Regarding Sarah

I have sat mostly quietly, since coming in from traveling with work for the past few weeks this rotation off duty, recharging myself, regrouping, and reorganizing my thoughts after the past year or more of Presidential election wrangling by the parties, the candidates, and the media.

Now, before I leave for my next extended run in which I will be gone for a month or so, I'm going to have my say. I'm taking my turn, if indeed there are any "turns" to be taken in this process of expressing opinion and ideas.

I want to address this specifically to one individual, one person to whom it is intended to be said, in the hopes that mayhap she sees what is said here and takes heart in it.

Governor Palin, you have been in the eyes of the conservative movement of many of us here in the lower 48, specifically the former Confederate south, for some time now. We have watched you come into the spotlight, quietly but determined, the proverbial blip on the radar at first in the minds of the left. But we have been watching you.

It is no coincidence that your addition to the Republican ticket for this past election cycle recharged the conservative base of the Republican party. We understand and know where you're coming from; you speak our language, and you put action to your words.

It is no small thing that you have done on the national level for the conservative movement. Your joining with a candidate that we, conservatives, were less than thrilled to have as the top Republican coming out of the primaries; you gave us hope, gave us a rallying point, a single candle burning brightly as a beacon for us to rally to in a time when we were less than enthused about the choice we were going to have to make on November 4th.

A great many of us swallowed our pride, stuck our our chest, and took up the banner of McCain, knowing that the choice we faced from the Democrats was considerably less than desirable. We knew Senator McCain, we knew him to be far less conservative in his own principals and ideology than he was trying to present himself to be. This does not detract from the man's character; I admire Senator McCain greatly, most conservatives do, for being a man of honor and integrity, having that maverick reputation that does, indeed, get things done, but as the base of the party, we really, truly were not given a candidate in this past election cycle that spoke to the conservative membership and to conservative independents. There was one who gave us a glimmer of hope, but it was a fast and fading hope as the one candidate who we considered to be a real conservative with a possibility of leading this nation entered late into the campaigns and showed less than desirably.

Take heart, Governor Palin, you have not let the conservative movement down in any way, by any means, or in any shape, form, or fashion. You came into the campaign fighting, you continued to fight in spite of "gotcha" interviews by the dinosaur media, and you carried that fight right up until the end.

We are proud of you.

And we are still watching you, and you have our support.

We shall endure...

Once and always, a Southern American Fighting Man

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