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President Barack Obama borrowed a phrase from one of his harshest opponents last night, telling supporters at a New York fundraiser that “all that hopey changey stuff” from the 2008 campaign “was real.” The “hopey changey” term comes from a certain former Alaska governor and 2008-vintage Obama opponent. At a tea party convention in Nasvhille last year, Sarah Palin said she wanted to ask Obama’s supporters: “How’s that hopey changey thing working out for ya?” Obama’s belated response went like this, according to last night’s pool report from the Gotham Theater: “All that hopey changey stuff, as they say? That...

In light of Friday's decision by Standard and Poor's to downgrade the United States' credit rating to AA+, it's worth mentioning again -- as I first did in this Atlantic piece -- that Alaska recently had its bond rating raised to AAA for the first time in the state's history, largely due to fiscal improvements brought about by Sarah Palin while she was governor. The state currently enjoys a $12 billion budget surplus. I was reminded of this fact over the weekend by Ian Lazaren, the indefatigable supporter-cultist behind Conservatives4Palin.com. This is unquestionably a good thing for the people of...

I went to the conservatives4palin.com website to look up the news on the movie The Undefeated and was...intrigued by the banner picture at the top of the page:

A poll unveiled this week from American Research Group shows that three Republican presidential candidates -- U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska -- are gaining serious momentum in Iowa, site of the first presidential caucus. Bachmann, who declared her candidacy in June and has been surging in polls at both the national and state levels, topped the poll with 21 percent. Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts placed second with 18 percent. Paul, who was the Libertarian candidate in 1988 and ran for the Republican nomination in...

Here's a surprise: A New York Times/CBS poll shows Republican voters wish they had more GOP candidates to choose from in the 2012 presidential race -- and about two-thirds of them said they are enthusiastically unenthusiastic about any of the nine announced candidates. The ennui is palpable and who could blame them? Cold mashed potatoes have more pizzazz then this bunch. History-impaired. Goofy. The same, followed by more of the same. Blah-blah-blah. The only way to liven it up would require at least a truckload of fairy dust -- or new blood jumping into the fray. All of this plays...

....I met a young man who is not the President of the Young Republicans Club at the University of California Irvine. He talked about how when the Democrats and Republicans throw events on campus they have big turnouts. I hope the best for Nick and look forward to speaking with him again. And finally, I interviewed Marc Harris who is a blogger from BigGovernment.com and the leader of his areas Tea Party as well. To break the ice as well as start a nationwide survey of a poll truly I asked a question of everyone that was submitted to me...

Via POLITICO's Juana Summers, Sarah Palin is throwing water on reports she'd ditched her "One Nation" bus tour, with a Facebook post saying she will be performing her civic duty: "As I said myself at the end of the east coast leg of the tour, the summer is long, and I'm looking forward to hitting the open road again. The coming weeks are tight because civic duty calls (like most everyone else, even former governors get called up for jury duty) and I look forward to doing my part just like every other Alaskan."

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) made the first and only mention of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), praising her and saying she is qualified to be president. Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor, was asked who made the better choice for vice president in 2008, Obama by choosing then-Sen. Joe Biden or Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) selection of Palin. The Minnesotan originally focused his comments on Biden, criticizing his Iraq policy, but then turned to praise Palin. "I think Gov. Palin is a remarkable leader, she is more than qualified to be president of the United States," he said....

There’s a lot to talk about here. Mitch Daniels, whom I thought would enter the race and was going to discuss, bowed out over the weekend, saying he loved his family even more than he loved his country. I thought Daniels would have been a strong candidate with an established record of taming the fiscal situation and having won reelection in Indiana, a Republican-leaning state that Obama did win, however. And I think he could have gotten beyond conservative reflexes against his verbal formulations that have called for “a truce on social issues,” and the “need to be liked,” which...

Sarah Palin has deliberately left the question as to whether or not she will run in 2012 open. For those who believe a bid for the GOP nomination is still a possibility for her, The Arizona Republic provides some further evidence: after months of rumors, Palin may have purchased a house in Scotsdale, Arizona. A deal on a secluded, 8,000-square-foot home in far north Scottsdale was recently closed by Safari Investments LLC for $1.695 million cash. The terms of the deal hide the identity of the owner, and when the attorney listed on the property records, Alan Kierman, was asked...

