Santorum: Politico article ‘is garbage’

– by Josh Painter
*
After Politico published one of its typically deceptive hit pieces, this one written by Andy Barr alleging that Rick Santorum had criticized Sarah Palin’s decision to skip CPAC, Santorum called BS via Twitter:

This article is garbage.All I said was- she is VERY busy, PERIOD. Reporter trying to create something out of nothing http://politi.co/gJ4ARo

Here’s the first paragraph of Barr’s article:

Rick Santorum knocked Sarah Palin’s decision to skip CPAC, saying on Tuesday that she must have “business opportunities” that are keeping her from the annual conservative conference that is a showcase for potential presidential contenders

And here’s the actual exchange between Santorum and S.E. Cupp:

Pollutico never misses an opportunity to use lies and distortions to paint Gov. Palin in a negative hue. In this case, Barr and his editors took a mostly uncritical observation by Santorum and tried to make it appear that the former Senator from Pennsylvania was bashing Gov. Palin. The article also draws on one of the constant memes promoted on left wing blogs that Sarah Palin is some kind of money-crazed fiend, simply because she gets paid well for her speaking appearances. So does Bill Clinton.

We had always considered Barr to be one of the lesser evils on Politico’s staff, but with his latest slanted piece, he proves that he’s no better than the rest of the biased website’s resident leftists. The left wing, anti-Palin agenda is there for all to see, and it’s the main engine that drives the corrupt Politico.

Don’t get us wrong; we’re no Santorum fans. He supported liberal Arlen Specter over conservative Pat Toomey in 2004, explaining that Snarlin’ Arlen is “with us on the votes that matter.” That really worked out well, didn’t it? And Santorum has subtly and not so subtly dissed Gov. Palin before. He got in his little sexist dig in his remarks to Cupp, but that’s almost par for the course for Santorum, whose loose lips show what a loose cannon he is. But the real outrage here is the way Politico always puts a negative spin on any story it writes about Gov. Palin. And if it can brew a tempest in a teapot by pitting Republicans against each other, that’s just considered bonus points at the leftist website.

Related: Sheya has a good roundup of opinion over this one here.

Cross-posted from Texas for Sarah Palin

– JP

The Fix: Gov. Palin explains why she won’t attend CPAC

– by Josh Painter
*
With speculation in the lamestram media alread rising to a fever pitch over Sarah Palin’s decision not to attend C-SPAN, the governor emailed The Washington Post blog the Fix Thursday with an official explanation:

“February is our busiest winter month and with all the prior obligations and outside travel already scheduled for the month I had to forgo some of the opportunities in the Lower 48.”

It was indeed a scheduling issue, not a personal one or any other reason, as CPAC’s David Keene had said:

“We’re disappointed that she couldn’t make it year. It’s due to a scheduling issue. We look forward to having her next year, and she expressed interest in wanting to be there this year.”

Not that she even needs CPAC anyway, as even The Fix’s Rachel Weiner has to admit:

“…unlike some other potential nominees, Palin doesn’t need to raise her profile. She can draw press wherever she goes.”

[…]

“Even in her absence, however, Palin will have a significant influence. She is, as we have written, the prime mover in the presidential race and until she makes clear whether or not she will run in 2012, she will be a presence at any gathering of would-be presidential aspirants — whether she is actually in attendance or not.”

Blogs 4 Palin blogger Jerry Wilson had already pointed this out in his post January 30 at Goldfish and Clowns:

“…it must stick firmly in the throat of Washington insiders and wannabes that Sarah Palin can bypass them without missing a beat. She can pick her spots, selecting such prizes as being the keynote speaker at a high profile sanctioned event marking Ronald Reagan’s one hundredth birthday. She speaks to more people in a second with one Facebook page than all the speakers at CPAC combined will reach in a year. Simply put, Palin doesn’t need CPAC. And she doesn’t seem all that inclined to make an appearance there because it’s been elevated to mandatory status by those seeking to enhance their own status.”

