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Sarah Palin meets the faithful on eve of Iowa tea party rallyDES MOINES -- While former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was making her way from her hotel in Des Moines, to greet the Machine Shed Restaurant outside of Des Moines, for the Conservatives4Palin meet-up, other supporters were working in the haze in Indianola, setting up booths and tables, making name tags and checking lists. Not without a fair measure of discomfort. A heat wave has settled heavily upon Iowa. Brows where constantly being mopped. Hands mimicking fans waved in front of pink cheeks. A collective sigh went up from the volunteers when, as if a mirage, Palin's big bus drove down a dirt road behind the main stage, seemingly from right out of the cornfields. Volunteers rushed toward the bus, hoping to catch a glimpse of Palin When it was clear she wasn’t there, the supporters wasted no time in dragging a cardboard cut-out of Palin, placing it in front of the bus and posing for the cameras amid the field of dreams. The sound crew played Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” full-blast. The lyrics, floating over the cornfields, seemed prophetic. Some of the volunteers might have been upset they'd missed Palin’s Machine Shed appearance later that night, but in the end, it might be for the best. It was terribly hot in the restaurant Friday night. Crowds swarmed around Palin. Reporters shoved. Some of her supporters, not ones to cow to a journalist’s sense of entitlement, held their ground. It all ended fine, though. Sarah and Todd stayed for about 20 minutes, shaking hands, signing posters and books, and in one case, a woman’s oxford shirt, firing up the crowd. And with that, Palin slipped out the back door. The woman wearing the now-signed oxford -- Catherina Wojtowicz -- is an organizer for the Chicago Tea Patriots. She was part of a group of 24 coming from Chicago to see Palin. Wojtowicz is confident Palin is going to run for president. She’s been working for campaigns for 20 years, and she knows what a campaign event looks like. This, to her, was a campaign event. No question about it. “You don’t do this unless you’re going to run,” she said. “You don’t ask people to come out like this” unless you’re going to run, she said. It might have been a campaign event, but it was also a reunion for the folks at Conservatives4Palin, a pro-Palin website. They've been working for years together, even though some have never met in person. Die-hard Palin fans, in their eyes, they've been fighting the good fight, weathering all the various storms that have come in the wake of Palin, from the time she hit the national stage in 2008 to when she quit her job in Alaska in 2009, to today as Palin ponders whether to run in 2012 presidential election. On Friday night, some of the C4P people got to meet the former governor herself. Among them was Damian Geminder. Twenty-two years old and a regular C4P contributor, he’s freshly armed with a bachelor's in journalism from Adelphi University in Long Island. He wore a t-shirt that read “God, Guns and Lipstick. Palin: 2012." Palin looked Geminder in the eyes and said, “Thank you for all you do.” The man who goes by the pen-name Ian Lazaran, a young Seattle lawyer who helps C4P in his spare time, also met Palin for the first time tonight. Lazaran, a man of few words, smiled when I asked him how it felt to meet Palin. “Good,” he said. “It was really good. This has been very good.” Contact Amanda Coyne at amanda(at)alaskadispatch.com. Editor's note: Alaska Dispatch reporter Amanda Coyne is in Iowa reporting on Sarah Palin and her speech Saturday to the Iowa-based political action committee, the Tea Party of America PAC. Check back for updates on Palin Watch and Amanda's blog. Oh---C!!!! I miscounted....there are actually FIVE stories about Sarah Palin in the Alaska Dispatch today! Not FOUR, which is insanely bad enough! Are you sick? Mad? What? WHO on earth wants to read ONE story about Sarah Palin, much less FIVE??? Can't you get off this addiction to writing about Palin everyday? Don't you know that she is OLD news and that we all hope it STAYS that way? STOP! Just say NO when the urge to write about her strikes. Editors, please, show some sense and responsibility. Have you seen the video of her Machine Shed 'appearance' on IM? She looks drugged and barely able to hold her head up. http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2011/09/sarah-palin-deigns-to-mingle-with-her.html Sarah is a big force if she enters the race. I just hope she makes an announcement soon as some of her possible supporters are getting tired of waiting and may jump ship to Rick Perry. In today's speech at the Iowa Tea Party Rally she said she favors getting rid of all corporate income taxes to spur job growth and economic expansion. That would be HUGE and she earns my vote with that statement alone. RightFace - if you are incredibly lucky, you won't have the opportunity to figure out that you can't believe Sarah Palin for one minute. Deciding to vote for her for word salad that she sprays out of one side of her mouth is futile - she always ends up ducking responsibility, hard decisions, and if it becomes convenient to "take away" her promise for something else she wants, she'll do it so fast your head would spin. You are commenting on an Alaska online magazine, but somehow you missed that you should do a little research and see what Alaskans say about her - we know her. Alaskans, not Republicans or Democrats or Independents. Political party or affiliation does not matter when it comes to Sarah - to know her is to eventually despise her. Some catch on quicker than others. Hi Dougie, let me help you with that. "Sarah is a big fArce if she enters the race." You're welcome. The rest of your screed is corporate paid gibberish. Why does all of this just seem weird. Why do you always say "quit" her job? When other politicians step down for one reason or another, it's always "resign". But, of course, the rules are always different for Sarah Palin. So happy for all who got to meet the Gov. last night! It's a dream of mine. She is one cool chick. |
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