Posted on 07/05/2009 3:15:12 AM PDT by Scanian
Opponents -- and even some former allies -- were quick to criticize Sarah Palin's announcement Friday that she will step down as governor of Alaska. The suddenness of the decision have some thinking that she's tired of political life; that she'll hit the lecture circuit to rebuild her financial fortunes; even that she'll become a "conservative Oprah"
Palin, though, posted to her Facebook page yesterday that she has a "higher calling": "I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values . . . how sad that Washington and the media never understand; it's about the country. And though it's honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason, a different standard applies for the decisions I make."
She's right. And despite what her detractors say, stepping away from office isn't necessarily a bad decision. Here's what Palin could, and should, do:
1. Start putting her national team together now. Recruit from the best and the brightest of real conservatism. The GOP is currently top-heavy with the remnants of a defeated old guard that has lost its way, its conservative and libertarian vision, its base, and most of its legitimacy. Palin needs to begin building a conservative "shadow GOP leadership" able to supplant these sclerotic factions when the time is ripe.
2. Ignore the mainstream media and the Democratic party. Define herself on her own terms. No more chat-fests with the likes of Katie Couric. No more efforts to make herself likeable to enemies whose only wish is to see her career -- and conservatism itself -- destroyed.
3. Set out to remake the GOP in her image. This means identifying strong conservative candidates
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I would add -— IGNORE THE GOP PARTY as well.
Let’s hope Sarah reads The NYPost.
At this point recapturing the GOP and tilting independents is the only right way.
She will pull it off.
It’s very considerate of Bill Quick to give her advice, but don’t forget the best roadmap comes from Palin herself. That’s what got her where she is.
Ignore the mainstream media and the Democratic party. - Agreed!
A nice wrinkle, especially as it appears that O and H are at odds. No matter who runs for the GOP, I would love to see a knock down, drag out, Democratic primary. And, as someone wrote elsewhere, she has one of the smartest campaigner's (Big Bill) on her side. Plus, they both would like to slip the knife into O and the part of the party that put paid to H's rise.
We could then call election 2012...Beauty and the beast.
Excellent! That will be a slogan!
If you look back at history the climb to the top takes a long time and eating lots of “chicken dinners”. Look at Regan and Nixon. Hated by the media and the elite, but, over time they built the base, organization and momentum to take them over the top.
While I think Sarah could run in 2012 I would not be surprised if she shoots for second banana which gives her 4/8 years to let the people see that she is seasoned and ready to lead.
But, as I wrote elsewhere, the last cycle the folks went for a half term senator so why not a half term governor in 2012!
Palin has more then a decade of executive experience (mayor, entrepeneur, governor) in her time as governor she has achieved far more than many two term governors.
Obama has NOTHING on her.
If Sarah Palin is as stupid and incompetent as you portray her, isn't Alaska better off if she leaves? So, what's your problem, eh?
Folks, there has been a great deal of speculation regarding Palin’s political future. I, for one, do not believe she will run in 2012. And I, for one, don’t think she should.
If Palin runs in 2012, she will be fighting the Democrat establishment, the Republican establishment, the MSM, the liberal and “conservative” punditocracy, as well as a fair number of Romney supporters, and all that will hold true BEFORE she begins her campaign against Obama. Even Reagan didn’t fight against those kinds of odds.
No, the best thing for her is to take a strategic view. Her best bet, and the best bet for our Republic, is for her to run SarahPAC full-time: raise funds for conservative candidates, build a grass-roots movement within the Republican Party, sweep out the Ford/Rockefeller/McCain Republicans out of the key positions within the party structure, gain a solid mass of elected officials behind her as proof of her organizational and fund-raising abilities (thereby neutering the pathetic worms at the RNC). A series of Republican/conservative victories in 2012 and 2014 ought to do nicely.
The next best thing for her is to NOT run in 2012: let the Republican Party commit hara-kiri in the presidential contest (as they invariably will) by selecting some mushy RINO as the standard-bearer. Whoever the candidate will be in 2012, Obama will most likely clobber him – let’s face it, there is nobody on the horizon that can beat Obama. Palin is the only one, and she can’t fight the Obama, the Democrats and those on “our” side at the same time.
