp, tough, and has a solid footing. Then there is Michelle Bachmann. While not as well known, she is certainly cut from the Reagan cloth. Strong, forceful, and unwavering in her beliefs and values.

But one simply cannot talk about leaders who are like Ronald Reagan without bringing up Sarah Palin. The comparisons are easy to make. Like Reagan, Sarah Palin is a strong leader with moral clarity.

Sarah has shown this clarity throughout her career. From battling her mentor on the Wasilla city council over his attempt to use his position to set up a monopoly for his company, to her legendary battle with Frank Murkowski’s “Corrupt Bastards Club.”

For those that don’t know the story, Sarah had been appointed as Chairman of the powerful Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the agency that regulates oil and natural gas in Alaska. Sarah had been appointed by Governor Murkowski after she had lost her bid for Lt. Governor. She was charged with overseeing ethics in her position.

Before long, Sarah realized she had a really corrupt shop. After being told to back off by her boss, the Governor, Sarah stepped down, “quit” as they say. Had to be a really tough decision. This was a high paying gig, six figures, and a powerful position from which to launch herself to even more powerful positions. After all, Sarah’s star was on the rise!

After Sarah “quit” she made it her project to go after the bad actors. As a result, she went after pretty much the entire Republican Party leadership, a profile in courage in itself, and a sure fire case of political suicide. In the end, some went to prison, some paid fines, others were forced to resign. Then she ran for and won the governorship.

Once in office, she was a strong leader. She was able to bring about sweeping changes and one by one fulfilled her campaign promises.

Claude Sandroff over at the American Thinker talks about the virtue of Sarah Palin. We all know the story of her post-election experiences. Before Sarah ran for Vice President, the Republican Party, still smarting from the reforms she brought and the folks she took down, wasn’t exactly pleased with her, but she had a fairly cordial relationship with the Alaska Democrats in the legislature.

Then came the campaign. It has been well documented that Barack Obama brought Chicago style politics to Alaska through his campaign chief-of-staff, Pete Rouse, and Rouse’s longtime friendship with Alaska State Senator, Kim Elton. Their attempt to derail Sarah with the phony “Troopergate” witch hunt is also well documented

After Sarah lost her in her effort to be Vice President, no one would have thought the Alaska Mafia would have remained so dedicated to the Chicago masters, but how many times has a losing vice presidential candidate become even more popular and sought after!

The word came out from on high to keep the pressure on, and the Mafia started recruiting folks to file phony ethics complaints against her. There was already one misguided woman, Andree McLeod, who made a career out of filing outrageous complaints. But the rest were all manufactured to damage Sarah, by using a favorite Democrat/communist tactic, right out of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules.”

This is where Sarah’s strength, courage, and moral clarity came into play. It would have been very simple to sit still and fight this stuff. I mean these charges were all nonsense, and all were thrown out. But the more she resisted, the more the Mafia filed, and at a quicker pace. And these leaches on society had not only cost Sarah personally, they had also effectively stopped her government from functioning and cost the taxpayers almost $2 million processing this mess. And if the pace of the complaints stayed the same for the rest of her term, these thieves were on track to cost the Alaska taxpayers as much as $10 million.

A lot of politicians would have stayed. They would have clung to power at all cost. Not Sarah Palin. As Sandroff puts it, this was:

“The very essence of virtue. It was Sir Thomas More resigning as Lord Chancellor and George Washington returning to Mount Vernon. It showed how rare virtue has become in our politics. It shows why we adore Sarah Palin and why we need her. And it explains why, even without office, she has become the most important political figure in America.”

One can only imagine the struggle Sarah had with this – or maybe it wasn’t a real struggle at all. Earlier in the year, just before a trip to visit her troops in Kosovo, Sarah Palin introduced Michael Reagan, the son of Ronald Reagan, at an event in Anchorage. While talking about how badly her critics wanted her to shut up and go away, she said this:

“They want me to sit down and shut up. But I won’t sit down, and I won’t shut up. Politically speaking, if I die, I die, but I will know I have spoken up! Stand up, speak up, be bold! Forget political correctness!”

History shows that Sarah has not sat down, and is not shutting up! At the time, many could not understand what Sarah was doing when she “quit.” These people simply didn’t understand her unwinnable situation. These are the types who would have “fought to the end,” costing their constituents more tax dollars, and damaging their state.

This was a stroke of genius though, and one I believe Ronald Reagan would have understood. Sarah, a star basketball player, was simply passing the ball off to someone, Sean Parnell, who could continue on with her policies, and not be hassled.

“He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.”

Sun Tzu, the Art Of War

Now that is a nice story, as far as it goes. A compelling one, in fact. But it is not the only reason why Sarah Palin is “like Ronald Reagan.”

No one can argue she is powerful. Who in the world but Sarah Palin can change the entire national debate with a few paragraphs posted on a networking website?

