Sarah Palin’s Resurrection Day Debut
Just a few quick thoughts on Sarah Plain Palin (oops! My fingers almost always automatically type “Plain” instead of “Palin.” It has nothing to do with my perception of Sarah’s physical characteristics—she is certainly not plain—but I would guess that my fingers type it incorrectly because when my daughters were young, my Sarah and her siblings enjoyed the frontier novel/movie entitled “Sarah Plain and Tall” as one of their favorites. )
Last night (Sunday, April 4th—Resurrection Sunday) Sarah Palin debuted her new television program, Real American Stories, on the Fox Network (Where did you expect it would air? CNN? NBC? J) No doubt, she will be viciously assailed by the Leftists in the blogosphere and the formerly mainstream media, but she has the grit and determination to plow forward keeping her values foremost. They are the same values most Americans cherish—even if they are so busy making ends meet that they themselves have no time to actively defend those values—although that is changing; witness the Tea Parties et al.
So there was Sarah, comfortable in front of the cameras, bringing her first series of real American stories: It began with a wealthy Wall Streeter who personally sponsors inner-city children from the 6th grade or so, and fully finances their college education. A good work indeed! Who could find fault with that? (Unless one wants to explore just how he became the multi-gazillionaire in the first place. I have never heard of the man. His fortune may be a totally legitimate enterprise or we may find out next week that he has been doing a “Bernie Madoff” thing for the past 40 years. Who knows? So we will leave it there: a man doing a good work. ) Our point is that Palin (more rather, her producers) found in Mr. Weiss’ generosity a warm story of a man who “gives back” and it’s a win-win situation.
Next, Palin presented the story of a young Marine named Dunham who gave his life for his buddies by putting his helmet over a grenade while on duty in Iraq. She had canned interviews with his parents and others from his childhood and home town. I have not looked at any blogs and will not take the time to, but I predict Palin will be criticized for the canned interviews. Could the critics not understand the pain of the parents and that they would prefer being interviewed at home where the emotional breakdowns and most of the tears could be edited out?
Then came the story of a special needs child and the amazing account of the now-14-year-old boy with cerebral palsy and how his service dog has bonded with him. Again, there will be critics who will aim their verbal daggers at Palin and accuse her of exploiting the handicapped. But that is a difficult charge to make stick given that she has her own special needs child, and that she made it clear from the beginning of her rise to national prominence that she would campaign for more equity for those who cannot help themselves.
Those of us who have, or have had special needs children, can relate with the stand Sarah is taking. We lost our special needs daughter, Sarah, at age 13. It is part of my Personal Testimony on Forgiveness: Could YOU Forgive God!? It is free upon request, in CD format only, and will be sent to you via postal mail.
Palin still had two more vignettes of real American stories left to present when I turned off the television. Not for lack of interest, mind you. Although I am not experiencing any pain to speak of resulting from my back injury at the first of the year, I am experiencing frequent and great fatigue and lethargy throughout the day. I believe it is due to the residue of narcotics still in my system. I weaned off of the pain-killer medication a week ago and only then realized the fatigue and a couple other effects. Rather than wait for what could be a months-long process of cleansing out the residue of poisons, I asked a dear friend and homeopath to prepare a remedy from one of the tablets I had left over. (Yes, I know, the AMA and their comrades would claim there is no scientific basis for homeopathy; but au contraire, mon frère; there is—which we may get into at another time when such discussion is more germane to the topic. I know from many years of personal experience that homeopathy works very well—when done correctly, of course.)
Sarah Palin has found a TV program that is a “good fit” for her. Obviously, it is all part of her long-range plan to run for the Presidency. (I do not see her accepting a VP slot again.) Sarah hosting this Sunday night program reminds me of Ronald Reagan hosting the General Electric Theater back when I was a boy. It helped Reagan become very familiar to every household in America. It’s a good plan, Sarah. I think it will work. I believe that as she continues to become more familiar to Americans through this program, they will realize that she resonates with their values. Her popularity will increase as those who formerly were negative because they only echoed what they heard on the mainstream media will see her more frequently now in an environment which fits her.
As I said, I was just a boy when I watched Reagan hosting those old black and white programs. The GE Theater ran from 1954 into 1962. I cannot now remember any of the stories specifically and the program I do remember from that era was actually from a program called General Electric True, hosted by Jack Webb (dum-dee-dum-dum J). The re-creation of the True event was vividly etched in my 11 or 12-year-old mind as it portrayed how the evil Nazi SS troops under Reinhard Heydrich massacred a village in—I think it was Czechoslovakia.
You see, Jack Webb became the host of this new GE-sponsored program after Reagan had been fired. GE cancelled the GE Theater largely due to Reagan’s referring to the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) as a classic example of “big government.” Hmmm….sounds like Sarah Palin standing tall for the same American values, doesn’t it?
Here is what Reagan said, according to Wikipedia:
“One such considered above criticism, sacred as motherhood, is TVA. This program started as a flood control project; the Tennessee Valley was periodically ravaged by destructive floods. The Army Engineers set out to solve this problem. They said that it was possible that once in 500 years there could be a total capacity flood that would inundate some 600,000 acres (2,400 km2). Well, the engineers fixed that. They made a permanent lake which inundated a million acres (4,000 km²). This solved the problem of floods, but the annual interest on the TVA debt is five times as great as the annual flood damage they sought to correct. Of course, you will point out that TVA gets electric power from the impounded waters, and this is true, but today 85 percent of TVA’s electricity is generated in coal burning steam plants. Now perhaps you’ll charge that I’m overlooking the navigable waterway that was created, providing cheap barge traffic, but the bulk of the freight barged on that waterway is coal being shipped to the TVA steam plants, and the cost of maintaining that channel each year would pay for shipping all of the coal by rail, and there would be money left over.”
Taking a stand like that—the above was included in Reagan’s 1964 Republican National Convention speech—helped propel Reagan to the governorship of California. Sarah Palin has already served as a Governor, and I suspect Great American Stories will do for her what the General Electric Theater did for the Gipper.
Oh, as I close, do not for a moment think that I am among those like Rush Limbaugh, Hannity, Karl Rove, etc. who hearken to Ronald Reagan as the epitome of American conservatism. Sorry to burst any bubbles, but he was nothing of the sort. And that’s another story for another time.
Meanwhile, anyone who is paying attention to the political and corporate-statism scene knows that GE has been for a very long time, a key corporate player in the drive to one-world government—witness Reagan’s firing in 1962 for his remarks about big government. Current General Electric CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, is a major supporter of President Obama and no doubt will get the payback to GE from fedgov, as the corporate wheelers and dealers usually do. And how hypocritical that GE now makes a big publicity splash as last month it donated the 208 tapes of the GE Theater to the Reagan Presidential Library!
Finally and most curiously, on Sarah’s debut program, there was one very short canned segment with some interview clips of Jack Welch, the former CEO of… General Electric! Hmmm… Worth keeping an eye on. Pray for Sarah, that she be protected, even as she is in the den of Fox(-es).