I’m Surprised that Sarah’s Surprised That So Many People are Surprised!

On Monday the 8th of August, Sarah Palin posted one of her longest posts on Facebook in history. In case you were thinking that Sarah Palin had a thought longer than 14 characters, …think again. We have always suspected that others wrote her Facebook posts, and Monday was no exception. Like her book, America by Heart, the length of this literary masterpiece was the result of quotations from her speeches and previous posts which filled over half of this current post. We know from PAC filings that a lot of money has been spent on her speeches, so there is proof that these words are not Sarah’s. However I suspect that Sarah actually authored the introduction. The second sentence is: “I’m surprised that so many people are surprised at S&P’s decision. I’m surprised. She must have thought she could write the introductory four sentences. She should have let Piper help her with that daunting task.

The point of the post is to highlight the economic disaster that is facing the country, and attempt to divert blame from the Tea Party to Obama. Reminiscent of her “blood libel” comment Palin attempts to defend herself and the Tea Party with images associated with religion when she says “Blaming the Tea Party for our credit downgrade is akin to Nero blaming the Christians for burning Rome.”

In typical Palin fashion, the post is void of any reference to a single specific idea to bring the deficit under control. When we think of Palin’s in-depth analysis of a problem we think of “common sense” and “patriotism” but no specific ideas. Her post is typical of this type of thought. Her insight into the debt crisis includes specific solutions such as:

1. “stop spending”

2. “We have to face this storm.”

3. “We need to stop this deficit spending.”

4. “balance our budget”

5. “cancel all unused stimulus funds”

6. “reform our entitlement programs”

7. “reducing the size of government”

8. “get this economy moving again”

9. “reduce our trade deficit”

10. “increase state and federal revenue”

11. “actually stimulate our economy without incurring any debt”

12. “I embrace a pro-growth agenda”

13. We need to tell the world “America is open for business again!”

14. “And let’s welcome industry by reducing burdensome regulations”

15. “Let’s get government out of the way and let the private sector breathe, and grow, and thrive.”

16. “We can provide businesses confidence to expand and hire Americans in a stable environment.”

This post is typical of Palin’s comments for the last three years:

1. She fails to identify any specific ideas or ways to solve the problem, but simply restates the problem. It was like Palin saying that the solution to the Gulf Oil Spill was to stop the leak. As Bill O’Reilly expressed his dismay telling Palin that everyone knows that is the problem, but the challenge is HOW to stop the leak. Moreover Palin used this interview to be critical of President Obama for allowing BP to attempt to solve the problem without governmental intervention. As Obama was attempting to get the government “out of the way” and let the experts stop the leak, Palin was attacking Obama for NOT getting in the way.

2. Sarah Palin resigned as Governor. For the last two years she has NO record of managing anything except her own bank account. While the country and Alaska have been faced with the downturn in the economy she has been getting paid millions of dollars to polarize the country, instead of working to solve any problem.

3. Sarah Palin supported the stimulus. In February 2009, before she resigned, she went to DC to get as much for Alaska as she could. Before she resigned, she was forced to consider the needs of her state and her country. It was only AFTER she resigned that she could complain so vociferously. Daily Kos prophetically said in Feb. of ‘09:

“ Forced to actually govern rather than grandstand on failed ideological tenets, Republican governors are headed to DC to beg for their share of the bailout money. That part may not be so surprising, but that Sarah Palin is among them is pretty hilarious.

It complicates matters for the anti-stimulus ideologues who see starbursts in the presence of Palin.

Then again, Palin had no trouble lying about her support for the Bridge to Nowhere. Nothing will stop her from trying to rewrite history three years from now.”

4. Both Palin and Bachmann laughed at President Obama’s warnings about Congress failing to raise the debt ceiling.

Bachmann said it was simply a “scare” tactic. Palin urged Tea Party candidates to “reload” rather than compromising raising the debt ceiling. Now that the nation’s credit rating has been downgraded she suggests that she and the Tea Party are not to blame. In case there is any question, remember what was said last May :

1. Representative Dave Camp, a Republican from Michigan, said that the bill “will and must fail.” He is the House Ways and Means Committee chairman who noted he had helped write the very measure he was criticizing.

“I consider defeating an unconditional increase to be a success, because it sends a clear and critical message that the Congress has finally recognized we must immediately begin to rein in America’s affection for deficit spending,” he said.

2. Rep. Sander Levin, the Democrat from Michigan accused Republicans of a

“ploy so egregious that (they) have had to spend the last week pleading with Wall Street not to take it seriously and risk our economic recovery.”

He and other Democrats added that Republicans were attempting to draw attention away from their controversial plan to turn Medicare into a program in which seniors purchase private insurance coverage.

The proceedings occurred roughly two months before the date Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner had said the debt limit must be raised. If no action is taken by Aug. 2, he warned, the government could default on its obligations and risk turmoil that might plunge the nation into another recession or even an economic depression.

Sarah Palin tried to confuse people, suggesting that raising the debt ceiling would result in more debt.  America’s creditors were not confused. They knew that failure to raise the debt ceiling would result in default on the debts owed to them by the United States. For Congress to even DEBATE the issue of raising the debt ceiling caused creditors of the United States to have increased concern about the possibility of default, at some time, by the United States on its existing debt. When Sarah Palin and the Tea Party used the debt ceiling as leverage in negotiations, they were threatening not only members of the opposing political party, but our creditors. The closer we came to Aug. 2nd without a resolution of approval of an increase in the debt ceiling, the greater the concern for U.S. creditors. Even though the debt ceiling was finally increased at the last possible day, the damage had already been done.

When the final vote was taken in the House, 66 Republicans voted “NO. “  Those 66 legislators were doing exactly what Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin were advocating. I wonder if they were “surprised” when the credit rating of the U.S. was downgraded for the first time in history. Given the months of debate, the failure to reach a compromise, the willingness of 66 legislators to cause the United States to default, and the possibility that the next President of the United States would openly advocate default, the only “surprise” is the fact that it was only S&P that downgraded the U.S.’s credit rating. Sarah Palin was not “surprised.” She is pleased at the demise in the economy as it may provide for her the only possible chance she has of causing people to vote for her for President. Never mind that she is one of the people who should get credit for this catastrophe.

Never forget Palin’s admonition to the Republican freshmen members of Congress to remember the “promises they made during their 2010 campaigns” and her encouragement to remain “true to their fiscally conservative values as Congress debated an increase to the debt ceiling.” She expressly said that she was not in favor of raising the debt ceiling. Yet when the House voted to raise the debt ceiling she declared that it was a victory for the tea party.  Now that S&P has lowered the credit rating because politicians have demonstrated their inability to compromise on the best way to resolve the national debt, Palin says she and the Tea Party should not be blamed. It is not “surprising” that Palin has tried to take credit for anything she perceives at the time to be positive about the economy. It is surprising that Palin supporters are so quick to forget what the Empress wrote and said just a few days ago. Can they see that the Empress is naked and they are just afraid to admit it?