Armed and dangerous, Sarah Palin fires up crowds on both sides

In recent days as the nation's top college basketball teams dueled shot after shot to kill each others' hopes of joining the Final Four, lifelong hunter Sarah Palin of Alaska rode into Searchlight, Nevada with metaphors blazing.

She had been hunting for votes next door in Arizona for embattled political pal and former POW John McCain, who's surrounded by a conservative primary gunslinger trying to knock off the 73-year-old senator after four terms.

As usual, the Republican former Alaska governor fired off a volley of shots in 15 minutes, including:

"We're sending a message to Washington. It's loud and it's clear, and in these upcoming elections we're saying that the big-government, big-debt, Obama-Pelosi-Reid spending spree is over. You're fired!"   (The Palin speech video is over here.)

BTW, here's an intriguing poll bunkerbuster:

Rasmussen Reports now finds that despite widespread attempts to marginalize the Tea Party movement and push it to the political fringes, 52% of American voters now say they believe the average Tea Party follower has a better understanding of contemporary issues confronting the country than does the average member of Congress.

At the end of months of Democrat war dances and battle cries against the puny GOP congressional minority, President Obama and his party had a week of victory laps over the passage and signing of their massive and unpopular healthcare bill.

The fighting president now says he aims for healthcare to be but the first shot in his ongoing spring offensive to legislatively battle for a better future for Americans.

Like a sheriff exhorting her posse, Palin fired up the cheering, wild Western crowd with: "It's not a time to retreat. It's a time to reload."

And then she called out the media not to misinterpret her words as a rallying cry for violence. Good luck with an unarmed plea like that in the nation's current political environment.

Well, Palin scored a bulls-eye, a direct hit on the professed sensitivities of the urban effete who don't like her anyway. Or hunting either. These folks, who've had the mother of five in their sights for character assassination for many months, said they found the word "reload" inflammatory, just explosive rhetoric, like verbal C-4.

These folks, who claim not to care a whit about Palin several times a month, are not gun-shy though. They didn't even bother with a mere shot across her bow. Locked and loaded, they took a direct bead on the one-time GOP VP candidate with a carpet-bombing barrage of criticism to shoot down her word choice that might maybe possibly light a fuse of some kind even though she said it wasn't.

Proving once again that the absolutely very worst thing in the whole, entire wide world is hyperbole.

-- Andrew Malcolm

BTW, a programming note: The ex-governor's new TV show debuts Thursday on Fox News, "Real American Stories with Host Sarah Palin," tales of valor in battle and at home, with a special guest, country singer Toby Keith. More on the new show at Showtracker.

Arm yourself with information and attitude by clicking here for Twitter alerts of each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot. You can also go to our double-barreled Facebook fan page here.

Comments

[Tim]

Sarah Palin is Obama by proxy.

Sarah Palins’ admirers often marvel at how the charges leveled against her are far more applicable to the current president, Barack Hussein Obama.

People who voted for an undistinguished junior senator from Illinois with few accomplishments are quick to assault Palin’s lack of experience. The same folks who instruct us that Barack Obama is a physical paragon, and Michelle Obama is the most beautiful woman in the world a goddess who causes fashion models to slink from her path in shame - belittle Palin for her good looks!

Defenders of the most fabulously corrupt administration in modern history mumble about the murky details of obscure manufactured by Alaskan bloggers. They turn away from the sad spectacle of a manifestly incompetent president to sneer that a woman who alters the course of legislative battles with blog posts is some kind of an idiot.

I used to dismiss these contradictions as simply hypocrisy, but perhaps these people are angry at Palin because of her perceived similarities to barack obama, not in spite of them. They need someplace to ground the lightning of their frustration and disappointment, and they’re not allowed to be angry at obama. They wear a set of rusty intellectual chains that require them to believe all criticism of obama is racist, or paid for by his fat-cat arch-enemies.