– JP

Cross-posted from Texas for Sarah Palin

– JP

ABC News: Palin Turns Down Coveted CPAC Keynote Speaking Slot

by Josh Painter
*
For the fourth year in a row Gov. Palin has turned down a request to speak at CPAC. ABC News reports that the first woman to be the vice presidential candidate of the Republican Party has once again declined an invitation from CPAC officials to address the conference:

CPAC organizers invited Palin to deliver the closing-night keynote speech on Saturday Feb. 12, immediately following the announcement of the results of CPAC’s annual presidential straw poll, but after several days of negotiations, she declined.

“We’re disappointed that she wasn’t able to make it this year,” American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene said through a spokesman on Thursday. He noted that Palin “expressed interest in wanting to come this year,” but said that it came down to “a scheduling issue.”

The former Alaska governor has a rocky history with the group. In 2010, she stayed away from the event citing the business dealings of the American Conservative Union and Keene, who is a lead organizer of the event.

In 2009, while still serving as governor of Alaska, she initially accepted an invitation to speak on the conference’s opening day, but later dropped out saying that she had to attend to the “duties of governing,” according to a CPAC spokesman. She sent a taped message to the conference instead.

In 2008, CPAC organizer Lisa De Pasquale said that Palin had to drop out of CPAC “at the last minute.” At that point she had not yet been named Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential nominee, but was regarded as an up-and-comer in the Republican Party.

This will be her fourth year skipping the event. While Palin will not be there in person, her political action committee, SarahPAC, is sponsoring a Diamond Reception on the CPAC’s opening night — Thursday, Feb. 10.

[More]

Though a number of her potential rivals for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination will be speaking at CAPC 2011, Gov. Palin joins U.S.Senators Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida, the Family Research Council and the Heritage Foundation as prominent conservatives and organizations not attending this year’s conference. She’s in some pretty good company, in other words.

Cross-posted from Texas for Sarah Palin

– JP

SarahPalin: Glenn Beck Hit Nail on Head with CPAC Speech

Governor Palin was impressed with Glenn Beck’s CPAC speech yesterday.  She tweeted:

Sarah Palin Inspires Conservative Women to Speak Out

Kelley Vlahos at FOXNews.com made the following observations from  CPAC  this weekend:

What motivates conservative women hasn’t changed much since mavens like Phyllis Schafly took on the feminists as a pro-life torchbearer in the 1970s, and the Conservative Political Action Conference this week has shown that their roles in the conservative movement have only grown.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter delivered a rousing speech Saturday, and Sarah Palin, though not in attendance, has been a constant reference point at this week’s annual conference in Washington, D.C.

One panel discussion, “Going Rogue: Women Changing the Face of Conservatism,” took its name from Palin’s recent book about her experience on the campaign trail as the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee. Panel participants said conservative women still promote “family values,” are pro-life and clearly still disdain the feminist movement that told girls they have to work and put off raising a family.

“Conservative issues are just better for women,” said S.E Cupp, a conservative blogger and commentator, who is among a growing number of conservative women finding creating new ways of getting their voices heard through multimedia.

“Otherwise we would have been confined to the mainstream” caricature, Kate Obenshain, a former chairwoman of the Virginia Republican Party, said. She pointed to Michelle Malkin and other bloggers who have crossed over to cable news and other media forums. It shows “conservative women are unstoppable — they’ve always been.”

But Obenshain insists that active conservative women “don’t walk in lock-step,” and she encouraged the audience of predominantly college women not to “let anyone define for you what conservative women should look like.

“We don’t have a litmus test.”

But others say that of the thousands of attendees at CPAC this year, most generally adhere to the same ideological and political positions.

[…]

Still, women acknowledge that while a united front might not always be possible, they can all enjoy the fact that they have made great strides as women. For all the criticism and controversy swirling around Palin, she has helped fire up conservative women, said Zoelle Mallenbaum, a student at Wellesley University. 

Conservative women are “still discredited” by liberals on campus, Mallenbaum said, adding that Palin sends an inspiring message — that conservative women are “out there and unafraid.”