Governor Palin 4 President

The exclusive Newsmax Media-Zogby poll released Thursday asked likely GOP voters: "If the Republican primary for president of the United States were held today... for whom would you vote?" […]

Despite the size and diversity of the field, Palin grabbed a solid 22.2% to take the lead with former Massachusetts Gov. Romney close behind with 19.4%.  Also making a strong showing was former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich with 12%, followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 11%. 

The Newsmax-Zogby poll suggests the rumble for top dog among GOP candidates is anything but static. In early December, a CNN/Opinion Research poll found Mike Huckabee led the Republican field of presidential candidates with Palin trailing him for second place.  The latest data is clearly good news for Palin.

"It suggests to me that reports of her political death are exaggerated," political strategist and Democratic pollster Douglas Schoen tells Newsmax. "In American political life, politicians have not only second and third lives, they have nine lives. And Sarah Palin is on her third or fourth life." The poll's results offer a stark contrast to earlier surveys on Palin. […]

The poll indicates that, among Republicans at least, Palin has overcome the various and sundry attacks leveled against her in the media and remains a powerful political force. 

She recently kicked off a series of campaign appearances on behalf of Republican candidates who hope to ride the current wave of anti-incumbent animus into Washington. GOP political leaders are taking notice. 

California Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the chief deputy whip for the GOP, tells Newsmax he's not surprised by Palin's strength in the Newsmax-Zogby poll, "but I imagine there are a few networks, that it might surprise them." McCarthy says Palin has become the voice of an electorate increasingly frustrated with federal governance.

"She has the common sense to go out, to listen, to talk, to tell exactly how she feels from the heart," McCarthy tells Newsmax. "They can try to go out there and say whatever they want about her but she's really the voice of the people. She raises a family, she understands those challenges. … I think that's what America is looking for.

"America is not looking for a party," McCarthy says. "They're looking for a leader and those who will help change Washington."  […]

The poll isn't all good news for Palin, cautions Fox News contributor and bestselling author Dick Morris.  She is the clearly highest profile candidate listed, he says, yet she garnered less than three-quarters of the vote. 

"Sarah Palin has a strong group of dedicated supporters who really, really like her – with good reason, I might add. I think they believe, and I think they're right, that she was an enormous asset to the McCain ticket," Morris tells Newsmax. "And I think that group is going to be there buying her books, tuning into her programs, coming to her book signings, coming to her rallies, voting for her in the polls. But the fact that it's less than a quarter of the Republican electorate, to me indicates some trouble ahead for her."  Morris tells Newsmax the 2012 Republican nominee is likely to beat Obama.

Original Post:

We’ve now seen three landslide Republican victories in three states that President Obama carried in 2008. From the tea parties to the town halls to the Massachusetts Miracle, Americans have tried to make their opposition to Washington’s big government agenda loud and clear. But the President has decided that this current discontent isn’t his fault, it’s ours. He seems to think we just don’t understand what’s going on because he hasn’t had the chance – in his 411 speeches and 158 interviews last year – to adequately explain his policies to us.

Instead of sensibly telling the American people, “I’m listening,” the president is saying, “Listen up, people!” This approach is precisely the reason people are upset with Washington. Americans understand the president’s policies. We just don’t agree with them. But the president has refused to shift focus and come around to the center from the far left. Instead he and his old campaign advisers are regrouping to put a new spin on the same old agenda for 2010. 

Americans aren’t looking for more political strategists. We’re looking for real leadership that listens and delivers results. The president’s former campaign adviser is now calling on supporters to “get on the same page,” but what’s on that page? He claims that the president is “resolved” to “keep fighting for” his agenda, but we’ve already seen what that government-growth agenda involves, and frankly the hype doesn’t give us much hope. Real health care reform requires a free market approach; real job creation involves incentivizing, not punishing, the job-creators; reining in the “big banks” means ending bailouts; and stopping “the undue influence of lobbyists” means not cutting deals with them behind closed doors. 

Instead of real leadership, though, we’ve had broken promises and backroom deals. One of the worst: candidate Obama promised to go through the federal budget “with a scalpel,” but President Obama spent four times more than his predecessor. Want more? Candidate Obama promised that lobbyists “won’t find a job in my White House,” but President Obama gave at least a dozen former lobbyists top administration jobs. Candidate Obama promised us that we could view his health care deliberations openly and honestly on C-SPAN, but President Obama cut deals behind closed doors with industry lobbyists. Candidate Obama promised us that we would have at least five days to read all major legislation, but President Obama rushed through bills before members of Congress could even read them.

