Palin's war with media may not be her 'last stand'

President Harry Truman, known as "Give 'em hell Harry," famously said, "I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it's hell."

That could aptly describe the relationship between Sarah Palin and the national media these days. Palin, the now former governor of Alaska, has a knack for stirring up the hornets' nest of the national press corps with her unambiguous, unvarnished, undying love for this country. Every time she talks, it seems like she's got a swarm of angry wasps on her tail.

Palin's formula for avoiding the stings and arrows of outrageous mischaracterization is something like this: "Tell the truth and then run like hell - 'cause the hornets are sure to come after you."

When she announced on July 3 that she would resign as governor, there were loud hoops and hollers in newsrooms across the country. "Ding dong, the witch is dead!" screamed the liberal pundits. They thought they had bagged another political scalp for their trophy room. They called her a quitter. They said her political career was dead.

But obviously they weren't listening to Palin, who specifically said she wasn't a quitter. She said that in her mind it would be the "quitter's way out" to just "plod along and appease those who demand: 'Sit down and shut up!'" She said she had a higher calling and was taking a stand to "actually make a difference."

But the press didn't get it. They must not have been listening when she said this:

"Productive, fulfilled people determine where to put their efforts, choosing to wisely utilize precious time - to BUILD UP. And there is such a need to build up and fight for our state and our country. I choose to FIGHT for it! And I'll work hard for others who still believe in free enterprise and smaller government; strong national security for our country and support for our troops; energy independence; and for those who will protect freedom and equality and life… I'll work for and campaign for those PROUD to be American, and those who are INSPIRED by our ideals and won't deride them."

Wow! That doesn't sound like a quitter to me.

She said she thinks she can do "what is best for Alaska" by resigning as governor and taking her fight to a larger stage. That's because our 50 states increasingly operate at the mercy of the federal government, and Gov. Palin knew that if she remained frozen in Alaska for the next two years she would not be able to effect change in Washington where it is so badly needed.

I understand that liberals hope and pray Palin will be the nominee of the Republican Party because they consider her foolish and small-minded and pathetically provincial, but the worst mistake to make in politics is to underestimate your opponent. Palin may not be able to save a party as dismally ineffective as the Republicans have proven to be, but she is almost certainly the best chance they have to remain the voice of conservatives rather than a mirror of liberal Democratic values.

So last week, Palin completed her announced plan to resign as governor, with a little over a year left in her term before the next election. She spoke quickly, forcefully and passionately, and then got out of the way. The media swarm was not far behind, but this time Palin took them on directly.

"… first, some straight talk for some, just some, in the media, because another right protected for all is freedom of the press, and you all have such important jobs reporting facts and informing the electorate, and exerting power to influence. You represent what could and should be a respected honest profession that could and should be the cornerstone of our democracy. Democracy depends on you…

"And that is why, that's why our troops are willing to die for you. So… how 'bout in honor of the American soldier, ya quit making things up! And don't underestimate the wisdom of the people… and one other thing for the media, our new governor has a very nice family too, so leave his kids alone!"

To the liberal press, that meant Sarah was thin-skinned and not tough enough to play the game of national politics. But to many Americans across this great country, those who believe in our exemplary success as a nation, it meant someone is finally speaking for them, for their values, for their traditions.

Toward the beginning of her farewell address, Palin reminded her fellow Alaskans that "what the rest of America gets to see along with us is [that] in this last frontier there is hope and opportunity and there is country pride." She compared that to the message from the left where some seem to "just be hell bent … on tearing down our nation, perpetuating pessimism, and … suggesting perhaps that our best days were yesterdays."

Toward the end of her speech, Palin again spoke directly to Alaskans, and said, "There is much good in store further down the road, but to reach it we must value and live the optimistic pioneering spirit that made this state proud and free, and we can resist enslavement to big central government that crushes hope and opportunity. Be wary of accepting government largess. It doesn't come free, and often, accepting it takes away everything that is free."

Did I say she was speaking to Alaskans? No, she was speaking to Americans everywhere, to patriots who love this country, and realize our founding principals were about individual liberty and not about bending to the will of a tyrant government.

But for some reason, the national media didn't quite get the message: They think they won't have Sarah Palin to kick around anymore. In fact, the general conclusion after she announced her resignation was that Sarah had quit politics because she just wasn't tough enough to stand the heat (to borrow another Harry Truman metaphor).

Well, Palin may wish she could be a stay-at-home mom instead of a national political figure, but somehow I don't think she will be staying in her kitchen in Wasilla, Alaska, for the next few years. Indeed, I'd be willing to bet right now that Palin is on the verge of launching a national campaign that may or may not end at the White House, but which will certainly prove that she is no shrinking violet.

In her July 3 speech, she didn't talk about going on the sidelines; indeed she spoke like a take-charge quarterback. "My choice is to take a stand and effect change - not hit our heads against the wall and watch valuable state time and money, millions of your dollars go down the drain… Rather we know we can effect positive change outside government at this moment in time, on another scale, and actually make a difference in our priorities - and so we will, for Alaskans and for Americans."

We are often told that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Less often, it seems, do we realize the inverse is also true: "Those who learn from the past have the opportunity to successfully repeat it."

The past, you see, is not all bad. In fact, for the right kind of mind it is loaded with possibility, even more so perhaps than the blank slate of the future.

Indeed, when one considers the many accomplishments of the past, of human history, of individual leadership, it is humbling indeed to trudge the road of our common destiny and imagine the possibility of an even brighter future. For many of us, that bright future only seems possible if we hang on to the traditions and heritage that gave us the glory that was Greece, the grandeur that was Rome, and the miracle that is America.

So good luck, Sarah. You may be tilting at windmills, but that is a good place to start.

n Frank Miele is managing editor of the Daily Inter Lake. E-mail responses may be sent to edit@dailyinterlake.com