Sarah Palin

• Sarah Palin defends her plans to speak at the National Tea Party Convention.
• New VA Governor Bob McDonnell quickly moved to undo two gay rights-related measures institute by former Gov. Tim Kaine.
• Colin Powell announces his support for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
• "Dear Potential Immigrant," here are some simple "rules for living in my country." 
• This upcoming FRC event looks exciting: "How Did the Early Christians of Rome Defeat Pagan Sexuality?"
• Finally, the Bible says to beware the Ouija board ... especially the pink ones.

Phyllis Schlafly went down to Furman University in South Carolina last week to spread her unique brand of militant anti-feminism and reiterate her belief that married women cannot be raped by their husbands while warning that feminism leaves women childless, bitter, and lonely: 

Feminists are "bitter, unhappy and not successful women."

These words were spoken to a packed house in the Watkins Room in the University Center on Wednesday, Jan. 20, as the Conservative Students for a Better Tomorrow hosted 85-year-old conservative activist and author Phyllis Schlafly ... Schlafly made two main points in her lecture. First, that feminism is unnecessary and there is no such thing as a glass ceiling for American women. Secondly, women who are feminists will end up unhappy and alone.

In discussing the radical and superfluous nature of feminism, Schlafly argued that American women are the most fortunate class in history.

"The number one problem with feminism is it teaches women to be the victim," Schlafly said. She continued that there was no need for further feminist legislation or movements due to the ability for women in current times to receive an education and work in whatever field they wish, adding that feminism was never really necessary because her mother was able to receive an education from Washington University in 1920.

Many in the audience laughed when Schlafly proposed that women couldn't possibly be oppressed because they lived, on average, eight years longer than men, and again when she offered the success of Sarah Palin as proof that there was no limit for women.

Schlafly challenged the legitimacy of a variety of social programs and legislation put in place by feminist agenda, including abortion, shelters for battered women and sexual harassment counseling. She also said that welfare was a financial incentive for women to have children out of wedlock.

Other controversial comments included Schlafly's denial of the existence of spousal rape, as well as her statement that individuals shouldn't be able to "check out" of marriage.

Schlafly ended by discussing a women's biological clock and need for children. Her argument was that if women focus on careers first, they will end up forty, single and desperately wanting a child they can no longer produce.

The last few weeks have not been particularly good for the organizers of the National Tea Party Convention, as activists have questioned its cost and sponsors have started to withdraw.

And now it looks like one of the featured speakers, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, might be having second thoughts about her participation:

Last week, U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., was planning to introduce former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to a raving hometown crowd of TEA Partiers early next month in Nashville. This afternoon, she appears to be having cold feet.

"We've got it under review. We've got the request, and we'll see what happens," Blackburn said in an interview in her Cannon Building office. "It's a 'We the people' event, and I think sometimes it's become about 'I the organizer,' for the organizer."

She was referring to growing protests that the $549-per-person cost of the for-profit Tea Party Nation event on Feb. 4-6 at the Opryland Hotel is pricing some grassroots activists out. Some sponsors and supporters are fighting about the nature of the Taxed Enough Already (TEA) conservative movement and plans to showcase its stars, which include Palin, Blackburn and Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.

Blackburn said she is interested in hearing from the TEA Party groups and has addressed them at previous events.

Asked if she was asking for a review of the event by the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, the so-called ethics committee, she declined to say. But afterward, her spokesman, Claude Chafin, called The Commercial Appeal to say an official request for review by the ethics panel has been made "out of an abundance of caution." The question is "whether they would consider it appropriate for her to do," Chafin said.

And it seems as if Blackburn's skittishness is making Rep. Michele Bachmann's staff a bit skittish as well:

Another listed speaker at the Nashville event, Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., was still planning to attend.

"We just checked with Blackburn's office and according to them, they're still attending," Bachmann spokesman Dave Dziok said in an e-mail. "We still plan to attend."

He said Bachmann's advisers "are all just crossing our t's and dotting our i's to make sure everything's in line ethically" for her to attend.