Candidate Obama promised us that his economic stimulus package would be targeted and pork-free, but President Obama signed a stimulus bill loaded with pork and goodies for corporate cronies. Candidate Obama railed against Wall Street greed, but President Obama cozied up to bankers as he extended and expanded their bailouts. Candidate Obama promised us that for “Every dollar that I’ve proposed [in spending], I’ve proposed an additional cut so that it matches.” We’re still waiting to see how President Obama will cut spending to match the trillion he’s spent.

More than anything, Americans were promised jobs, but the president’s stimulus package has failed to stem our rising unemployment rate. Maybe it was unfair to expect that an administration with so little private sector experience would understand something about job creation. How many Obama Administration officials have ever had to make a payroll or craft a business plan in the private sector? How many have had to worry about not having the resources to invest and expand? The president’s big government policies have made hiring a new employee a difficult commitment for employers to make. Ask yourself if the Obama Administration has done anything to make it easier for employers to hire. Have they given us any reassurance that the president will keep taxes low and not impose expensive new regulations? 

If you agree or not Sarah Palin is the top of the list.  Of those with actual governing experience, Romney, Huckabee, Palin, Giuliani, Perry and Pawlenty, only one that can easily fill a stadium.  Romeny certainly has great business experience but his time as MA governor is not impressive.  Giuliani, Perry and Pawlenty have all done a great job for their states but cannot excite & rallying large numbers like Sarah Palin.

The new kid on the block, Scott Brown, has some excitement behind him but legislative experience is simply not executive experience.   We see this with Newt, McCain, Hillary, and of course Obama & Biden.  None of them have run a government and are not or should not be qualified to be President.  The job is to important to even take a small chance like we did with the disaster Obama/Biden.  Millions of morons voted based on emotion & skin color and not on a strong or correct resume.

All candidates should be required to pass a litmus test which means being fiscally conservative and actual executive experience (running a government), along with meeting all the Constitutional requirements: NO EXCEPTIONS!!             

Despite what the opposition whats us to believe Sarah Palin does have more than a decade of experience as mayor of a town, manager of the AK oil & gas commission, running the Alaskan government and starting/owning 2 small business.  Together with a massive following their is no other candidate.   

I am also pleased to see Sarah Palin sticking to her word and, above all, demonstrating her strong sense of loyalty by backing John McCain.  Like it or not John McCain is, if not directly, indirectly responsible for the resurgence of the conservative or Tea Party movement. The main factors behind the Conservative movement are Obama & his polices, Sarah Palin & her amazingly influential voice and the lefts control of the media & Congress.  Without John McCain’s VP choice of Sarah Palin and Obama’s assault on America & our Constitution we would not be winning our country back.

The resurgence of conservative ideals and the cleansing of the GOP of weak, damaging and wishy-washy RINOs is in-part because of the biggest RINO of them all John McCain.  

We are blessed to have Governor Sarah Palin, a principled women of strong character and loyalty, fighting for us.  

     

Sarah Palin Explained her support of John McCain in this interview: In Sarah's own words on McCain's conservatism:

On media attacks: “I'm able to set it aside and I do have thick skin and always have. It's not that difficult for me to keep things in the right perspective. Americans are taking real shots out there. Not political words that sting for a minute.”

Says biggest lesson she's learned is you “can't pick a fight with those who buy ink by the barrel full. They are going to say what they want to say, spin it how they want to spin it. This is where my faith becomes even more important to me. I have to have faith that our words, our message will get there to the American people minus the filter of the mainstream media.” Says voters need to be able to contrast the two tickets on policy, strong family values.

On McCain's conservatism: Says she thinks McCain is on board with the Republican platform “from the bottom of my heart. I'm such a strong believer that McCain believes in those planks.” Says they do discuss the details of policy in their private conversations, he doesn't want a VP who will check their opinions at the door. “Americans know that John McCain is solidly there on the solid planks of our platform that will build the right America.”

