Governor Palin's "death panel" quote from a Facebook posting in August made Yale's Top 10 Quotes of 2009 earlier this month. For what it's worth, I'd like to offer my own list of the Top 10 Governor Palin quotes of 2009.
10) From her Hanukkah Facebook post: "With hope and dedication nothing is impossible, and the Almighty never abandons those who seek the light. "
9)From a Facebook post on energy independence: "Bottom line: let’s stop digging ourselves into debt and start drilling for energy independence."
8) Responding to Governor Schwarzenegger on climate change via Facebook: "And while I did look for practical responses to those changes, what I didn’t do was hamstring Alaska’s job creators with burdensome regulations so that I could act 'greener than thou' when talking to reporters."
7) A Facebook birthday wish for Margaret Thatcher: "Her life and career serve as a blueprint for overcoming the odds and challenging the 'status quo.' She started life as a grocer's daughter from Grantham and rose to become Prime Minister - all by her own merit and hard work. I cherish the accomplishments of Margaret Thatcher and will always count her as one of my role models."
6) The final line of Going Rogue, page 413: "By His grace, an American life is an extraordinary life" .
5) In her speech in Hong Kong in September: "We’re not interested in government fixes; we’re interested in freedom! Freedom! Our vision is forward looking. People may be frustrated now, but we’re very hopeful too. And, after all, why shouldn’t we be? We’re Americans. We’re always hopeful."
4) Her first Facebook post on "health care reform": " The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."
3) In her Farewell address: "[Government] can’t make you happy or healthy or wealthy or wise. What can? It is the wisdom of the people and our families and our small businesses and industrious individuals. And it is God’s grace helping those who help themselves. And then this allows that very generous voluntary hand up that we are known to enthusiastically provide those who need it."
2) At the Right to Life speech in Evansville, IN (slight paraphrase): " Our republic declared then as we're going to declare now that America believes in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness".
1) In her introduction of Michael Reagan in June: "It is in God we trust; it is not in big government that we trust."
That number one quote is my favorite quote of all time from the Governor as it is the perfect marriage of her political and personal philosophies.