Sarah Palin not only had the moral clarity to understand exactly what Obamacare is, she was also able to distill it all down to a level of basic understanding. Her “death panels” said it all. And it wasn’t just the fact Sarah understood that Obamacare would most certainly lead to the rationing of care – she had the courage to say it the way she said it. She knew full well the wrath of both political parties, as well as the fringe media – Obama’s media – would come at her with full force. Sarah called Obamacare “downright evil.”

We all know Ronald Reagan had moral clarity regarding the Soviet Union. He called them an “evil empire.” His critics in both parties, lost it every time he did this, but it didn’t stop him from saying it.

Before Reagan’s famous “tear down that wall” comment in his speech in Berlin, his advisers were telling him “no way” and to steer clear of that sort of thing. They had to be resuscitated after he said it! But Reagan knew in his heart it needed to be said.

Reagan lived to see the Berlin wall come down and to see millions of East Germans become free.

Before Sarah took up the fight, critics of Obamacare might as well have been talking to their houseplants. They were trying to nuance things. Trying to be “statesmen,” at least in their minds.

Sarah looked at this mess, saw great evil. She saw a situation, that if continued, would lead America to certain disaster, and cause all Americans to lose precious liberties and freedoms. It’s that ability to not only recognize evil wherever you see it but to also have the courage to do something about it.

While the other so-called leaders in the Republican party were saying “slow down” Sarah wrote, “Not no, but HELL no!”

Because of Sarah Palin and her inspiration to others, Obamacare is in shambles. And that gives us another “like Ronald Reagan” trait. Sarah Palin inspires people.

Sarah has been inspiring people for a long time, but her speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention was huge. Expectations were high, and she hit a home run. As Michael Reagan wrote days later in a column titled “Welcome Back Dad“:

“I’ve been trying to convince my fellow conservatives that they have been wasting their time in a fruitless quest for a new Ronald Reagan to emerge and lead our party and our nation. I insisted that we’d never see his like again because he was one of a kind.

I was wrong!

Wednesday night I watched the Republican National Convention on television and there, before my very eyes, I saw my Dad reborn; only this time he’s a she.

And what a she!

In one blockbuster of a speech, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin resurrected my Dad’s indomitable spirit and sent it soaring above the convention center, shooting shock waves through the cynical media’s assigned spaces and electrifying the huge audience with the kind of inspiring rhetoric we haven’t heard since my Dad left the scene.”

After Ronald Reagan lost his presidential primary bid to Gerald Ford in 1976, most considered him washed up, a has been. Critics in both parties called him stupid, lazy, naive, inexperienced, even though he had been Governor of California! He was a B-Movie actor. Some even said Reagan was dangerous!

Reagan was from tiny Tampico, Illinois. He went to the “wrong” school, Eureka College. And Reagan was a small-town country boy at heart his entire life.

The Democrats hated Reagan with a passion, and so did the blue-blood, country club elite Rockefeller Republicans. The American people loved Reagan, though, and obviously still do. God bless Ronald Reagan, and may his spirit always remain the spirit that inspires us all.

George Soros Group Attacking Sarah Palin Again

I’ve written before about some of the connections between the groups attacking Sarah Palin and both George Soros and Barack Obama. They are all intertwined. And as Soros’ group MoveOn.org famously said after the 2004 presidential election, regarding the democrat party: “It’s ours, we paid for it!”

MoveOn came into being during the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal that saw President Clinton impeached for lying under oath during a sexual harassment law suit, as well as suborning perjury when he asked Monica Lewinsky to do the same.

The who idea was to get America to “move on” from the Lewinsky scandal. Since then, the Soros funded group has morphed into just another arm of the democrat party.

I have referred to Soros as a real live version of the James Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld, or even a non endearing version of Mike Myers’ Dr Evil. But there is absolutely nothing funny about Soros, and unfortunately, there is no 007 working to stop him. But make no mistake, Soros is just as dangerous as anything to come out of Ian Fleming’s fertile imagination.

As this little primer points out, Soros is an evil man who has spent a lifetime destroying others for his benefit. He survived WWII by being a Nazi collaborator. He made in billions by manipulating currency, and profiting off of others suffering. He is very far left leaning, is most definitely a communist, like Barack Obama.

My friend, the Red Diva has put together a great bit of information on George Soros, a follow the money sort of thing that I’d like to share with all of you. With her permission, of course.

Governor Sarah Palin’s resignation speech of July 3, 2008, along with the reasons she provided, were obviously exactly what the Palin supporters wanted to hear. When the funding report for Palin’s SarahPAC was filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the Anchorage Daily News (ADN) reported that through June 30, the political action fund had received almost $733,000 in donations since being established roughly six months ago. Meg Stapleton, SarahPAC spokesperson, added that since the resignation announcement, another $200,000 has been received.

Following her announcement in early July, Governor Palin began speaking out about the injustice she sees with Mr. Obama’s new policies for America. One of the areas in which the knowledge and wisdom of Sarah Palin should have special attention paid is her expertise in the field of energy. She wrote an op-ed piece which appeared in the Washington Post on July 14, 2009. She correctly pointed out the short-comings of the cap-and-trade bill Mr. Obama has pushed so secretively to the American people using his Democrat – controlled Congress.