On polling showing an uphill race: Says she's not discouraged at all. “I have found myself over and over again in my life being putting in these underdog situations” and it always worked out fine. “It motivates us, makes us work that much harder, strengthens my faith.” Says the election is in “God's hands” and she knows the right thing will happen November 4.

Also talks about Trig, abortion, Joe the Plumber, etc.

Full Article At:

And speaking of grand vistas of opportunity, let me discuss Sarah Palin. Having just finished her book, Going Rogue, I am angry. I am angry that no one, not even conservatives, told me what a brilliant book this is, before I read it for myself. Brilliant in a quintessentially Sarah Palin way, showing through doing and being her genuine self, rather than through academic argument, exactly the way to communicate to the every day person.

I don't know that she actually planned it this way. But what is so brilliant about the book is that she just tells her fascinating and endearing personal life story, from childhood to 2009, in great personal and reflective detail. In the process, you come to know exactly who she is, exactly what she believes, and why, while she convincingly, thoroughly, politely eviscerates her critics, from left to right.

After reading the book, the word that will stick in your mind is genuine, which is jarring in a modern, hip, culture, that Rush Limbaugh is accurately calling "the universe of lies." Sarah Palin in this book transparently speaks from the heart, and tells us who she is, more than willing to let the chips fall where they may. And where they fall is to provide a firm foundation for a generation of national political leadership. […]

She registered as a Republican when she turned 18 during Reagan's presidency because she was "a believer in individual rights and responsibilities rather than heavy handed government, in free-market principles that included reward for hard work; respect for equality; support for a strong military; and a belief that America is the best country on earth." She describes herself as "a free-market capitalist," and her daughter Piper serves as the poster child for Alaska Right to Life.

As someone who worked for President Reagan on his White House staff, I can attest after reading this 400 plus page autobiography that she is through and through a female Reagan. But the book shows that, deep in her heart, she is first and foremost a Mom, which is something even Reagan couldn't give us. […]

Palin got to work on the pipeline promise on day one in office. She writes, "This was a multibillion-dollar project, the largest private sector energy project in North American history. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity." Oil giants like Exxon-Mobile, BP, and ConocoPhillips wanted to negotiate an inside deal with the state to build and operate the pipeline. Over their furious opposition, Palin insisted on competitive bidding open to the entire world instead. Her Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA) providing for that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support, with shocked testimonials from leading Democrat legislators. The state even received a bid from China, but chose as the best the Canadian bid from the Calgary-based pipeline building giant TransCanada-Alaska. […]

I predict a long future for Sarah Palin, and her clan, in national public life. But I think she needs to prove herself first to the great numbers of dismissive skeptics misled by our openly dishonest national media. So let me make another prediction: Sarah Palin will be serving in the President's Cabinet in 2013 as the Secretary of Energy. There she will lead the revival of a robust, world leading, American energy industry.

In this post, she will so prove herself that by 2017 she will be at the top of the Cabinet as Secretary of State or Treasury, or maybe she will be serving the U.S. Senate by then. In 2021, the ultimately glass ceiling will shatter as Sarah Palin becomes the first woman President of the United States at the age of 56.

Full Article At:

CNN’s Political Ticker reported:

Sarah Palin, McCain's former running mate and perhaps the most powerful brand in Republican politics, will stump for McCain in Arizona on March 26 and 27, a Palin adviser told CNN. The presence of Palin - and the considerable crowds and media attention she will draw - might give pause to J.D. Hayworth, the former Republican congressman and radio host who opposes McCain's position on illegal immigration and is mulling a Senate run of his own.

The former Alaska governor will also hit the campaign trail in the coming month for two conservative heroes - Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann. 

Minnesota’s Star Tribune reported:

Two Republican Party superstars -- Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin -- will be stumping in Minnesota in April.  The former Alaska governor will make a campaign appearance with the Sixth District congresswoman who's running for a third term, Bachmann announced Tuesday.

Announcing Palin's scheduled appearance, Bachmann is quoted as saying: "There is absolutely no one more in tune with the hearts and minds of everyday Americans than Governor Palin, and I'm excited to welcome her back to our beautiful state this spring."  [...]

In some conservative and Republican circles there has been persistent buzz about a Palin-Bachmann presidential ticket in 2012. A Google search for "Palin Bachmann 2012" produces more than 2 million hits.

Gov Perry Campaign reported:

Super Sunday with Sarah!