• Is the author of Uganda's anti-gay bill going to be attending the National Prayer Breakfast? There are conflicting reports.
• Is there a political litmus test for football coaches now?
• Good As You: A vote for Scott Brown is a vote for the National Organization for Marriage.
• TPM: Conservative Vision Ascendant In Latest TX History Textbooks Draft.
• It looks like nearly 3 in 4 Americans don't want to see Sarah Palin run for President.
• Finally, check out Rick Scarborough on last week's "The Daily Show":

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There has been a lot of talk lately about the fact that organizers of the National Tea Party Convention were trying to keep the media from covering the event, especially the speeches that will be delivered by Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Well, apparently Palin has decided that her speech can be covered by the press, according to The Tennessean:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has decided to allow media coverage of her speech at next month's Tea Party Convention at Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.

Palin's speech was initially announced as being closed to the media, but the former vice presidential candidate requested the press be allowed in after all, the event's organizer announced Wednesday.

The nation's first Tea Party convention will take place Feb. 4-6 at Gaylord Opryland.

Although the convention is sold out, according to the Tea Party Nation Web site, banquet tickets are still available. Besides Palin, Republican Congresswomen Marsha Blackburn and Minnesota's Michele Bachmann will both be speaking at the convention.

UPDATE: According to a press release issued by the organizers, it looks like only right-wing news outlets will be allowed to cover the event:

First, we are pleased to announce that the convention has sold out and we now have a waiting list which we will continue to try to clear as opportunity presents.

In this light, we have had numerous requests for press passes and the resulting expected coverage. However, as we have set expectations that this is a working convention, we have tried not to make it a media event.

In fact, Tea Party Nation has received hundreds of requests for press credentials to cover this convention. Everyone from a small town newspaper in Iowa to Fox News has asked for press credentials. We have had requests from Canada, England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Norway, Croatia and Japan. We have been hard pressed to accommodate all of these requests and do not have the space or resources to support the entirety of the press corp. Indeed, we have asked the hotel if they would be willing to provide a press room during the convention.

However, given these practical limitations, we have approved the following press organizations:

Fox News

Breitbart.com

Townhall.com

The Wall Street Journal

World Net Daily

The upcoming National Tea Party Convention featuring the likes of Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Joseph Farah, Rick Scarborough, Roy Moore, and others seems to be causing a bit of rancor among Tea Party activists:

In the latest sign of rancor in Tea Party circles, a convention billed as an effort to bring together conservative activists from across the country is being attacked by some leading Tea Partiers as inauthentic, too tied to the GOP, and -- at $549 per head -- too expensive for the working Americans the movement aspires to represent.

The National Tea Party Convention, scheduled for early February in Nashville, grabbed headlines after announcing that Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann would appear as speakers, Palin as the keynote. According to a message on the convention's website, the event "is aimed at bringing the Tea Party Movement leaders together from around the nation." But organizers are a long way from unifying the notoriously fractious movement.

Tea Party Patriots, which helped put together a September rally that drew tens of thousands to Washington, view the confab -- which is being held at Nashville's swank Opryland Gaylord hotel -- as the "usurpation of a grassroots movement," according to Mark Meckler, a leader of the group. "Most people in our movement can't afford anything like that," Meckler told TPMmuckraker, referring to the price tag. "So it's really not aimed at the average grassroots person."

Robin Stublen, a Tea Party Patriots volunteer, echoed that view. "This convention is $550 dollars," said Stublen. "How grassroots is that?"

Not only is the price of the convention exorbitantly prohibitive for most, but organizers don't seem to want any press coverage either.

