The Christian Science Monitor: Sarah Palin & Glenn Beck In AK: Testing The 2012 Waters?

Kingmaker, powerbroker, digital celebrity – by whatever name, and there have been many – Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin herald the dawn of a rising phenomenon. Their ability to use virtually every form of new and old media, from television to Twitter, Facebook, and blogs, to reach large audiences in the service of personal yet political messages is something new on the political landscape, say many political strategists and historians.[...]

Such powerful “candidates without portfolio” are truly a creation of today’s hyper-media-saturated communication landscape, says branding expert Mark Stevens. “We’ve never had people as powerful as Beck and Palin who aren’t politicians with complete access to the entire country every day,” he says. “Who can we equate them to? Nobody,” he says. “It’s a unique phenomenon.”

While Palin ranked first in a July Gallup poll of top Republican presidential candidates, at 76 percent, her – and Beck’s – real motivations are less clear, says political scientist Stephen Medvic, author of the 2009 book “Campaigns/Elections: Players and Processes.” Running for president is much dirtier and less financially rewarding than what either of them is doing now, he notes. [...]

Both Palin and Beck are in a wait-and-see mode, says Jerry Kremer, a 23-year veteran of the New York State Assembly and founder of Empire Government Strategies, a political consulting firm. “Beck is a work in progress, testing whether or not he has the power to influence the national debate,” he says. Palin “takes the oxygen out of every other candidate by her charisma,” he says. “She can take a walk around the block and get media coverage.”

The midterm elections will reveal what kind of base Palin would have to tap in a future presidential run, Mr. Kremer says, suggesting that her endorsements are like money in the bank. “Politicians are all about who owes who what,” he says, “and if the people she endorses win big, then she will have a wide net of people to tap when it comes to the necessary organizations to run a national campaign,” he says. "Right now, though," he says, "I don’t see her building the kind of foot soldiers that would involve.”

However, social media is a potent indicator, says Sherrie Madia, author of the upcoming book “Social Media Survival Guide for Political Campaigns.” [...]

“... it certainly bodes well for any potential candidate to have established bandwith long before any official announcement is made,” she adds.

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The Christian Science Monitor: Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck in Alaska: testing the 2012 waters? By Gloria Goodale 

Texas4Palin: CSM Testing the 2012 waters in Alaska

Human Events: Fear of Sarah Palin Exposes Feminists as Useful Idiots

The other day I was busily fomenting extremism and evil by home schooling my child and I ended up having to take a break in order to partake in an even further act of extremism: Telling the Truth. […]

The two alleged writers, Anna Holmes of Jezebel and author Rebecca Traister, started from the premise that the left needs a “Palin of their own.” As usual for the left, everything is boiled down to gender identity politics. However, they failed miserably at their goal, due to being the perpetual victims that they are. Instead, they only exposed why leftist feminism is not only unnecessary, but also unwanted.

Let’s break down their idiocy, shall we? See, I’m willing to offer a dose of reality in response to each of their delusions. I’m good and helpful like that because, as a conservative, I believe that charity begins at home. The intelligent-deficient need aid, too.

From the start, the authors exposed their true agenda. A Palin of “our” own. Everything is about the collective with the left. They fail to realize that Sarah Palin is an individual. A person. And individuals support her, for various reasons, none of which have to do with her fancy womb. Rather, they support her for her conservative principles and her willingness to take on issues head on, without couching them in politically correct and “let’s all get along ” meaningless rhetoric. She stands up for things, unlike the current President (who never stands up for anything.) Admittedly, it is hard for him to stand up, because he’s usually too busy bowing down.

The authors further exposed their own sexist beliefs by saying that Sarah Palin was “chosen by Mr. McCain’s campaign strategists as a cynical rejoinder to the ill-starred presidential bid of Hillary Clinton.” Oh, yes, McCain chose Palin as a “cynical rejoinder” and so that he could attract disgruntled Hillary supporters. Funny, but I don’t remember any articles saying that Obama picked Biden as a “cynical rejoinder.” Nor to attract old white plagiarists with doll hair. […]

That ends now. Women everywhere, in all walks of life, are fed up with leftist feminists. We are sick and tired of how they claim to speak for women, all while pushing agendas that are in actuality harmful to all, including women. Sarah Palin, on the other hand, epitomizes what feminism once was before the word was bastardized beyond all recognizable meaning by the left: the true empowerment of women as individuals and not just gender identified focus groups. Feminism is neither needed nor wanted on the right because the right already practices that.

You, Holmes and Traister, will never have a “Palin of your own” because you don’t understand that concept. Nor do you understand the concepts of freedom, individuality and true empowerment. You can keep Steinem and her ilk.

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it; women need feminists like fish need bicycles.  That’s your legacy, Gloria Steinem.

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Human Events: Fear of Palin Exposes Feminists as Useful Idiots by Lori Ziganto

Texas4Palin: Lori Ziganto Fear of Palin Exposes Feminists as Useful Idiots