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is coming to Texas on Sunday, February 7, 2010 to headline a rally for Governor Perry's re-election campaign. We invite you to join Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, and your fellow conservatives in Houston for this exciting event. Sign up below and don't forget to print out your registration confirmation, which will serve as your ticket into the event.

For Tickets To The event: http://www.RickPerry.org/Sarah

Sarah Palin on Facebook:

I'm excited to get out and help elect candidates who will bring those principles to our nation's towns, state houses, and directly to Washington D.C. We are already making plans to support the candidates our nation needs to make a difference and speak for everyday Americans. 

I want to again thank the good people of Massachusetts for propelling a commonsense, independent agenda forward! May the working man and woman feel empowered now more than ever to get involved in their government, and let's put this great country on the right track. 

The past year continues to offer the promise of commonsense government in so many areas. There are steps we can all take to get there, one of which is to support candidates who promise to fight for the people and against politics as usual. I'm excited to get out and help elect candidates who will bring those principles to our nation's towns, state houses, and directly to Washington D.C. We are already making plans to support the candidates our nation needs to make a difference and speak for everyday Americans. 

I look forward to helping Governors like Rick Perry in Texas, Representatives like Michele Bachmann in Minnesota, and heroes and statesmen like Senator John McCain. We will support these candidates and others so that they can continue to fight for our American values. 

The special election yesterday in Massachusetts was truly amazing. It is a clear indication of things to come and a demonstration of the momentum we all share in the fight for the values and policies that will get our country back to work. The commonsense conservative principles of liberty and fiscal responsibility are on the rise, and that's why I'm going out and campaigning as hard as I can to make a difference. I can't wait to join all of you in supporting these great candidates and many more over the coming months. 

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin placed a phone call to Senator Scott Brown (R) Tuesday night to congratulate the Republican on his upset victory in Massachusetts's special Senate election. "Governor Palin spoke with a very happy Senator Brown this evening and congratulated him on his most historic victory for not only Massachusetts but the nation," Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton.

In an appearance on Fox New's Greta Van Susteren On The Record, Sarah Palin hailed the Republican's win as "a step for taking our country back. This is a referendum on all those things that President Obama has been standing for, it was many different factors all coming together – and thank God for that, I think a lot of the people will say, because this is a step for taking our country back."

Asked by Van Susteren to explain why she did not formally endorse Brown before the election, Palin praised Brown's campaign for relying on "shoe-leather" campaigning instead of national surrogates. "I would have" endorsed him, she said, "if he had requested it."

Facebook Post:
Congratulations to the new Senator-elect from Massachusetts! Scott Brown’s victory proves that the desire for real solutions transcends notions of “blue state” & “red state”. Americans agree that we need to hold our politicians accountable and bring common sense to D.C.

Recent elections have taught us that when a party in power loses its way, the American people will hold them accountable at the ballot box. Today under the Democrats, government spending is up nearly 23 percent and unemployment is higher than it’s been in a quarter of a century. For the past year they’ve built a record of broken promises, fat cat bailouts, closed-door meetings with lobbyists, sweetheart deals for corporate cronies, and midnight votes on weekends for major legislation that wasn’t even read. The good citizens of Massachusetts reminded Democrats not to take them for granted.

Americans cheered for Scott Brown’s underdog campaign because they viewed his candidacy as a vote against the Democrats’ health care bill. You know that there’s something wrong with this legislation when opposition to it inspired a Republican victory in a state that currently has no Republicans in Congress and last sent a Republican to the Senate nearly 40 years ago.

Clearly this victory is a bellwether for the big election night ten months from now. In the spirit of bipartisanship, let me offer some advice to the Democrats on how to stem this populist tide. Scrap your current health care bill and start from scratch. We all want true reform, but government mandated insurance is not it. Scott Brown campaigned against this top-down bureaucratic mess. We need common sense solutions like reforming malpractice laws, allowing people to purchase insurance across state lines, giving individual purchasers the same tax benefits as those who get coverage through their employers, and letting small businesses pool together to provide insurance for their employees. Focus your efforts on jobs, not on job-killing legislation. Such a change in approach would show Americans that you’re listening.