Today, David Weigel pointed out the preliminary list of scheduled breakout topics and among them is one entitled "Why Christians Must Engage," run by Rick Scarborough.  Maybe the event organizers are afraid that the media might see Republican leaders like Palin and Bachmann sharing the stage with the likes of Scarborough:

Scarborough, who served on Mike Huckabee's Faith and Values Committee during the latter's presidential campaign, unleashed a fiery sermon more befitting a Sunday sermon than a political gathering. But since the two are essentially one in the same for Scarborough and the other participants, his proclamations that he is neither a Republican nor a Democrat but rather a "Christocrat" who will support only candidates who proudly stand up on the campaign trail and say "yes, there's a God" and who realizes that the Constitution is a godly document designed to guide this nation by Christian principles, just as the Bible is designed to guide the lives of all of mankind. He then rails against Republican failures to defund the Department of Education and Planned Parenthood before turning his attention to President Obama and "his minions" who are intent on giving civil rights to "sodomites" while banning the Bible and putting Christians in jail. Eventually he turns to the "shadow government" constructed by President Obama filled with "well-financed, well-heeled, and highly-staffed professional infidels who have dedicated their life" to destroying America.

Once again, Sarah Palin will be skipping CPAC, traditionally the biggest conservative political gathering of the year, apparently because she's a maverick who doesn't want to be associated with those who place "special interests over core beliefs": 

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Pain is turning down an invitation to speak at one high-profile conservative gathering while accepting another.

Palin is declining an invitation to address the Conservative Political Action Conference next month because, a source said, she does not want to be affiliated with the longtime organizer of the traditional movement confab.

At issue is the role of David Keene, head of the American Conservative Union which organizes CPAC. In September, POLITICO reported that Keene asked FedEx for between $2 million and $3 million to get the group's support in a bitter legislative battle with rival UPS.

A source close to the Palin camp says that request led to a decision to stay away from the upcoming CPAC conference, calling it a forum that will place "special interests over core beliefs" and "pocketbook over policy."

"That's not what CPAC should be about and people are tiring," the source said. "Palin is taking a stance against this just as she did in Alaska."

When asked about the move, Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton said: "We support those who advance our core beliefs and lead by principle."

Interestingly, Palin seems to be the only one taking this sort of "principled" stand dozens of conservative groups have signed on as co-sponsors of the event, including Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, the National Organization for Marriage, and the Eagle Forum.

Even more interesting is this fact:

While Palin was turning down CPAC, she accepted an invitation to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans this April.

"I'm looking forward to addressing conservative activists from across the south at the 2010 Southern Republican Leadership Conference," Palin said in a statement announcing her attendance. "This is a great opportunity to listen and speak to those who are helping to set the direction of our party."

Well, take a guess who else is co-sponsoring CPAC.  That's right, the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.

So Palin doesn't want to associate with CPAC because its organizers don't "advance our core beliefs and lead by principle" ... but will speak at a conference hosted by a group that is co-sponsoring CPAC?  

That makes a lot of sense. 

And apparently she believes the folks putting on the National Tea Party Convention do share her core beliefs and lead by principle, which is why she is eager to share the stage with people like Joseph Farah and Rick Scarborough.

The other day we noted that WorldNetDaily's Joseph Farah had been added as a speaker at the National Tea Party Convention next month, joining the likes of Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann and a gaggle of fringe figures like Rick Scarborough and Roy Moore.

It seems that Farah is pretty excited about it as well:

Palin-Farah... maybe that should be the GOP's ticket in 2012.

Elsewhere in WND today, Farah announces that redoubling his Birther efforts: 

I am recommitting my energies and resources to the search for verifiable truth on this matter of eligibility. I don't care what Bill O'Reilly says about it. I don't care what MSNBC hacks say about it. I don't care that Republicans in Congress are too intimidated by the media and the political culture to demand proof, as the Constitution requires.

Only when this issue becomes a matter of popular concern will the truth come out.

As I said the other day: if the fact that Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, will be sharing the stage with Farah, a full-fledged conspiracy theorist/Birther, doesn't perfectly sum up the current state of the conservative movement, I don't know what does.

• What is FRC's New Year's Resolution, you ask? To kill healthcare reform.
• Joseph Farah is miffed that CPAC will allow a gay group to co-sponsor the event, but won't let him talk about his Birther activism.
• Concerned Women for America endorses Rand Paul.
• For a mere $349, you can see Sarah Palin speak at the National Tea Party Convention.
• A Liberty University professor expects to find Noah's Ark sometime next summer.
• Blake Lorenz may face charges for harboring Rifqa Bary for two weeks without notifying law-enforcement, as required by law.