WBAL.com

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who rose to national prominence last year as the Republican Vice Presidential Nominee, has announced she will not run for a second term as governor, and will resign from office in a few weeks.

Former Maryland Republican Gubernatorial candidate Ellen Sauerbrey calls Sarah Palin very much an American Margaret Thatcher.

Sauerbrey told WBAL’s Bruce Elliott that Palin can be a terrific candidate for president.

Sauerbrey says Palin is not stepping down because she is running away. She calls Palin a risk taker and an American patriot.

Our original post on this subject was borne out of reading a post by Judd Legum, which in turn was based on a Paul Foer post.

Since then, a few things have happened. It just came to our attention that this topic was being covered on the Sean & Frank Show on WCBM today.

Foer got into a running email exchange with Chuck Thomann in a post here.

The Anne Arundel County Democractic Central Committee reacted:

Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JUNE 24, 2009

Annapolis, MD. The Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee wishes to publicly denounce the outrageous rhetoric being employed by the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County on their official web page. Just this week, Joyce Thomann, President of the RWACC, wrote the following:

“Dear Friends:

Obama and Hitler have a great deal in common in my view. Obama and Hitler use the “blitzkrieg” method to overwhelm their enemies. FAST, CARPET BOMBING intent on destruction. Hitler’s blitzkrieg bombing destroyed many European cities – quickly and effectively. Obama is systematically destroying the American economy and with it AMERICA. First the banking/investment industry, next private enterprise (GM and Chrysler) and now HEALTH CARE. And he is working on grabbing more of the American economy with his environmental extremism!

We too CAN fight back. Contact everyone you know. Start a blitzkrieg of our own. Shut down the Capitol switchboards and the White House switchboards! Say NO to the Obamination of Obama Care!….”

We recognize that one of the great freedoms we have as Americans is to voice our opinions and disagree with one another, but references made to Hitler and the Blitzkrieg are beyond the pale of civil discourse. Simply by using these odious comparisons it is implied that President Obama is or will become a monster like Hitler. It is an insult to the intelligence of the American people to make such malicious statements about our duly elected president.

Thus, the Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee (AACDCC) requests that an apology be made by the Republican Party of Anne Arundel County for the outrageous and defamatory comparisons made in the letter written by Ms. Thomann in her capacity as President of the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County. We feel that it is only appropriate that an official retraction be offered the citizens of this county and to the President of the United States, and that it should be done in public and in a timely manner.

Contact: Kory Blake, Chairman

Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee

(443) 722-2333

kblake@afscme67.org

At one point the RWAAC put out a statement repudiating the Thomann letter:

The article put on our web site by Joyce Thomann was done solely by her. Our Board of Directors never saw the article and would never have approved it.We are not in support of Mrs. Thomann’s personal thoughts ot opinions.

Local activist Mike Netherland responded to the RWAAC board:

You are the kind of Republicans that make conservatives sick to their stomachs and have led the Republican Party to defeat after defeat, handing over the country to a bunch of socialists. I doubt very seriously that the membership of RWACC would want anything more to do with you.

Marianne Pelura, wife of state GOP Chairman Jim Pelura, also responded.

Netherland’s latest responses are here and here.

Judd Legum noted the letter’s removal here and linked to a Sun article. Legum also posted on Scott Bowling’s condemnation of the letter. The latest from Paul Foer is here.

This topic has created loads of comments on all the links above including our original post and was even picked up by Huffington Post and DailyKos.

Support Peter Franchot – action.franchot.com – Keep An Independent Fiscal Watchdog Working for Us. Contribute $10.

The above was the text of a one-line Google Ad found on the top of Gmail by one of our readers. No word on what other sites this ad is found or how big the total buy is.

WMAR

Sparks are flying between 6th Congressional District candidate Andrew Duck and fellow Democrat Casey Clark over allegations that Duck accused the Clark family’s woven-label manufacturing business of using “sweatshop” labor.

Duck doesn’t deny having made the statement to people including Carroll County Democratic Central Committee Chairman Martin Radinsky.

Duck told The Frederick News-Post that Clark’s company, Three Amigos Inc., of Reisterstown, placed its production facilities in countries where they didn’t have to meet U.S. labor standards.

Clark is campaigning for the 6th District seat. He said Thursday that he was hurt and stunned by the alleged “sweatshop” comment.

His mother Stevie acknowledged that most of the company’s labels are made in Hong Kong and South Korea.

Legum’s New Line has an excerpt of a letter from Joyce E. Thoman, President of the Republican Women of Anne Arundel County:

Dear Friends:

Obama and Hitler have a great deal in common in my view. Obama and Hitler use the “blitzkrieg” method to overwhelm their enemies. FAST, CARPET BOMBING intent on destruction. Hitler’s blitzkrieg bombing destroyed many European cities – quickly and effectively. Obama is systematically destroying the American economy and with it AMERICA. First the banking/investment industry, next private enterprise (GM and Chrysler) and now HEALTH CARE. And he is working on grabbing more of the American economy with his environmental extremism!

We too CAN fight back. Contact everyone you know. Start a blitzkrieg of our own. Shut down the Capitol switchboards and the White House switchboards! Say NO to the Obamination of Obama Care!

As of right now (6:59 PM on June 23, 2009) the letter is still on the organization’s website here.

Judd Legum called on former Governor Bob Ehrlich and other Republicans to denounce the letter.

HuffPo has also picked up the story.