About
Frank Salvato
Frank Salvato is the Executive Director and Director of
Terrorism Research for
BasicsProject.org a non-profit,
non-partisan, 501(c)(3) research and education initiative. His
writing has been recognized by the US House International
Relations Committee and the Japan Center for Conflict
Prevention. His organization partnered in producing the original
national symposium series addressing the root causes of radical
Islamist terrorism. He serves as the managing editor for The New
Media Journal. Mr. Salvato has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor
on FOX News Channel and is a regular guest on talk radio
including on The Right Balance with Greg Allen on the Accent
Radio Network and on The Captain's America Radio Show catering
to the US Armed Forces around the world. His opinion-editorials
have been published by The American Enterprise Institute, The
Washington Times & Human Events and are syndicated nationally.
He is occasionally quoted in The Federalist. Mr. Salvato is
available for public speaking engagements.
It is the
consensus among conservative new media pundits – and the Conservative
mainstream for that matter – that the speech Governor Sarah Palin gave
in accepting the Republican Party’s vice presidential nomination
effectively put the Progressive-Left and the Democrat Party on notice.
The double-standard hypocrisy demonstrated by the Leftist mainstream
media on behalf of Barack Obama’s campaign will not stand. If the
cowards of the Progressive-Left want a fight, they’ve got one...and
it’s with someone who plays hockey. Oops!
I was raised by a good mother, no, a great mother. She instilled in me
the critical thinking skills needed to divine right from wrong, good
from evil. She also provided me with an appreciation for compassion so
that I might understand when to "give someone a fish” and when to
"teach someone how to fish.” My mother didn’t abandon me to the
education system, in fact, I knew how to read and do simple mathematics
before I was enrolled in kindergarten. She took seriously her obligation
to explain world events to me just as she understood that at times it
was more important to play, to enjoy life, than to allow time to pass
without amassing memories to hold for my lifetime. She knew who my
friends were, who their parents were, where we were and what we were
doing. She was a responsible parent and to this day she remains a dear
and close friend.
I mention all this because I grew up in a household where the mother was
civically engaged. She was active in the school organizations throughout
my academic career and that of my sister. She then moved into village
politics and eventually ended a long and distinguished career as a
senior staffer to the Illinois Senate President back when Republicans
controlled both houses of the legislature and the governor’s
mansion. During her political career she served as the Executive
Director of the Republican Party for our county; the second most
effective Republican county in the United States at the time. While
serving in this position it wasn’t uncommon for her to put in twelve or
sixteen hour days, coordinating, pacifying politicians, handling the
media, you name it, this "jack-of-all-trades” not only did it, she did
it well; better than anyone who has come since, to be sure.
Yes, I may be biased about that last statement but her legacy in our
county and in the State of Illinois is one of civic duty, individual
responsibility, love of country and loyalty. And you know what? It
didn’t affect my childhood negatively in the least.
Watching the faces of Sarah Palin’s children as she thundered away at
her critics while humbly introducing herself to the people of America I
couldn’t help but feel that I knew what they were feeling; pride,
security, patriotism, humility, inspiration. As governor Palin
introduced her family to the world it became all too apparent that –
just like my mother and father – she and her husband had taught their
children to – come hell or high water – stand up for who they are and
what they believe, that in understanding the difference between right
and wrong, good and evil, a child, a person, can stand up to anything
that the nefarious and the opportunistic can dish out.
Looking into the faces of Track, Willow, Piper and especially Bristol
(and even little Trig) I saw strength and courage, enough to withstand
the disgraceful attacks of a mainstream media gone mad, a mainstream
media who would attempt to destroy a 17-year old girl’s life for the
sake of winning a political contest.
Note to the mainstream media...Bristol Palin is her mother’s daughter
and I suspect the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as it were. You
have been warned.
In all, we shouldn’t be surprised at the strength and courage
demonstrated by Sarah Palin. It is the strength of the real
American woman; of the same mettle as the daughters of the American
Revolution.
Just as Abigail Adams sacrificed in the quest to bring forth a new,
free, constitutional republic, just as she had to raise, protect and see
to the education of her children, all the while serving as a confidant
and advisor to her husband John as he served our nation in its founding,
so too does Sarah Palin have to tend to her family, her children, and
her husband as she serves our great nation.
The similarities don’t end there, nor do they end singularly with
Abigail Adams.
The women who helped found and establish the United States of America
did so with more than just words, they did so by deed. From the
inspiration provided by
Hannah Arnett to patriot fighters in the darkest hour of the
revolution to the knowledge of the land provided to Patriot Brigadier
General Daniel Morgan by
Catherine Moore Barry which served integral in the surrender of
British General Cornwallis at Yorktown, there are thousands if not
millions of real American women who have fought for and nurtured our
nation throughout its existence.
Today, there are more women that can identify with Sarah Palin, the
wife, "the hockey mom,” the woman, the American, than can
identify with the façade put forth by many of her detractors,
especially the female detractors from within the elitist set. Today,
there are many women – just like Sarah Palin – who choose to raise a
family and have a career; who believe that both are possible to
achieve. They work in office buildings and boardrooms, on construction
sites and on farms, they teach, serve in the armed forces, they practice
law and medicine...some even have "slipped the surly bonds of Earth to
touch the face of God.”
This understood, can we now see more clearly the motivation for the
caustic, inappropriate and ridiculous rhetoric being foisted upon this
good woman – Sarah Palin – by those who would stoop so low as to attack
her family for political gain?
Sarah Palin, a true and real American woman, stood smartly and
intelligently in introducing her family to the people of the United
States. She did so with her head held high as the cretins of the
Progressive-Left advanced slanderous language about her family, about
her. She responded the way any good American woman would...with a
cross-check that laid them flat on their behinds!
The American people are gravitating toward Sarah Palin and rightly so.
She is a real person, a real American. At this, our country’s
most critical hour, when irreverent forces – both foreign and domestic –
strive to destroy our nation, we should all be thankful that a real
American, with real life experience as a citizen and a
patriot’s love of country, chooses to exercise civic responsibility.
Thank
you, Governor Palin, you have re-enforced by faith in the American
people...on many different levels. To that I add...Palin-Steele in 2016!