On a day when Andree McLeod filed yet another ethics charge (number 20, if you’re counting), CNN is now reporting that MoveOn.org has begun sending e-mails to its members asking them to fund a response ad “blasting Palin’s new Washington Post op-ed. “MoveOn.org is trying to make the supporters of Governor Palin believe that her article was “a marvel of misinformation and outright lies.” Her supporters, of course, will not believe this effort to smear Governor Palin’s wealth of knowledge in this area, but rest assured this is nothing more than another George Soros attack.

George Soros is the “pocket” the money is coming from to fund the Democratic Party attacks on Governor Palin, and he has plenty of it to dole out. MoveOn.org is just one of the many front organizations allowing him to more securely implant Socialism into America. His OSI (Open Society Institute) is the manner he uses to fund all of his puppet organizations, only one of which is the Democratic Party.

He and his “institutes” and “organizations” provided the money that has been used in every effort to belittle Governor Palin. ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is also behind the voter fraud that occurred during the presidential election of 2008 in various states, and he had the money to dissuade the states involved from pursuing the illegalities in a court of law where they should have been taken for criminal prosecution.

There have been times when it is painfully obvious that George Soros is behind all of these efforts. Such was the case in the CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) attempt to dissuade the positive public opinion of Governor Palin as they sought an FOIA in the Troopergate matter as well as the formal complaint they filed with the Federal Elections Commission in regards to the clothing purchased for her and her family by the Republican National Committee.

Please note I too Have written about Barack Obama’s direct involvement in the troopergate smear, in which Governor Palin was ultimately found innocent of any wrong doing. Of course, the damage was done, as her exoneration didn’t come until after the Presidential election. Obama managed to payoff Alaska Senator Kim Elton with a make work job at the Dept of Interior for his services in trying to hurt Governor Palin. Chicago politics at it’s finest!

The Diva continues:

The previously mentioned ACORN involvement in the Democratic Party, LaRaza and Supreme Court appointee Sotomayer, and this newest MoveOn.org effort are also obvious attempts by George Soros to bring this coup against our Democracy and convert it to Socialism.

The fact that he “owns” the Democratic Party by the very donations that he makes both personally and through his front groups directly involves him in the attempts to ruin, both politically and personally, Governor Sarah Palin. His goal of a Socialist America is directly threatened by her and her supporters from grass-roots America. He knows that as long as she is speaking out, people will listen. He recognizes that the best way to halt her progress is to provide reasons to doubt her veracity.

What he hasn’t counted on is that the American people are not excited about having strings attached to our arms and legs and manipulated to do his bidding. Many of the American people are not, that is, because it does appear that the Democrats in America are willing. So far, they’ve been doing his bidding with what must be considered, by Soros, as disastrous results.

This latest attempt will end the same way.

Part of the methodology George Soros uses behind the scenes is known as the “Cloward – Piven” strategy. Cloward-Piven is a strategy for forcing political change through orchestrated crisis.

First proposed in 1966 by Columbia University political scientists Richard Andrew Cloward and Frances Fox Piven, the initial plan was to bankrupt the welfare system in America and introduce what could be considered as a radical change in replacing it. The main idea is to use a strategy of introducing crises.

The Cloward-Piven approach in this instance called for the welfare rolls to be swamped with new applications which would result in economic collapse leading to political turmoil and ultimately to Socialism.

The welfare crisis that bankrupted New York City in 1975 was the result of the use of this strategy by The National Welfare Rights Organization (NWRO), founded by African-American militant George Alvin Wiley.

From the NWRO grew new movements such as the Living Wage Movement and the Voting Rights Movement, both of which are reliant upon ACORN, a George Soros front-group, depending heavily upon the financial support from another George Soros front-group, Open Society Institute.

The Cloward-Piven plan uses “aggressive community organizers” to create a crisis of militancy. Intimidated by violence, politicians would appeal to the federal government for assistance in handling the “crisis” through carefully orchestrated media campaigns by leftwing journalists to introduce a federal program of income redistribution much like Mr. Obama’s “share the wealth” plan during his presidential campaign.

Although the goal of the Cloward-Piven strategy itself was a Marxist society, George Soros has adopted it to his ideas of Socialism, put it to work in the Democratic Party, and with his careful honing of some of the “rough spots” made it into a much more efficient weapon against the American people than the original developers could have hoped.

This is the strategy George Soros is using against Governor Sarah Palin. It can be seen in the fact that as this article is written, twenty ethics complaints have been filed in Alaska by Alaskans who have been “bought and paid for” by the George Soros-funded and Cloward-Pivens Strategy-driven Alaska Democratic Party. It is the same strategy Soros has used and is using to force Socialism on the American people using one of his puppets, Barack Obama

Red Diva has written more about the money and connections between the Democrat National Committee and the various Alaska democrat operatives who have been steadily attacking Governor Palin since she was announced as a Vice Presidential candidates, and of course, I too have a catalog of blog entries on these underhanded and unethical democrats, as well.