The president’s announcement, which included plans for expanded drilling in Alaska demonstrate[s] his commitment to reducing oil imports by increasing domestic production… Mr. Obama said the administration would begin to hold annual auctions for oil and gas leases in the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve, a 23-million-acre tract on the North Slope of Alaska. The move comes after years of demands for the auctions by industry executives and Alaska’s two senators, Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, and Mark Begich, a Democrat. In crediting Murkowski and Begich for the policy change, The New York Times omitted the name of Sarah Palin, who’s been...

Jim Palin met both me and calamari for the first time at lunch last month at Evangelo’s, the best Italian restaurant in Wasilla, Alaska. Jim Palin, Todd’s father, has been hunting and fishing in his state for almost 50 years, but somehow he had never crossed paths with a squid, alive or fried. As for reporters from the “lamestream media,” he had met a few, but had never actually sat down to break bread with one before. I had come to lunch hoping to learn a little about Jim’s elusive son, Todd—a figure of enduring fascination who just might, if...

Some media commentary on Sarah Palin continues to amuse me quite a bit. There are those who love to talk about how irrelevant she is — usually in the midst of a lengthy blog post or column that obsesses about something Palin recently said or tweeted. There are those who continue to distort her record, despite the surplus her policies afforded Alaska and a list of accomplishments that includes substantial spending reductions, incentivizing and expanding drilling for oil and natural gas, investing in state savings, and a commitment to transparency, ethics reform, and tackling corruption. And there are an array...

The anti-Palin books headed our way are sure to delight the usual Palin-bashing keyboard addicts punching away until the wee hours of the night. On the other hand, they could serve as amusement to others as they become aware of the actual facts. Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin is set for release May 24, 2011 and bears the authenticity of being the only anti-Palin book co-authored by a former aide of the Governor. Frank Bailey served with Governor Palin during her election campaign and victory. Aside from that, it is quite predictable: the book's other authors are Jeanne Devon, a...

It is considered unusual for a former governor who holds no public office and is not currently running for another to have a foreign policy adviser. But Sarah Palin, not known for being conventional, has chosen Peter Schweizer for that job. Schweizer is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution with expertise in international relations, national security affairs, and the U.S. presidency. He is also the author of a number of books, including two on President Reagan, one on the Bush family, and a critique on the effects of big government on the world economy. Most recently, Schweizer published a...

Politics being a funny beast, we tend to readily accept the idea of a retired state governor, sometime pundit, and non-candidate for president having a “foreign policy adviser.” Ben Smith of Politico reports that Palin this weekend unloaded what he calls the “neocon” advisers who have been with her since the 2008 campaign (when she was assigned them by the McCain organization), in favor of Hoover fellow and political author Peter Schweizer, who wrote two seminal volumes on Reagan’s handling of the Cold War (Victory and Reagan’s War), and writes at Breitbart’s Big Peace. (H/t: Israpundit) This is informative news...

There are at least a dozen Republicans considering a run for the White House in 2012. NPR is profiling some of them to find out what first sparked their interest in politics.Whether Sarah Palin will enter the 2012 presidential race is the political junkie's favorite guessing game — and Palin hasn't said much to end the speculation. But how Palin entered politics in the first place may surprise you. It turns out, Palin was recruited into politics to help the cause of bigger government. "We were looking for a moderate who was interested in community development, basically," says John Stein,...

Few people have ever attracted more polarization than Sarah Palin has. Since her name was announced as John McCain’s running mate in 2008, she has been at the center of controversy. Many Americans love Palin, but an equally large number despise her. Those who speak so ill of her claim she is completely incompetent to be in a leadership position. That may not be entirely true. After becoming governor of Alaska in 2007, Palin immediately passed a state bill on political ethics. This bill requires all Alaskan representatives to receive ethics training, and increases the amount of money a lobbyist...

Well it would seem that Republicans in Congress blinked agreeing to a last minute deal where they compromised everything and Democrats gave nothing. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is doing a victory lap, and President Obama was thankful that funding Planned Parenthood was avoided. "We protected the investments we need to win the future. At the same time, we also made sure at the end of the day this was a debate about spending cuts — not social issues like women’s health and the protection of our air and water. These are important issues that deserve discussion, just not during...

Pissant has just agreed to come back to Free Republic and spearhead what has been characterized as a massive fundraising effort, just in time for Sarah's planned announcement of her run for the Presidency.