Posted on 09/23/2010 8:49:18 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
As the poll numbers roll in and the sound bytes accumulate, the possibility of a Sarah Palin presidential campaign seems more and more likely. Whether or not the Republican party will say okey-dokey to her candidacy in the primaries is even more uncertain than if she's going to run or not, but if you ask me, she plans on at least giving it a shot.
Sure, she hasn't actually come out and said "I will run for President in 2012," but she has promised us she would "give it a shot," assuming a few vague qualifiers be fulfilled.
The success of "Tea-bagger" candidates in the Republican primaries has served as a kind of litmus test for her chances in 2012, and so far they're coming up positive. What this means for American politics is a dumbing down of an already infantile discourse.
In 1964, Barry Goldwater (who by today's standards would probably be considered a moderate due to his tolerant stance on gays in the military) was rebuked by the electorate as a trigger happy corporate shill.
However, Goldwater didn't have the Tea Party on his side, and when he winked at the camera he looked more like a used car salesman than your best friend's mom. To be honest, I wish Goldwater was still alive. He might have been a corporate shill, but at least he wasn't a moron.
When at least a third of the Republican Party believes the president is a secret Muslim, I can't help but feel the possibility of honest and rational dialogue has been seriously compromised to the point where even Barry Goldwater starts to look good. The conservative campaign against the Muslim/Socialist "establishment" is geared toward very stupid people, but it is a politics that the movers and shakers of conservative America have learned to navigate with surprising sophistication.
However, Palin is by no means a shoo-in, and despite her extensive time in the limelight she has managed to maintain her status as an outsider. Part of this comes from expressing what the conservative base is feeling as uncompromising terms as possible, and part of it comes from not having any actual responsibility for the past few years.
If Palin is serious about a presidential bid, she's going to have to up her game. She's going to need to start hunting bigger animals like rhinoceroses and elephants, increase the size and sparkle of her flag lapel pins at least 85 percent and move from winking to full on batting of the eyes.
These goals are all achievable by 2012 and they take a lot less time than reading a history book or passing an intro law class.
In fact, it isn't entirely unreasonable to say that she's running for president right now. She certainly travels and makes appearances like a Presidential candidate, and if enough of her picks in the upcoming elections make it into office it'll go a long way towards giving her the insider support she needs but currently lacks.
Even more likely in my opinion is a ticket with Mitt Romney for president and Palin for vice. As a vice president she would probably reassume her 2008 role of looking good, shutting up, winking at the camera, and shutting up.
While she had some difficulty with the second and fourth portions of her job description at times, she managed to avoid the subject of politics and stick to kitsch and xenophobia enough to serve as a net positive for the McCain campaign.
Romney is the corporate oligarchs' wonder boy and while the moneyed interests tend to lean more libertarian than conservative, Palin as vice president would be an easy concession to the radical wing of the Republican party.
Romney is still the front runner, but his Mormonism and roles in Romney care and TARP are going to take a lot of explaining. Then again, perhaps they won't take much explaining at all.
If Palin can be convinced that TARP stands for Teenage Abstinence Reward Program and Romney was simply not involved at all with the new health care law, then it's a short leap to convincing the conservative base that Romney is their guy and the Book of Mormon is really just the King James Bible with an addendum.
The comedy and tragedy of all this is that ideology, legal knowledge, economics and foreign relations are becoming secondary considerations to Palin's and to a lesser extent Romney's political ambitions.
The culture war is going to weigh heavily on the political competitiveness of the candidates in both parties. And if the 2008 Republican campaigns seemed like a circus with its claims of "Obama is a secret Muslim/Socialist/Atheist/Black nationalist," or "condoms don't work" then that's because you haven't seen the main event.
At the same time, two years is a lifetime in politics and any number of dark horse candidates could come from behind to seize the nomination in 2012 like Ron Paul (just kidding) or Bobby Jindal. A lot of questions remain unanswered, but if you're asking "Will the 2012 Republican candidate appeal to White racial anxieties and nostalgia?" Then my answer is an unconditional you-betcha.
This one has the potential to develop into a fully developed bore.
Brains full of mush!
What a ridiculous article.
I am always willing to listen to liberals and see what they have to say. I am always willing to hear intellectually honest discussion and disagreements on the issues of the day.
But this kind of ad hominem attack on Palin and her motives, and the ad hominem attack on Republicans/conservatives in general is absurd. This dude is wasting his parents money in college. Why is he there, to be indoctrinated? He’s certainly not learned anything about critical thinking and analysis of a subject.
So this guy is going to lecture us about how to make an informed rational argument. He’s going to tell us about rational thought processes and rational debate of the issues. What a joke. I wonder if this dude knows his article is on this site, and if he would read any of the comments. I wonder what he would think.
Gays in the military was not even an issue in 64, these kiddies are clueless.
The author seems to be a misonyngist.
Bet he doesn’t even know the meaning of the word while he proclaims how stupid conservatives are!
Here's hoping for 69-0 and chants mocking this writer....
Hey, I can dream.....
All I read in this piece is abject terror of Sarah Palin.
The twerp who wrote this twaddle may be doing his utmost to spin Sarah Palin as a know-nothing, buck-toothed hick, but in doing so, he betrays that he sees his own impending doom.
my my! He paid attention during indoctrination class.
PS. I'm originally from Toledo. :-)
Actually, that should have been misogynist
Plus all blacks and liberals should want to vote for the first woman President based on their simplistic views in 2008.
Thay r stoopids.
LOL! This Ann Coulter Wannabe has only one thing in common with her. They are both women.
Maykz mee wish i wuzzent sow stoopit er suttin.
8^|
And the writer sees nothing wrong with this statement? The irony is amazing.
full of mush indeed. He insults with a infantile smear 30% of the American population and then laments how infantile the discourse is becoming......lol. what a joke.
Like most liberals and Marxists, the author practices a severe form of Projection.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.