Alaska Democrats Prove Beyond A Shadow Of A Doubt Sarah Palin’s Resignation Was A Genius Move…UPDATED

UPDATED!

Rex Butler sighting  Update at the bottom!

You know, at some point you just sit back and realize that some folks are just crazy. Maybe insane!

But I have to say, that in the long run, Sarah Palin’s decision to stand down, fall on her sword for the Alaskan taxpayers, was a genius move. Not only will she save the taxpayers millions of dollars, she will be free of this sort of nonsense that I doubt anyone else in public could withstand, especially with the grace and dignity in which she has comported herself.

As I wrote the other day, democrat hack Zane Henning couldn’t contain his joy when Governor Palin resigned and just had to prove her point and highlight her most self-sacrificing reason for leaving her job: The fact that these out of control democrats are costing, no, scratch that, STEALING millions of dollars and 1000’s of man hours from the Alaska taxpayers with their severe case of Palin Derangement Syndrome.

You can go back and read all about that one.

But today, the loons struck yet again!

This press release came from Palin’s Chief of Staff, Mike Nizich.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

No. 09-174

Governor’s Chief of Staff Releases Statement

July 10, 2009 Fairbanks, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin’s chief of staff, Mike Nizich, issued the following statement today on the occasion of the 19th ethics complaint being filed against the governor or a member of her staff:

“A week ago today, the governor told Alaskans that she was about to step down as governor in large part because of the campaign of harassment against this office, in which the Executive Branch Ethics Act has been repeatedly abused. Incredibly, since then two more ethics complaints have been filed against the governor, including one today.

“Typically, the first action by these complainants has been an illegal one – to announce the filing of the complaints to the news media, in clear violation of the mandatory confidentiality in the law. Unfortunately, unlike the legislative ethics act, there is no provision in the executive ethics act for a complaint to be automatically dismissed when it is publicized prematurely. Regardless of that, it is breathtakingly hypocritical for anyone to violate the ethics law in the very act of making an allegation against the governor.”

“Although the governor would not have thought it possible, the latest complaint rises to a new level of absurdity in alleging that she has been paid for interviews that she has given to the news media. It is amazing to me that anyone could think that, let alone put their name behind it and once again seek to distract state officials and needlessly increase their work load. The state is losing the value of some of its expenditures when public servants are pulled away from important assignments to deal with far-fetched and mean-spirited allegations.”

Governor Palin issued the following statement:

“The only saving grace in this recent episode is that it proves beyond any doubt the significance of the problem Alaska faces in the ‘new normal’ of political discourse. I hope this will be a wake-up call – to legislators, to commentators and to citizens generally – that we need a much more civil and respectful dialogue that focuses on the best interests of the state, rather than the petty resentments of a few.”

Of the ethics complaints against the governor or her staff, 15 have been resolved without any finding of wrongdoing, and four are now pending.

One notices that it is illegal to release any details of an ethics complaint because of confidentiality laws.

Illegal.

Think about that. The first thing these “arbiters of public ethics” do is break the very law they claim they are wanting to uphold!

Of course they use their usual suspects, the “axis of nefariousness”: Huffington Post bloggers Shannyn Moore, Jeanne Devon, (AKMuckraker) Amanda Coyne and Geoffrey Dunn; Alaska’s official DNC blogger Linda Kellen Biegel; and of course, the Anchorage Daily News, to help them break the law.

The complainant here is a fellow named Ray Ward. His other major claim to fame is that he once filed a suit against the Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown. Ward, for those who care, is a lifelong James Brown impersonator.

Sort of reminds you of this one, and this one.

There is most definitely something in the water in Alaska that effects liberals in an adverse way.

I hope once Governor Palin is out of office, that Governor Parnell, and his staff work toward reforming these ethics laws, adding strict punishment, as in jail time, for those who would file frivolous complaints repeatedly or break the confidentiality laws.

The rule of law is a two way street not a play ground for liberal democrats to harass those they disagree with. This technique of course is right out of Saul Alinsky’s Rules. The bible that is evidently given to liberals at birth!

Also right out of the CREW, (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) playbook, as well. CREW is a George Soros front group and is behind at least one complaint against Governor Palin, that we know of.

And independent of my own work, others have tied Barack Obama, directly to the effort to take Sarah Palin down, both before the election, and most definitely after. This has to be read to be understood.

These people are scared to death of her, and rightly so.

Of course, liberals, being liberals, they overreach. Just like Obama and his cronies are overreaching by trying to ram their agenda down America’s throat, at warp speed, these Alaskan democrats are doing the same overreaching and really overkill with this nonsense.

Every time they file one of these ludicrous “ethics complaints” they simply make Governor Palin’s point for her. They put an exclamation point on the fact that her self sacrifice for Alaska was morally the right thing to do, and something that few other politicians would ever have the integrity to do.

