Posted on 07/18/2012 6:37:33 PM PDT by Mozilla
She is the Tea Party diva who lit up the 2008 Presidential campaign.
But four years later Mitt Romney is facing one of the most vexing questions of his campaign: what to do with Sarah Palin?
In an increasingly uncomfortable stand-off, he has not invited her to next month’s Republican national convention whilst she has failed to give him her full backing.
--snip--
The result is that the Republican presidential candidate is left without the endorsement of a woman who can energise his base in a way he can only dream of.
The former Massachusetts governor - who is so emotionally cold friends reportedly call him ‘Tin Man’ - is facing nagging questions about how he can appeal to the Tea Party which still feels he is a left wing flip flopper.
Palin would fill that role but would constantly be in danger of going rogue - and not sticking to the carefully crafted scripts.
--snip--
The crux of the problem for Romney comes down to his relationship to the Tea Party - or lack thereof.
Quite simply Romney is not thought to be steely enough, not enough of a bruiser and pales into comparison with the woman who famously described herself as a ‘Lipstick Pitbull’.
His lack of willingness to defend himself - be it on his record at Bain Capital or his offshore bank accounts - is making him look weak.
Speaking to Newsweek, Jenny Beth Martin, head of the Tea Party Patriots, the largest of the activist groups, said: ‘Romney’s just not a fighter
‘That’s why it would be good for him to have someone like Palin speaking at the convention. He needs to do something to rile up his base, to make them enthusiastic. And I don’t mean just the Tea Party.
‘I mean die-hard Republicans.'
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Newsweek also reported that many Tea Party activists feel that Romney is a ‘guy served up by Republican elites who speaks conservatism with an establishment accent’ and not one of their own.
Adding to tensions is the feeling that Romney sat back during the Republican primaries and watched the Tea Party candidates tear each other apart before jumping in at the end.
This has all led to a lack of enthusiasm for him - a Washington Post poll last week found that just 38 per cent of his voters will back him ‘very enthusiastically’. The comparative figure for Obama is a striking 51 per cent.
So when Palin said on Fox News last week that Romney should appeal to the grassroots more and ‘light our hair on fire’, it would have struck a chord with many of them.
Whether or not she can still light things up, however, is an entirely different story.
Palin’s influence has waned from the days when a single posting on her Facebook page could change the political landscape.
But she still hold huge power, especially amongst the conservative heartlands that Romney desperately wants to court.
She is also miles ahead of Romney when it comes to social media: on Facebook Palin has 3.4m likes whilst Romney has 2.3m. On Twitter Palin has 804,000 followers, whilst Romney has 658,000.
In an email to Newsweek, Palin claimed she was being snubbed by the political elites for speaking out, a line she has used repeatedly to paint herself as a maverick outsider.
VP candidates are not publicly invited ahead of time to convention. Most of us didn’t even know her name four years ago. MR wouldn’t dare ignor her/us.
Palin’s influence has waned.....
Righhhhht...you keep thinking that.
Mitt runs the GOP convention and decides who comes?
Where is that written?
I really don’t see the problem. Say some nice things about her, give her time for a speech at the convention.
Why is this so difficult?
The GOP-E don’t like her. Thing she would go off script. They are terrified of Palin and the tea party.
You sit down and do business with slimeballs like that day after day you gotta' be devoid of emotion.
I doubt MR would know what to do if he encountered a Conservative.
I doubt Palin would accept the VP slot again, especially if there's a significant chance of Romney losing to Obama. She's already painted by the media as the "failed VP candidate from 2008" -- "Twice-failed" does not go down well at all.
Romney might be cynical enough to ask her to be VP, KNOWING SHE'LL DECLINE. This gives him cred for "trying" to craft a conservative ticket, even though it's just cr@p politics.
No, sadly, I think the Republicans are going to have their little Establishment party and to hell with Conservatives. Prepare to be ignored, bigtime.
It is a Dark Day in America, FRiend.
As we all know the GOP-E is stupid. They should be terrified the tea party doesn’t vote for him.
Tokyo Rove needs to pull his head out of his a$$
Not as dark as Barack Hussein Obama raising his hand and being sworn in again on January 20, 2013.
“Palin’s influence has waned from the days....”
BS. Unadulterated bovine excrement.
I keep thinking surely... SURELY they will invite her and give her a decent speaking slot. Otherwise it’s a pretty clear-cut message a la Barbara Bush to “stay the hell up in Alaska.” Might as well be an all-out invitation by Romney/Bush and the GOP-E for her to just LEAVE the Republican Party. No other way to interpret it.
“Palin’s influence has waned from the days....”
BS. Unadulterated bovine excrement.
But four years later Mitt Romney is facing one of the most vexing questions of his campaign: what to do with Sarah Palin?
__________________________________________
Willard we know what to do with Governor Sarah Palin...
Our vexing question is what to do with you...
The RINOS should know that a civil war will eliminate them too.
Not to be too technical about it, but I believe the manual sez: MALE bovine excrement. ;o)
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