Posted on 01/03/2011 9:59:10 PM PST by unseen1
On most issues, Americans at large and conservatives in particular agree with Governor Palin. However, for two years now, the media has been pushing the narrative that Governor Palin is polarizing, radioactive and unpopular. They’ve been trashing her, attacking her, distorting her record, and making up lies about her on a daily basis. No politician in US history has received the scrutiny that Governor Palin has received.
Now as the 2012 campaign gears up, we suddenly have people coming out from the left and the right proclaiming that Governor Palin is unelectable because she is, lets repeat that: Polarizing, radioactive and unpopular. That is like leaving your milk out in the sun and then suing the dairy when the milk goes sour.
The reasoning goes that Governor Palin has been, fairly or not, so smeared that there is no way she can come back from it. Today our friend, Erick Erickson, weighed in:
[R]ight now I am not excited by or inspired by any of them save Sarah Palin and, as much as I love Sarah Palin, I am adamantly convinced that she cannot win given the ridiculous smears and hate thrown her way by Democrats and, frankly, by a lot of Republicans. She has been made radioactive.I respect Erick a lot and he’s a really good guy but it appears that he has decided to raise the white flag and send the media a message “if you do it long enough, you’ll win.”
My question to Mr. Erickson is if the standard of electability is judged by the degree in which a candidate has been smeared, who in the GOP is electable?
Make no mistake, the next GOP nominee will be taken to the woodshed and beaten up just like Governor Palin. Just go back and see what happened to media darling John McCain in 2008. This time though the operation is run from within the white house, with the CIA, FBI, the Pentagon and the entire media at their disposal. They will use every tool and every trick in the book to take down any GOP potential nominee.
If the degree to which a GOP nominee has been smeared is how we judge the electability of a candidate, Governor Palin is actually the only potential candidate that is electable. Palin has already had everything and anything thrown at her. They have sent the lawyers, investigated her, hacked her emails, and everything in between. What else do they have? Nothing. That’s why they keep on going back to her “refudiate” tweet and even that tactic came back to bite them when it made it into the Oxford dictionary.
Why do people think they trash her in the first place? Because they actually believe she could win and think they can beat her by taking her out of the game. If Governor Palin announces tomorrow she won’t run the attacks will stop. Minus some of the more unhinged people on the left who clearly have other issues.
Governor Palin has not even announced a run for the presidency yet. She has not established her campaign message, no campaign ads have been produced, there have been no debates or campaign interviews, and she hasn’t gone out and done the meet and greet with voters. In other words, the Palin campaign has not even begun. This gives Governor Palin the advantage over her potential rivals. When the campaign begins and Governor Palin gets the opportunity to get out and talk directly to the voters, she’ll be immune to any potential attack because the voters have already heard every potential attack launched against her.
Some argue that her initial interviews with Katie Couric left a bad first impression. Let’s be clear here – Governor Palin was thrown on to the national stage and she didn’t even have time to take her coat off before her motherhood, faithfulness, record, and entire life had already been questioned. So yes, Governor Palin didn’t have the best start and with only eight weeks, she never really had a chance to settle in. Barack Obama himself admitted that it took him three months to settle into the campaign.
If and when Governor Palin announces a run, she will do so with the benefit of hindsight and past experience. Her campaign will be organized, well managed, and she will spread her own message. Her message is one that the American people will want to hear and agree with. The American people will learn that all those things they’ve been led to believe about her were simply not true. They will suddenly realize that all those things they want America to be is exactly what a President Palin will make manifest.
Erickson goes on:
I would, however, still gladly vote for her and support her.So my message to Mr. Erickson and all those people who believe in Governor Palin is to help Governor Palin push back against the false narratives, help us get the truth out, and help spread Governor Palin’s message instead of conceding to the “ridiculous smears.” For too long, we have stood by at the sidelines and allowed the media and the elites to tell us what to believe and what to think. Stand up for your country, stand up for your constitutional rights, and stand up for what you believe in. If not now, when and with whom?
Don’t retreat, reload!
amen
you and the author are right on the money !
Your problem here is respecting Erick Erickson opinion here. He has been very wrong before and I don’t see the empirical evidence of what he is selling this time.
I’m not the writer. I just posted the piece. My take away line of the post was this:
So my message to Mr. Erickson and all those people who believe in Governor Palin is to help Governor Palin push back against the false narratives, help us get the truth out, and help spread Governor Palin’s message instead of conceding to the “ridiculous smears.” For too long, we have stood by at the sidelines and allowed the media and the elites to tell us what to believe and what to think. Stand up for your country, stand up for your constitutional rights, and stand up for what you believe in. If not now, when and with whom?
Don’t retreat, reload!
I hope Palin does run, if only to make the other candidates go to the right with her. Her problem is that, although she is far from a right-winger, as her support for moderate candidates in California and Arizona showed, she is to the right of everyone else, and they don’t want the public to know it. I take her as basically a libertarian whose life experience made her pro-life and patriotic.
I second that.
Erik is like Hugh Hewitt imho. They’re so poll driven. They’ll the type that will settle for a RINO to win an election, then whine about how the government dont govern like conservatives
I hope she run and even if she loses, I hope she run again and again til she win and she will prove everyone wrong by the way she govern, that she’s a great Executive
That is a very simplistic comment. If you don’t support Sarah then you like Clinton, Bush and O’Bama. Sarah’s problems are much deeper than this article would have you believe. She is not at this time electable because the college educated, white middle/upper middle class conservative white voters aren’t comfortable with her. And if she can’t win the suburban counties around your major cities which are the stronghold of Republican and moderately conservative independents she can’t win the election. I live in one of those counties. Every 2 years we send one of the most conservative members of the House back to DC. We overwhelmingly supported our conservative governor twice and are as a group small government, low tax, pro-gun people, but most of my neighbors have told me they will not vote for Sarah in 2012. They want a candidate in 2012 that is competent, conservative and accomplished and see Sarah as only one of the 3. They want Sarah to do exactly what she is doing now. Campaigning, fund raising, working to get out the vote. Without these people the GOP loses in 2012, I don’t think they are in the no mood to vote for the lesser of two evils. They will sit out the presidential election if they are not happy with the candidates they have to choose from.
Good point.
So let’s just assume Palin were to become President. ..what would happen? We’d have a President with rock-solid Conservative principles, a proven ability to get things done without compromising them or “reaching across” BS, a person who even her enemies have to admit has uncanny political skills, and a Mom in Charge. What’s not to like?
And to those who endlessly post things like “I don’t see any candidates I like”, in all humility: “get over yourself”.
I read your take away and understood it perfectly.
My point to you is not to care what the CNN conservative is thinking and look at what people are thinking in states that matter. Sarah is very competitive in polling. We will take the reigns and get her moving through the primaries and let George Will and Erickson catch up when they clue in. Ericksons cute hedging at the end of his piece offended me personally.
I don’t know if you remember Reagan running in ‘76 and ‘80 but there was absolutely no following for him early on except for grass roots activists. There is a Tea Party dieing for her to run. We start from there.
I want her to run because she is courageous. She has heart. She has nerve. As good Queen Bess put it: she has the stomach of a king.
Your comment makes no sense. either you believe in Reaganism or you don’t. Gov Palin is the only Reaganite in the race. Failure to support the Reaganite in the race means you would rather support the bushie.
ok misunderstood you then. I can agree wth this statement.
Good assessment. The only criticism I have of Sarah is, she needs to take voice lessons. IMOHO
He is someone I wouldn't want on my side when the going gets tough. I was really pissed off after his BS Speech.
Listen to her on the audio book of america by heart. you will change your mind.
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.