If we didn’t have such a totally worthless media, Sarah Palin would be heralded as a great statesman with a true servant’s heart. Fat chance that will happen with what passes for “reporting” these days.

As an aside, anyone catch Senior Washington Correspondent for Politics Today’s scathing indictment of the media and it’s total efforts to destroy Sarah Palin during the 2008 Presidential election and afterward? This is a fascinating piece of writing.

It deserves a Pulitzer, I wait with breathless anticipation.

One actually feels Sarah Palin’s sadness and disdain in this tweet from her Blackberry at around 9 pm Friday night:

“More precious time, public & private resources wasted today w yet another frivolous false ethics charge, I’ll send presser. So sorry, Alaska.”

I’ve asked this before of my fellow conservatives, and fellow Republicans. When is enough going to be enough? When are we, as a group, going to get serious about this sort of thing, and fight back?

Even if Sarah Palin isn’t your cup of tea, these tactics have been used by democrats on their enemies for decades. Never this aggressively, but used none the less.

At some point these unethical, and immoral, perversions of the political discourse will get around to someone you care about.

As Sean Connery’s .Jim Malone says to Kevin Costner’s Eliot Ness with his dying breath in The Untouchables: :What are you prepared to do!

This would be a good time to leave you with this video, and a call to invest in Sarah Palin by sending a donation to the Alaska Trust Fund to help defray this added burden.

UPDATE:

It seems that Ray Ward’s attorney in this matter is Rex Lamont Butler. Rex Butler is an Obama supporter who is basically acting as Bristol Palin’s dead-beat dad ex-fiance, Levi Johnston’s “agent” while he is negotiating book deals and movies. And it is reported that Butler is also representing Levi’s mom, Sherry Johnston on her 6 felon drug charges.  Also, Butler has admitted he paid for The Johnston family’s trip to New York to hit all of the talk shows recently. Oh, what a tangled web these democrats weave!

The Face Of Democrat Insanity

You know, the definition of insanity is doing the same stupid thing over and over, and expecting different results. With that in mind, some Alaska democrats have earned a lifetime stay in a padded cell.

Folks even remotely knowledgeable about Governor Sarah Palin know all about the epic failures Alaskan democrat bloggers and their operatives have experienced in their attempts to smear the Governor. Currently they are batting 16-0 with their ridiculous “ethics complaints.” 17-0 if you count the failed “troopergate” attempt. Details are here, here, and here.

So what does Alaska’s official DNC blogger, Linda Kellen Biegel, have up her sleeve now? Well, she’s cooking up another ethics complaint, of course!

You might remember all of the commotion this hateful gal caused when she posted a photoshopped image of Governor Palin and her youngest child. It led everyone to ask why is it OK for democrats to attack small children, especially when they are the children of conservatives.

You’d have thought she’d learned her lesson from the fallout David Letterman experienced after his series of insults aimed at the Governor’s 14 year old daughter. But again, we are talking about the clinically insane here.

Biegel, who blogs as the Celtic Diva eventually took the photo down, and now has pages worth of explaining posted. That’s something else democrats are really good at. They will insult you in the most vile ways, and then “apologize” or “explain” things to you. But mostly they’ll just tell you that you aren’t smart enough to understand the nuance of discussing the rape of a 14 year old girl or how photoshopping a picture of a down syndrome child is some sort of high art form.

And of course, all of them band together to express their outrage when called on their hatefulness. Democrats are the do as I say, not as I do party.

As you know, Biegel, who is rapidly becoming a laughing stock in the sane world, used the image of Governor Palin and young Trig Palin as part of a fund raising effort she has ongoing. She is raising funds to file more insane ethics violations complaints, of course, and says so on her blog. Now, she refuses to disclose donors names, and claims this is not a “political fund” so she doesn’t have to follow the law on this sort of thing. Or file the proper paperwork.

Ironic, because she wants to use this money in an effort to “gain more transparency” from Governor Palin.

No really, I’m not making this stuff up!

So what is Alaska’s self appointed “ethics chief” caterwauling about now?

Well, people who keep up with the Governor will tell you that she made a trip this weekend to visit Alaska National Guard troops during a training exercise off the coast, and then spent time at Camp Bondsteel Ferizaj, Kosovo and then visited wounded troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

This is Governor Palin’s second trip abroad to visit her Guard troops. In 2007, not long after she was elected, she traveled to Kuwait and then Germany.

Funny thing, that wasn’t an ethics violation back then. But of course, she wasn’t the odds on favorite to unseat Barack Obama in 2012 either.

At any rate, as Commander-In-Chief of the Alaska National Guard, Sarah Palin was well within the scope of her duties on this trip. And as Maj General Craig Campbell, who accompanied the Governor on the trip pointed out in this interview, Governor Palin takes these duties quite serious.

The issue?

It seems our poor misguided Diva now fancies herself a constitutional scholar. Of course so do these two!

Was able to pull this off of her website:

“NEW VIOLATION BY PALIN!!!