However, 2016 is an entirely different matter. By then, I believe several things will have happened that will assure a Palin victory. First, by 2016, the full effects of Obama’s policies will be felt. It will take time for policies such as the Global Warming Act, the out-of-control spending, and our “kinder” foreign relations with terrorists and dictators to play out to their logical end. Until that happens, it will be difficult to convince enough voters that these policies will bring the country to ruin. Voters must SEE the effects of these policies – they must learn, in their own skin, where liberalism/socialism leads. I am sorry to say that we must live through the pain before the American people can learn what other peoples (my own included) have learned through hard, bitter experience: Socialism is a dead-end that brings only misery, death, and destruction in its wake. Second, by 2016, the credibility and influence of the MSM will have been completely destroyed by the way in which they whored themselves to Obama. Very likely, there will be no Boston Globe, no New York Times, and the Washington Post will be a shadow of its former self. Third, the country will be exhausted with the Obama circus; the corruption scandals that will begin to see the light of day during a second Obama term will weigh down the Democrat candidate in 2016. By 2016, nobody will remember Bush – so the Democrats will have no one to blame for the state of the country. They will be ripe for defeat.
In 2016, Palin can run, and win, with a single question as her platform: “Are you better off now than you were eight years ago?” By 2016, there will be no way to hide the misery and ruin that Obama will have brought to the country.
To the end! I hope we get to help her see it to the end... all the way to the White House and start something good for our children’s future and our children’s children’s future to come!
You MAY be right. But then again, you may not. It depends on where Obama and America are in 3 years. If he has wrecked enough and is unpopular (which I believe) 2012 may be the time. However, given the unlikely scenario that he is in good standing in 2012... you are right that we should keep the powder dry.
I have to disagree with you, Foreign Dude. IMHO this nation cannot survive 8 years of B.O. In 8 years, he will have destroyed all we hold dear as Americans, to say nothing of our individual rights.
So of course Katie De Medici will compare Sarah instead to Gov. Reagan, who had two full terms at the helm of Kallyfoahnyuh before he ran for national office.
Or to Bill Clinton, who had all those rapes and terms of office in Arkansas. I mean, how can you compare an aspirant to office who's only shoot deer and moose, to a fullgrown Democrat who's got human heads on his wall?
Or to John Skerry, who is said once upon a time to have shot a Viet Cong?
Or to "Landslide Lyndon", who once bagged a federal grain inspector at 1300 miles?
We've already been there, done that, got the shirt.
This ain't laundry day. "Rinse and repeat" doesn't work for republics.
That is the only fly in the ointment...
You’ve identified the key unknown here. I stand behind every word I wrote, but there is an even chance that an eight-year Obama presidency may take us on a non-return trip. If such starts to appear the case by 2012, then (for the sake of all us), Palin may need to run in 2012, ready or not.
It’s a tough choice. Nonetheless, my vote, my time, and my money are with Palin.
Sorry, I just can’t get into your “roll over and die” approach to this thing. Sit and wait thru 8 years of Obama without doing everything we can to get him out of office as quickly as possible? Sorry. Right now, our best shot at getting Obama out in four years is Sarah Palin. We need to get behind her now, and get behind her hard.
How many here have said that the press is the enemy? Is it prudent to ignore the enemy? I have a feeling that Palin's efforts are going to have a material impact on the media, whether they like it or not. And obviously, attacking the media is about the same thing as attacking the Democratic Party.
She'll ignore the media to the extent the media avoids falsehood. That widget is in the media's hands, not hers.
Stevens and Murkowski are two remnants of a defeated old guard that can bear witness to her effect.
Sure Stevens was the victim of a Justice Dept. out of control, but he had been on the fringe for years, just doing things that he saw his buddies across the aisle doing with impunity. His support was gone come election time, otherwise he would be there today.
Sarah has strength from the grass roots. Proof is that many here call her Sarah, while her opponents call her Palin.
I think her first goal is to influence the next opportunity to wrestle control back and that would be the 2010 congressional elections. She has a little more than a year to cause big trouble to come down on all of those that supported all of the spending beginning with TARP from last year.