[Sonoran Alliance]

John McCain has lost all credibility with Arizona voters. It doesn't matter who he brings into Arizona to buck up his numbers, his conservative credentials are shot. This election, I'm voting for JD Hayworth and giving to his campaign. If you want to have an impact and send a RINO like John McCain to retirement, please visit JD Hayworth's website and give money. McCain has $5 Million to attack Hayworth. Let's help JD by donating to his campaign to restore America. (https://www.jdforsenate.com/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=28)

[Fritzi]

Folks, can I ask just one question: Who died and made Sarah Palin the boss? I am a conservative American and can't believe that everywhere you turn you have to see the face of one of the most ignorant, hate mongering people with ZERO contribution to society and next to nothing experience - Sarah Palin. Is that all we have? And when did the Tea Party movement become a Republican movement? I thought it was awesome that the people of the United States stood up and formed a grassroots coalition - not so much based on views, but more based on our collective frustration about the ignorance of our elected career officials in Washington. And now the conservative Republicans - the very ones we are hoping to replace together with the ultra-liberal Democrats (and anybody in between) - are taking control. And Sarah Palin is their leader? Good Lord, is it all for naught?

I suggest that we, the Tea Partiers, distance us for the "usual politicians" and try to vote every incumbent career politician out of office and vote people who stand for term limits for our elected officials (make it three four-year terms for the Representatives, two six-year terms for the Senators), get rid of the pork barreling and vote on each item on the bill up or down (only amendments directly concerning a bill are allowed to be attached), reduce lobbying and finally get people into government who are enthusiastic and idealistic - and who want to do the right thing for the country and not for any party or their own pocketbook.

And one thing we should make sure of - the people we elect should have a minimal level of intelligence. And I am not talking about Sarah Palin's level, which is somewhere in the neighborhood of an inbred amoeba. It should be about two hundred times higher - at least!

[gahanson]

Good one! Palin is everywhere, running rings around her detractors, and isn't backing down. The fact that Palin absolutely refuses to kowtow to the media moguls infuriates them, and drives them to new heights of stupidity, discrediting themselves even more in the eyes of the public. Her critics are like those trying to swat a swarm of misquitoes, and all they end up doing is slapping themselves silly.

[James Braden]

And all of these people were in one State. Why is Sarah Palin news?

[James Braden]

I am sorry, but who is Sarah Palin? What is her track record? Oh yell, she was elected Governor of Alaska and when there was some controversy, she resigned to join people like Russ Limbaugh and Glenn Beck who have made a living only by their blow hard mouth.

[Jenn in the Right]

John McCain has lost all credibility?!?! What JD says, and what JD does are and always have been 2 different things! It is not a surprise that he cannot find anyone to endorse him, his reputation is nothing short of corrupt. He's already proven to arizona that his commitment to constitutional conservatism can be swayed if the price is right. The only chance we have at a strong fight against this left administration is to have McCain remain in Washington fighting against the mounting deficit

[Lewis]

Sarah Palin is a gibbering imbecile. That anyone takes her seriously is unbelievable.

[Jon Scarpelli]

when thinking about the antichrist and how the idiot conservative christians called Obama the anti christ.
(talking about how the anti christ will be charismatic and be able to light people up and will appear in the least expected way....)

how about a woman, from alaska, who looks like a ditz, who acts like a ditz, who appears to know nothing of import, who has a dysfunctional family who, somehow, has ignited a fire in a good portion of the population?

wouldn't that be clever? EVIL in the form of a dumb alskan woman? I would give the anti christ PROPS for coming up with THAT deception.

The lesson to be learned is that the constitution is correct and that differences should be dealt with through debate and not violence.

no matter how you cut it, whether she is being explicit or not, Palin is advocating violence.

the rhetoric she uses and the fervor in which she (and the tea party-ers) uses it is reminicient of Hitler... it reeks of propaganda... it's aggressive and divisive and arrogant.

how can we accept living in a society where half the people not only disagree with eachother, but have no respect for eachother? we can't. and television and the media are all ignorant to this. their programming and the exploitation of people and ideas for ratings and money, coupled with corporate domination have demolished America's ability to see through the differences and see what the goal of society and life is.... SURVIVAL.

we will not survive if one side or the other gets what they want. we can only survive if we keep healthy the earth and our ability to use the earth in a sustainable way.

who gives a damn about who the president is when the earth is collapsing beneath our feet?

get it together all you SOLDIERS OF AN ERRONEOUS and EMPTY POLITICAL WAR.... there are larger fish to fry... get over your egos.

it's Capitalism that is the problem... because none of these debates even exist if the politicians had no way of making money off them.

[Nonnie]

Hey sweetheart,

You're trying to hard.

[Lori]

Love the deliberate over-use of "violent" metaphors. Thanks!

By the way, these metaphors have been used in the sports world for decades.