I was flipping through the channels and stopped on Bill O'Reilly who played some of the Sarah Palin interview and had the ubiquitous "panel"--in this case, two spokespeople--one critical of Sarah Palin, and the other somewhat more enthusiastic about her political future.

Well, you can guess that Rick Santorum likes Sarah Palin just fine, so who did they get to take the side of conservative critic of the governor?

Danielle Crittenden.

I thought it was very interesting that O'Reilly needed to beat the bushes to find a conservative, any conservative who would be publicly critical of Palin. I'd never heard of Ms. Crittenden, but my antenna went up when I heard her speak. It sure sounded like a Canadian accent to me--southern Ontario. So I looked her up, and lo and behold, Danielle Crittenden is former Bush speech writer David Frum's wife (what kind of conservative woman doesn't take her husband's name?)

Crittenden is from old Canadian media elite, as ironically is David Frum (his mother Barbara Frum was a fixture on the evening news on the CBC...).

Sarah Palin has to feel pretty strong when the only people who will criticize her in the Republican party are Canadians...

Hi y'all. I'm Sarah. And I'm new around here, so I thought I'd start it off by combing a couple things I love: conservatism and spaceships.

Hot Air is currently running a poll on the Best Conservative Movies of the past 25 years. It's not something I noticed until a newsletter I subscribe to linked to a post at Whedonesque about how one of the films in the list is Serenity. The comments seem to be split pretty evenly about three ways: 1)Yes, it's conservative, because the hero's grand statement is that the government cannot make the world perfect and therefore should not meddle with people; 2) No, it's not conservative, because it's a triumph of feminist ass-kicking; 3) People making uncomfortable references to the Continental Congress by using the quote, “I aim to misbehave.”

Not only was Martin Luther King a Republican, he was also a conservative...

Even when he was leading the civil rights movement, what appeal could have been more conservative or more American than his now classic speech before the Lincoln Memorial in August 1963?

"I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Is any passage more frequently cited against the quota system called Affirmative Action? Is any passage so clear a call for what conservative candidates for president always seem to be calling for character?

Even then Martin Luther King's words sounded conservative to those with ears to hear and minds to comprehend, for his message was rooted in traditional values. No wonder the young black radicals of the Sixties used to deride him as De Lawd. It was a toss-up whether his politics or his religion offended them more; the two were inseparable in his case.

H/T Bros. Judd

John Hawkins highlights a bunch of allegedly conservative pundits that no one actually reads.

Of late, there seems to be an abundance of "Republican" pundits willing to attack other Republicans on demand, trained-seal style, for a wildly applauding liberal media. However, it's worth noting that none of these pundits could fairly be described as moderately popular or influential in the Republican Party at the present moment -- but of course, as long as they have nasty things to say about other Republicans, the media can't get enough of them.

Hawkins goes on to name names and decry their lack of talent. Fine, but what's the point?

In this case, the pundit writing nonsense in the forest doesn't in fact make a sound, unless you run a microphone out there.

Its incontestable that the liberal media has given these hacks a sinecure for partisan political purposes, but its a useless strategy--much like their business plan. The left doesn't read these people and neither does the right, so why elevate their profile beyond their pathetic abilities to attract what little attention they do?

No good reason.

This effective chart, used repeatedly by Glenn Reynolds, succinctly explains a major driver behind the tea party movement. It also puts the lie to any talk by the President that he is interested in cutting the deficit. With over a quarter of a million tea party attendees, surely we can post this graph or something similar on billboards across the nation.

Heck, if the Republican party was worth two cents, they'd kick in some funding too. Of course they would have to address their "democrat light" deficits of the past seven years.

Something interesting happened here in Utah a few days ago. I received notice of it in the emails I get from my local meetup group.

Over 500 people met at the State Capitol building to learn how to become a delegate to the state political convention. Those five hundred people may well change Utah's political history.

If a candidate gets 60% of the delegate vote, the go right to the general election--no primary. That's what typically happens with our Congressional delegation--Senators Bennett and Hatch treat the state conventions like dinner dates--a party with a formality attached to it. Yet their fortress has a fatal flaw--there are only 3300 delegates in all of Utah. You send 500 delegates committed to turning an incumbent out, and you virtually guarantee a primary challenge.

It warms the cockles of my heart (whatever that means...).

It's 8.30am in chilly NYC. I'm sitting in the tony Union League Club on E 37th. Being warned about the dress code, I bought a tie late last night! I wheedled a coveted invite from The Hudson Institute for this conference where the speakers include Mark Steyn, Andrew McCarthy, Michael Mukasey (ex AG), Gen Richard Myers (ex Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff) and other luminaries. As a Briton I'd thought this was about a movement to reclaim our western territories and replace Obama with Elizabeth II. Now, reading the program, I'm not so sure. More later.

More later, but I want to give an instant reaction. Col.Allen West was terrific just now on a range of Nat.Sec. issues. He's the star so far and I predict that we've seen a major political figure of the future. Oh and I'm a couple of chairs away from Steyn!

The Daily Beast lists 25 top journalists on the right, who the left-wing site deems influential critics of Obama and the Democrats.

For a moderately left-wing site, this is a remarkably good list.