My best wishes to Senator-Elect Brown. When you go to Washington, may you never forget the ordinary citizens you met while driving that truck through the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The British liberal media is also very very afraid of Sarah Palin but are fully aware Obama is completely incompetent.  Andrew Stephen & Sarah Churhwell, of the far left British New Statesman, had this to say:  The danger of Sarah Palin

Changing tides: 

And Obama himself? I'll resist the temptation to say, "I told you so." But countless election-winning promises - such as his undertaking to shut down Guantanamo by the end of this month - have evaporated into thin air during what, predictably, turned out to be a lackluster and conventionally right-wing first presidential year. True, he won the Nobel Peace Prize (for not being George W Bush, I suspect), but then he also despatched 47,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan. I'll say no more.

The beneficiaries of the post-Obamania lassitude, amazingly, are turning out to be the Republicans.  […]

Palin's progress:

The result, encouraged by ever-willing far-right agitators such as Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin, has been the creation of the so-called Tea-Party movement - named after the quintessentially American, anti-British, anti-taxes and anti-big government Boston Tea Party revolt of 1773. Early next month, none other than the 45-year-old Palin - an ambitious lady whom you dismiss lightly at your peril - will reportedly earn a six-figure sum as the keynote speaker at the first conference of a new political entity called the "Tea Party Nation" (TPN), at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville.

“We believe in limited government, free speech, the Second Amendment [the right of Americans to carry guns], our military, secure borders and our country," is TPN's one-sentence manifesto. These words are well-chosen triggers to capture the 57.4 per cent of discontented Americans who think that their country is on the "wrong track" (as opposed to only 35.5 per cent who think it's on the right one).

If this sounds like a joke, it isn't. Palin, usually mindful of what she perceives as her need to cultivate the Republican establishment if she is to achieve the unthinkable and become the party's presidential candidate in 2012, turned down an invitation to speak at the more conventional Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington.

The fledgling TPN is run by two rather dodgy Republican lobbyists. (One of them is Howard Kaloogian, who tried to pass off a photograph of Istanbul as being an image of peaceful Baghdad streets when he was running for the House in 2006.) Should the TPN continue to gain traction, expect more Republican heavyweights, such as Marco Rubio of Florida and Gary Johnson of New Mexico, to move in and take over its leadership.

For Palin, highlighting the TPN and snubbing the CPAC was a politically logical calculation: an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll shows that 41 per cent of Americans now support the TPN, compared with 35 per cent who prefer the Democrats and 28 per cent the traditional Republicans epitomized by the CPAC. She has also decided to speak at the 2010 Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans in April.  […]

The closest the Republicans have to a leader is Michael Steele, the eccentric chairman of the Republican National Committee. "I'm the guy they're afraid of," he boasts. "I'm a Tea Partier, I'm a grass-roots-er." He predicts that the Republicans will regain complete control of Congress in November, especially if voters read his new book, Right Now: a 12-Step Program for Defeating the Obama Agenda. "I'm the chairman. Deal with it," is how he brushes off his many critics.

The blurb on the inside flap of Steele's book (now competing for hearts and minds with Sarah Palin's Going Rogue) urges Republicans to rise up against the Obama administration's "attempts to resurrect a discredited brand of extreme liberalism". The publishers succinctly sum up Steele's agenda even further: "The American people don't want socialized health-care 'reform', invasive 'green' initiatives and burdensome new taxes, and Republicans in Washington have to start listening."

They probably will, too, what with all the plotting Tea Partiers, unemployment at 10 per cent and rising, and the potentially incendiary anger that is sweeping across the country and making America's discontented masses ripe targets for the far right this year. And this is happening even though their party is more of a shambles than it has ever been and has done nothing to earn a single vote.

Full Article At:

The event, "Arkansas Welcomes Sarah Palin," will be held at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock. Details of the time of the event have not yet been finalized.

The party will sell dinner and reception tickets. Dinner tickets are $175 each, and reception tickets are $500 per person or per couple and include a photo with Palin, the state GOP said.

Tickets may be bought with a credit card by calling the Republican Party of Arkansas at (501) 372-7301. Check or cash purchases must be made in person at the Republican Party of Arkansas Rockefeller Republican Center, 1201 W. Sixth, Little Rock, 72201. Office hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

General admission tickets are $35 and $65 and can be purchased through Ticketmaster beginning at 10 a.m. Friday. They may also be bought by visiting the Verizon Arena box office at One Verizon Arena Way, North Little Rock, AR. 72114. Box office hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Source:

Gary P. Jackson from A Time For Choosing, wrote a nice piece on Sarah Palin joining Fox News:

OK, I’ll admit it, when I first got the news that Sarah Palin was signing on with Fox News to be a commentator and analyst, I was kind of like…huh(?), but that faded fast. Like many, it came at me from out of the blue, and I follow Sarah pretty closely.