Sarah needs to go on the road and starting speaking in her own eloquent way of what is really going behind the scenes at DC. She has the ear of the people and she can shine the spotlight on all of the foolish decisions that have made.
If she gets out there too soon as a candidate for POTUS, she will lose effectiveness. The media will ratchet up coverage against her as a candidate, and she will lose some of her potential to bring influence.
Instead, make a change where it will have the most immediate good effect. Change the makeup of the House and the Senate where they can start to say No! to BHO and reverse course on his damage.
Take a page (No make that a whole chapter) out of Mr. Reagan's book and take the message directly to the people.
CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, and ABC might not give her much media access or coverage.
But FOX will and their track record shows they continue to gain market share. People are changing their channels.
If Sarah can resist the run for POTUS, she can have all of the years that lead up to her decision, as well as eight more all to her credit and our favor.
Sarah, keep your powder dry and start passing strategies to those of us peering over the wall at the advancing horde.
That’s an astoundingly bad idea.
Excellent article, with a very positive and enthusiastic plan of action. Bill Quick is good!
Who are these “countless others” that resigned to follow a “higher calling” that Palin is talking about?
Rush can "ignore" the media, Sarah shouldn't. I don't know exactly what you mean by "ignore," but she should go after them with a vengeance and show the country what absolute liars and fools they all are.
I just don't get after all the years how any conservative could think these people are anything but asshats and they do not want to be your friend! You don't ignore them, you kick their ass!!!!!!
Running under the banner of a third party is something that surely is causing nightsweats at the RNC headquarters.
Truth be told,tearing down the old and commencing with the new might be the only way to move ahead. Both parties are failures at this juncture in history although with the bunch of Nero’s in the dem party they are by far the biggest failure.
I think the GOP is finished.
Now, it's true, I live in the Northeast - so take what I say with a grain of salt. But I also live in and among the most strongly Republican towns in a formerly Republican state, so it's not like I can't see the process up close.
"Republican" has been severely, and in my opinion fatally, damaged as a brand. Very good ideas which would otherwise win broad support fail because they are championed by the Republican candidate. Bad ideas, which could not win 35% in a plebiscite, are implemented because they are proposed by the "not Republican" candidate.
In this part of the country, a do-over is just what's needed.
“the best thing for her is to take a strategic view. Her best bet, and the best bet for our Republic, is for her to run SarahPAC full-time: raise funds for conservative candidates, build a grass-roots movement within the Republican Party”
I completely agree. She’s young, so she has many years to sort out whether to run for President. For now, she can write books, hit the speech circuit, stump for conservative candidates and begin the arduous work of turning the GOP back to its conservative roots.
Regardless of why she’s leaving the Governor’s chair with more than a year left, the fact that she has do so will be poisonous in the minds of too many voters. She can and should give it a few years and then maybe test the waters in 2016.
Good grief! She is NOT waiting around to see what people think she should do.
has do so = has done so
“While I think Sarah could run in 2012 I would not be surprised if she shoots for second banana which gives her 4/8 years to let the people see that she is seasoned and ready to lead.”
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That time frame doesn’t work, we can’t make it to 2012 with Mr. BigEared, the Crap and Raid king, at the helm. Talk of waiting four or eight years beyond is idle chatter. The people don’t need to see that she is seasoned and ready, she is only a little younger than the community organizer and has far more applicable experience.
The question is not how to elect a Republican or even a conservative in 2012. The real question is how do we survive even one more year of an administration totally dedicated to the destruction of the United States of America because that is what we have. Face it.
My hope is that people will see a way out of the entrenched professional politicians that have been taking us downhill for many years now---and vote in a complete new cast of characters, starting with Palin.
We can dream of a government without a Kennedy, a Clinton, a Dodd, a Frank, and so on and on..........
Maybe we can absolutely clean house and get a fresh start.
Sarah has a degree in journalism, minor in political science....Dontcah think she knows a little bit about how to manipulate the media...
She announces her decision on the deadest possible time. When the media is not expecting it.Half of them are on vacation....and she’s got everyone speculating, talking,......It’s all Sarah! Mjj would be pissed.