Found this on palingates (emphasis mine):
Frank said…

BlackMountain wrote on 06/27/2009 03:27:42 PM:

Something for the Palinbots to think about- Palin violated the US Supreme Court Greer vs. Spock decision which banned partisan political speeches or rallies on military bases. Palin also caused every soldier to violate a military directive that bars service members from attending partisan political speeches either in uniform, on duty, or at any military base/facility.

Isn’t it just a doozie that Palin would violate a US Supreme Court Decision – and top it off with having our soldiers violate military directives!”

Now I won’t even pretend to be a constitutional scholar, even though it seems that pretty much anyone can get away with saying so! But I will claim that I have a reading comprehension at or above the third grade level.

I took a look at Greer v Spock. This is a case from the 1970’s.

Without quoting chapter and verse, here is a synopsis of the case:

“Fort Dix, a federal military reservation devoted primarily to basic training for newly inducted Army personnel, and over which the Government exercises exclusive jurisdiction, permits free civilian access to certain unrestricted areas. However, post regulations ban speeches and demonstrations of a partisan political nature and also prohibit the distribution of literature without prior approval of post headquarters. Pursuant to these regulations, the commanding officer of Fort Dix rejected the request of respondent candidates for President and Vice President to distribute campaign literature and hold a political meeting on the post and the other respondents, who had been evicted on several occasions for distributing literature not previously approved, were barred from reentering the post. Respondents brought suit to enjoin enforcement of these regulations on the ground that they violated the First and Fifth Amendments. The District Court issued an injunction prohibiting the military authorities from interfering with the making of political speeches or the distribution of leaflets in areas of Fort Dix open to the general public, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. “

So basically this case was about the distribution of partisan election materials without prior approval. The case was upheld. It states that a military commander MAY restrict political speech as well as printed material. MAY is the key word here. Maybe it’s too many years pouring over the old NHRA rule book, but one tends to learn what words like “may” and “shall” and “must” mean.

The ruling goes on to leave us with this gem:

“As to the regulation governing the distribution of literature, a military commander may disapprove only those publications that he perceives clearly endanger the loyalty, discipline, or morale of troops on the base under his command, and, while this regulation might in the future be applied irrationally, invidiously, or arbitrarily, none of the respondents even submitted any material for review, and the noncandidate respondents had been excluded from the post because they had previously distributed literature there without attempting to obtain approval.”

Now you can watch Governor Palin’s speech to the troops, but unless you are a complete loon, or a member of the Obama Administration, a Governor thanking her troops for their hard work and sacrifice is hardly “dangerous” to the troops loyalty, discipline or moral! In fact, from the loud cheers she elicited from the troops, I’d say the Governor was a great boost to moral!

So where does this leave us?

Well, as we know, Linda Kellen Biegel is a seriously deranged woman void of all reason or self-restraint. So you can bet she is cooking up a way to file this ethics complaint! Of course, she may not do it herself. She has many surrogates like Andree McLeod or Sondra Tompkins, or Theodore “Chip” Thoma!

But her MO will be the same as always. Before she even files the paperwork, or gives it to a “designated hitter” to file, the details will be all over the internet. All of the various blogs will put it out, and the three hate bloggers from the Huffington Post, Amanda Coyne (whose husband conveniently works at the Anchorage Daily News), Jeanne Devon (AKMuckraker) and Shannyn Moore will most certain have star placement over at Arianna Huffington’s rag.

You know, these people are why we cannot get good and decent men and woman to take part in the democratic process in our country. Just as soon as a real leader emerges, folks like Biegel, and the rest pull out their tattered copies of Saul Alinsky’s “Rules For Radicals” and go to town.

It seems that all liberals are given a copy of the old communist “community organizer” from Chicago’s book, at birth.

So far, these miscreants have cost the state of Alaska around $300,000 and have run up a personal legal tab of around a half million dollars for Governor Palin.

What can you do?

Get involved! This woman is an official blogger for the Democrat National Committee. She is also endorsed by the democrat party of Alaska. And enjoys a premium placement on their official website.

Conservatives 4 Palin has a great list of contacts that you can get in touch with. One can certainly ask them if this sort of economic terrorism is something they really want to endorse. Or for that matter, see it used against them in the future. More and more conservatives are reading Alinsky these days!

You can also help spread the word through friends and on the various blogs you frequent. If nothing else, when these loons try to come out with this “complaint” everyone will already know that it is bogus!

And one thing more, this isn’t just about Governor Palin. These aren’t the only underhanded democrat operatives out there. Even if you aren’t one of Governor Palin’s strong supporters, remember this, if they’ll do this to her, sooner or later, they’ll do it to someone you do care about! This sort of character assassination and economic terrorism is standard operating procedure for the modern democrat party. Just ask David Axlerod or Rahm Emanuel!

This is as good a time as any to draw a line in the sand! Enough is indeed enough!

I’ll leave you with this thought from Pastor Martin Niemöller the German anti-Nazi activist:

“In Germany they first came for the Communists,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me —

and by that time no one was left to speak up”.