Also, like many, I was concerned about the other efforts she has going on: Things like giving speeches, campaigning for Conservatives, doing charity work, and smacking Barack Obama upside the head on a regular basis. You know, saving the world stuff!

Of course, after the few minutes it took for all of this to sink in, and for me to process it all, I realized that this was, after all, Sarah Palin, the ultimate multi-tasker. Sarah Palin, the woman who is known to have a Blackberry in each hand, and her beautiful son Trig in her arms, all the while being briefed on something else. This is Sarah Palin, who reportedly has a photographic memory, and likes her briefings rapid fire!

The Fox News gig may be the easiest, least taxing job she’ll have!

My second thoughts went to the Great Ronald Reagan, my political hero, and well, one of Sarah’s, as well. Once again, one sees Sarah as nothing less than Reaganesque with this move.

[...]

Ronald Reagan lost the 1976 Republican nomination to President Gerald Ford. During a period of time that some describe as Reagan’s “time in the wilderness,” Ronnie spent his time writing op-ed’s for newspapers, giving speeches to any and every group possible, spreading the words of conservatism, and doing regular radio commentary.

When 1980 rolled around, Reagan had build an incredible grass roots following, a group of devoted supporters that would see him win two historic landslide victories.

This brings us to Sarah Palin, post governorship.

Sarah has written op-eds for numerous publications, much to the radical left’s chagrin. I n fact, an op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post in July of 2009 on climate change and energy independence was the third most read of the year. And one she wrote early December, demanding Obama boycott Copenhagen was in the top 25. This is out of literally thousands of the opinion pieces published by WaPo in 2009.

Something Sarah has that Reagan did not, as Al Gore had not invented the internet yet, is social networking. Sarah has proven to be quiet adept at using Facebook and Twitter. I can’t think of anyone else on the planet who could write two words on Facebook, and absolutely change history, as Sarah was able to do when she took on ObamaCare and pointed out that in every nation with socialized medicine there is major rationing of care.

Her “death panels” was a stroke of metaphoric genius that still has tongues wagging on both sides of the argument, and really knocked the shine off of hope and change. With those two paragraphs, Sarah changed history, and forever wounded the Obama presidency, some say mortally. One thing is for certain, history will look back at that Facebook post as a seminal moment in time, a point where Mr Obama saw his presidency slowly start to slip away.

Full Post At:

Union Brothers & Sisters: Your Leadership Doesn’t Get It – You Deserve Better. In the latest to come out of D.C.’s backroom health care deals, President Obama yesterday cut a doozy of a deal with labor union bosses. The fed’s health care plan must be so bad that even union bosses had to go to D.C. to say they wanted out. So... to keep their support for a flawed plan they got an exemption to provisions in the deal that others did not. Small business owners, our families running America’s mom & pops, did not get this deal. Ask yourself: why did union bosses get special treatment? And when did our country’s unions get on the wrong track with moves like this that hurt their good members and put them in such a bad light?

Good hard-working, pro-free-market, pro-America union members should join in opposition to their union bosses’ sweetheart deal. Coming from a union background and living in a world with many union memberships among my family and friends, I know that average members will be embarrassed by their bosses’ deal, which basically only delays the heavy tax on their health care plans until 2018 and in the meantime unfairly leaves many fellow Americans in a much less “enviable” position.

Union members don’t want to stick it to non-union colleagues in the private and public sector. Their union leadership is not helping them in the long run, they’re certainly not helping the rest of America, and unfortunately some union bosses are making all union members look bad, selfish, and anti-business with this Big Government backroom deal. 

I know that ordinary union members don’t want to hurt their fellow Americans, just as ordinary Nebraskans didn’t want to stick it to the rest of the country with a sweetheart deal on Medicaid subsidies. I urge union members to make their voices heard. Please, call your leadership – don’t put up with these special-interest politics – tell them to fight for all Americans who want common sense health care reform, not this flawed boondoggle.