WHen those on vacation came back, they’ll want to be on the record, so they too will discuss Sarah...lenthening this fifteen minute.
By the time that settles down she will officially be stepping down....More time in the news.
She’s reported to have her first speaking engagement in CA AUg 8th, who’s not going to cover that.....
ANd then there is the book that coming out, the book tour, etc etc etc....
As a private citizen she’ll get millions of dollars of freecoverage...That “any publicity is better than none” she knows how to work the media. Look how she got maximun out of a trip to NY. Letterman fell right into her trap.
Maybe she was asking W for advice.
It will take time for policies such as the Global Warming Act, the out-of-control spending, and our “kinder” foreign relations with terrorists and dictators to play out to their logical end.
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I see the timeline as much faster, the country is in one hell of a shape already. You sound like a doctor giving a prognosis of a man’s chances of surviving ten more years with some slow moving disease while ignoring the fact that he also has a gunshot wound. We don’t have years and years to figure out all kinds of scenarios, we have sat and twiddled our thumbs for forty years already, this is the end game!
I think the scenario you have outlined is the way it will play out, regardless of how much effort conservatives muster for 2012. The sad fact is that the GOP will continue to eschew conservatism for identity politics and fail again in the process because democrats OWN that tactic and always have. There will be no more sweeping victories for conservatives with the GOP in its current state. It will take grassroots dismantlement of the GOP country clubbers with Palin as the standard bearer, provided she’s up to the task. It’s a long haul and she has some refinement and detailing of positions to go through first (ie...illegal immigration). She needs to shake the remnant of McCain’s shackles from around her neck too. I hope she spends some time in the days ahead locked up in the Reagan library like a buddhist monk, and then come out swinging for conservatives running for office during the 2010 election cycle to help set conditions for 2016 and beyond. This is the long haul.
motherhood IS a higher calling.........
Ain’t no strategery going on here. You mistake the rise of a revolutionary movement for normal politics. It would have been like asking Lenin to put of the revolution for four years. Ain’t gonna happen.
I read foreigndude's post and it caused me to think. How in the world did BHO ever get elected? A bunch of people were waiting for someone else to fix something that may or may not have been broken. BHO stood there and 'mealy-mouthed' that he would be for change. He never explained how he was going to bring change. Those of us who looked at his track record, positions he had taken, people that he associated himself with could easily predict a nightmare in the making. But he stood there, "clean and articulate" and voters pulled the BHO lever.
It would be a mistake for all of us to dump all of this problem onto the shoulders of one wonderful gal from Alaska. Give her some credit, she has thought long and hard about this. When she realized she was not going to run for re-election, she also realized she would still be a target as a sitting-duck governor. She is leaving Alaska in a better place.
We say that she needs to fix this and fix it now.
Well, she can't fix it all by herself. And she needs to revitalize our nation from whatever malaise we were in to have elected BHO in the first place.
Whatever Sarah decides to do, if she is the one to whom we are looking for effective leadership, then we need to let her make those hard decisions and support her when she makes them.
I'll never forget that Friday telecast, August 29 when she was first introduced to the national stage. I had known for months that she had great potential. We only had hints in the last preceding hours that she was in the wings, But when McCain brought her out, her life changed. I also saw the lives of many Americans change. My wife loves her. My grand-daughters love her. They see in Sarah hope for themselves. They see a reason to get involved.
Sarah has the potential to effect our nation, one voter at a time. Yes, she could do that well behind the desk in the Oval office, but in the meanwhile, she could do well speaking about the issues, bringing truth into the equations of DC politics and showing people why the conservative path is the best path every time.
I understand the event will be at the Reagan Library. Talk about symbolism. Memo to press photographers...get a photo of her standing at the Gipper's tomb. It's a beautiful spot and the photo will be historic.
sorry but I don’t think that this once great republic can last until 2016 under this current assault...
Hate to be negative, but Obama has anything and everything on her, it may all lies, but that never stopped these scumbags before.
The First Target should be the Blue Dog Democrats that won by very thin margins. She is the only one that can energize the Conservatives in those districts. Pelosi and Reid Have to be stopped for the good of the Country.
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