It is a time to choose.

Not Content To Just Attack Women, Liberals Now Go After Small Children. Nothing Is Sacred When It Comes To Hating Sarah Palin.

Just when you thought liberals couldn’t sink any lower, hate blogger Linda Kellen Biegel proves that the levels of depravity from modern day democrats knows no bottom.

I mean we were just treated to the absolute disgusting display by so-called comedian David Letterman a couple of weeks ago, where he and his liberal viewers thought it was quite OK to call the married Governor and mother of 5 a “slut”, and then voiced his fantasies that featured Governor Palin’s 14 year old daughter! For an encore, Letterman called the daughter a whore one day later.

His apology consisted of claiming he meant to have a fantasy voiced about the Governor’s 18 year old daughter, and meant to call her a whore. Oh, and insulting those who were too stupid not to know that.

Nice people these modern liberals.

Well, as bad as what Letterman did, which was basically declare open season on women and young teen girls for sexual gratification, Linda Kellen Biegel has put old Dave to shame on the hate-o-meter.

Biegel, who I have written about extensively is part of the cabal of left wingers in Alaska who attack the Governor on a daily basis. She is also one of the driving forces behind all of the harassment “ethics complaints” against the Governor as well. And I am sure that she is not pleased that another bogus complaint was thrown out on Monday. The latest complaint to go down in flames was one by serial complaint filer Andree McLeod.

Biegel is one of the main reasons Governor Palin had to set up a legal defense fund. And her antics have also cost the state of Alaska about $300,000 to deal all of the bogus filings.

So what is Biegel up to now?

Well on her website Celtic Diva’s Blue Oasis, she is having a fund raiser to fight for “transparency in government” which is a hoot considering who she supports nationally. And most likely just a way to fund more bogus ethics complaints.

And speaking of this fund raiser, many questions have already popped up wondering if she has actually filed the proper paper work with officials and declared her little piggy bank a political action fund.

Now at this point you might ask “who cares?”

Well, here’s the deal. In promoting her “fundraiser,” Biegel took it upon herself to photoshop a picture of Governor Palin and her youngest son, Trig.

Trig Palin, of course, is a downs syndrome child.

Biegel photoshopped the face of local radio host Eddie Burke onto a well known shot of Governor Palin with her son, Trig. The claim being that Burke, an outspoken supporter of Palin’s, is somehow “in the tank” for the Governor.

Again totally laughable considering that tonight ABC is airing an infomercial for President Obama’s push to socialized medicine, allowing no dissenting voices, and refusing counter advertising!

And don’t get me started on the rest of the state run media and their slobbering love affair with Obama!

Of course, it was our fearless leader who made a joke about special needs children right after becoming POTUS on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. So I guess that was sort of code to let the liberal hate machine know it is OK to go after special needs kids, like Trig.

For contrast, watch Sarah Palin’s video address to the 2009 Special Olympics meet in Boise, Idaho.

Now if this was just one lone hate blogger, it would personally anger me, but I’d just blow this loser off, but that is not the case with Biegel.

Linda Kellen Biegel is an “official DNC blogger” who covered the 2008 Democratic National Committee’s convention in Denver for Alaska, and along with other hate bloggers, enjoys a prominent placement on the Alaskan democrat party’s official website.

This tells me that the Alaskan democrat party endorses the hate that Biegel, Jeanne Devon (Mudflats) as well as HuffPo regulars Shannyn Moore, and Amanda Coyne serve up on a consistent basis.

And as a Democrat National Committee “official blogger” one must assume they also endorse such egregious behavior.

As does Bob Poe, a potential democrat candidate for Governor, who just granted Biegel an interview. (H/T to our friends at Conservatives4Palin.)

And don’t forget, this woman is one of the feature players in filing all of the absolutely ridiculous “ethics complaints” against Governor Palin.

So one must consider these facts. Barack Obama himself has joked on national TV about special needs kids. A hate blogger, and obviously deranged woman who is trying to make a living attacking Governor Palin, also thinks it’s just peachy to attack the Governor using her special needs child. And by endorsement, both the Alaskan and national democrat parties seem to be fine with this sort of thing as well.

For me, I am sick of this deal. I don’t mind people who want to discuss policies. But liberals really never can. Especially when it comes to Sarah Palin. It is always personal, and very nasty. But in general, liberals cannot compete in the marketplace of ideas, so this is how they operate.

Also, for me, this has moved way beyond America’s Governor.

I make no bones about the fact that I strongly support Sarah Palin. I like what she stands for, and think she is the true transformational leader this nation needs to us get back on track. Her resume speaks for itself.

But at this point, it’s no longer just about her. Liberals have absolutely no boundaries any more when it comes to their smear campaigns. Nothing is sacred. No one is safe.

Lately we have seen massive attacks by the liberals, and the so-called mainstream media on all conservative women. The attacks on Carrie Prejean are well documented. Her stance on gay marriage, which is the same as Barack Obama’s, most certainly played a role in her loss as Miss USA and the eventual loss of her Miss California title. (A state that voted overwhelmingly to outlaw gay marriage!)

Then there was the attack by the Playboy blogger who described his violent rape fantasies against conservative women like Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, and Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann.

There was little effort to go after these haters though. Seriously non-existent push back from our side.

Then came Letterman and his hate speech against women and teenage girls. Thankfully, folks from all sides decided to denounce Letterman, and have caused many of his show’s sponsors to take their business elsewhere. In fact, there is still an ongoing effort to get Letterman fired just as CBS fired Don Imus for a lot tamer remark.

Here’s where I feel we are at as Americans, as conservatives, and as human beings. Are we going to continue to allow the very worst elements of society to smear Americans for no reason other than unbridled hate, and a difference in opinion, or are we going to take a stand?

It’s time we let these people know that enough, is enough!

It’s time to hold these people responsible for their actions.

It’s time to declare war on those who traffic in these disgusting practices.

What can you do?

Well for one, why not ask the Alaskan democrat party why they condone such vile attacks on women and children by one of their official bloggers. Why they think it is cool to attack special needs children. You can contact them online. Or here:

Via Mail :

Alaska Democratic Party

2602 Fairbanks Street

Anchorage, AK 99503

Via Phone :

(907) 258-3050

Via Fax :

(907) 258-1626

Ask the Democrat National Party the same questions. You can contact the Democrat National Committee online. Or here:

Via Mail:

Democratic National Committee

430 S. Capitol St. SE

Washington, DC 20003

Via Phone:

202-863-8000

You might even want to ask potential gubernatorial candidate Bob Poe about his obvious connection to Linda Kellen Biegel.

info@bobpoe.com

You can even ask these key Alaskan democrats if they condone this sort of thing. And put pressure on them to either denounce Biegel, or stand with her.

Senator Johnny Ellis:

Sen.Johnny.Ellis@legis.state.ak.us

Senator Hollis French:

Sen.Hollis.French@legis.state.ak.us

Representative Beth Kerttula:

Rep.Beth.Kerttula@legis.state.ak.us

Bear in mind that French and Kerttula were key players in the failed “troopergate” smear attempt against Governor Palin, and French also has his eyes on the Governor’s seat. I think Americans in general, and Alaskan’s in particular need to know if this guy thinks it’s OK to go after women and children especially if he wants to have Alaska’s top job.

I’m sure readers will think of more people they can contact as well, my list is just a good start. And our friends at C4P are all over this with updated contacts as well.

Being someone who follows politics pretty closely, I am continually asked by friends why we have such poor representation, such pitiful politicians in the State House, Congress , and the White House. Well, one of the big reasons is guttersnipes like Linda Kellen Biegel, and her fellow Alaskan bloggers who trade in hate and lies. Think about it, why would someone want to subject themselves to all of these attacks?

When someone who is actually a decent leader, like Sarah Palin, dares put themselves out there, the liberal hate machine goes into high gear. America deserves better than this.

So here’s the deal. Are you going to continue to allow this sort of thing to go on? Are you going to continue to sit back and ignore attacks on decent people? Are you going to continue accepting vile and hateful attacks on women and children?

Or, are you going to get serious and help put an end to this stuff!

This is indeed a time for choosing.

Another McLeod Ethics Complaint Fails: Officially Found to Lack Merit

Another McLeod Ethics Complaint Fails: Officially Found to Lack Merit Printer Friendly

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE No. 09-134 Another McLeod Ethics Complaint Fails

May 27, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin today welcomed the news that yet another ethics complaint against her has been officially found to lack merit and has been dismissed.

Michael Geraghty, investigator for the State Personnel Board, concluded that there is no need for a hearing on the complaint filed in March by Andree McLeod, who has been a vocal critic of the governor since being denied employment with the state last year.

This is the 13th ethics complaint against the governor or her staff that has been resolved with no finding of a violation of the executive ethics act. A few more are pending.

“While the complaint process under the ethics act can be a useful tool for holding state officials accountable, it’s obvious that political opponents of the governor have been abusing the system, attempting to turn their resentments into legal issues,” said Bill McAllister, the governor’s communications director. “We’re grateful that the personnel board and its investigators have taken a rational approach to these matters, finding that the vast majority of the complaints did not even warrant the collection of evidence because they failed to assert any violation of the law.”

McLeod’s complaint, amended several times since it was first filed, made eight separate allegations against the governor. McLeod said that there were two matters showing an improper connection between the governor’s office and her political action committee; that two comments made by McAllister about the governor’s travel plans were political in nature; that the governor’s trip to Evansville, Indiana, for a right to life event used state resources, and that she improperly accepted gifts there, including chocolate, baked goods and a hockey stick from a youth hockey group; that the governor’s daughter, Bristol, used state resources in her efforts on behalf of the Candies Foundation; and that the governor’s press release concerning her selection as a vice presidential candidate was improper. Geraghty found all of the allegations to be baseless and not worthy of an investigation.

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/news.php?id=1869