Sarah Palin's scorched-earth plan for the GOP: Governor challenges party to move sharply right

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News ^ | January 31, 2015 | Neil Macdonald

[2ndDivisionVet]

Sarah Palin, who now says she's definitely interested in "serving" as president next year, made a speech last weekend at a gathering of Republican White House aspirants in Iowa.

It was somewhat coarser, and certainly more bitter, than her usual bundle of platitudes and jingoism.

At one point she shouted "Screw the left in Hollywood!" And she complained about how even some Republicans are buying into "this unhealthy new obsession … about this subjective income gap that we're supposed to be so obsessed about right now."

She came close to suggesting conservative Republicans rip up their cards and register as independents in order to punish the party leadership, then seemed to abandon the idea.

She referred to the "800-pound elephant in the room of the White House that the radical left won't even name."

That would actually be a rather tiny elephant, but she was happy to name it anyway: "Any Muslim who would choose evil." And then she made a declaration so incoherent it made international news.

"Everyday-Americans are getting taken for a ride … and GOP leaders, by the way: the 'Man' can only ride ya when your back is bent, so strengthen it! Then the Man can't ride ya and Americans won't be taken for a ride."

There was also a lot about the viciousness and stupidity of political reporters.

Naturally, political reporters responded.

So over

Under the headline: "Sarah Palin slips into self-parody," Charles W. Cooke called it "the foreordained culmination of a slow and unseemly descent into farce," suggesting she stay out of the race for the good of her party.

Charles W. Cooke writes for National Review, one of this country's premier conservative publications.

Under another withering headline, "GOP faces its Sarah Palin problem," Byron York interviewed several dismayed audience members: "It was all quite petty," he concluded.

"She proceeded to blow through her time limit with a free-association ramble on Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, the energy industry, her daughter, Bristol, Margaret Thatcher … and much more. It would be hard to say (Palin) had a theme."

Byron York is one of Washington's more prominent conservative authors. And a Fox News regular.

Craig Robinson, of the Iowa Republican Blog, said Palin made Donald Trump look serious.

Clearly, Sarah Palin and perhaps a handful of vigilante militia members are the only people left who take Sarah Palin seriously. There is now serious talk of excluding her from future Republican nomination events.

But she did at one point in that speech issue an interesting challenge to the Republican hierarchy.

Let us, she said, nominate a presidential candidate who is a clear, unambiguous, social, fiscal and religious conservative, someone with "bold conservative colours, not establishment, pale pastels."

Republican bingo

Now, Palin's version of a real conservative is becoming pretty extreme. She's started referring to the liberal-bashing Fox News Channel as "a quasi, or assumed conservative outlet."

But her basic point is one that some serious Republican players have made, too.

People like Jim DeMint, head of the Heritage Foundation, and Senator Ted Cruz, the Tea Party hero from Texas, and Kentucky's Senator Rand Paul, another Tea Party hero, have all suggested it's long past time to nominate an uncompromising conservative.

The party's problem, DeMint and his colleagues on the Republican right have suggested, is not that Americans aren't interested in conservative solutions, it's that conservatives haven't communicated their solutions with sufficient clarity.

If someone could just do that, bingo. The mission of building a truly conservative America could begin.

Testing that theory would of course be every reporter's idea of an epic story.

Consider, say, Hillary Clinton versus a red-meat conservative who wants to shut down the Federal Reserve, the Environmental Protection Agency, the federal Education Department and maybe even the Internal Revenue Service, slash taxes, put God back in the public square, privatize social security, kill Obamacare, bomb the hell out of evil regimes abroad, and stop welfare Tuesday.

I'm all for it. A contest like that, I mean.

Most Republicans, though, aren't.

The two unofficial leaders of the 2016 Republican field — which already contains more than two dozen contenders with some sort of profile or credentials — didn't bother attending the Iowa "freedom summit."

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, both among the most pale of Republican pastels, were presumably too busy competing elsewhere for the support of big-time donors.

Romney, after losing the nomination in 2008 and the election in 2012, repeatedly promised he wouldn't run again.

But then he saw another 2012-style freak show shaping up, and started reading polls suggesting that what Republicans really want is a moderate, establishment candidate, and his nostrils flared at the whiff of possible victory.

A few weeks ago, he started telling donors he wanted to run. Then, on Friday, he told supporters he "believes it's time to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become the next nominee."

Which of course doesn't mean he's not running. Anything short of the Sherman declaration nowadays means you're still in the game.

At the moment, anyway, Romney is the big dog in the polls. And number two is George W. Bush's brother Jeb, whose views on absorbing illegal immigrants (let's get on with it) are abhorrent to the party's far right, but appeal to the huge, growing and coveted Latino demographic.

Also a big contender, at least if investigations into his administration's political shenanigans don't disqualify him, is another relative moderate, the immensely likeable Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey.

But there's an outlier who's somehow consistently right behind Romney and Bush: Ben Carson, an eminent retired neurosurgeon and author. He is brilliant, black, charismatic, deeply religious and easily conservative enough for Sarah Palin.

He has compared Obamacare to slavery. He has questioned the ethics of people who believe in evolution. He has compared Democrats to Nazis. He's compared same-sex marriage to pedophilia and bestiality. He also opposes affirmative action.

A small wrinkle: he opposed the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. But that's in the past now, after all, and as Palin puts it, true conservatives have a political war on their hands.

Carson might just be their huckleberry. He seems a lot more popular than other far-right contenders, and he'd certainly settle the question of whether Americans want an unambiguous conservative.

You betcha he would. Let's do this.

[GeronL]

No bias there at all, nope (sarcasm)

[denydenydeny]

I’ve never bought into the “Palin is stupid” theme for a number of reasons, especially because the Left pushed it so hard—I suspect that, on some level, they know their diety Barry is only slightly smarter than the grinning imbecile he named as VP, and they needed to elevate him by diminishing his critics.

Palin has a real gift for simplifying complex issues, has demonstrated the ability to turn a phrase. I just think she’s damaged goods because the Left has successfully assassinated her character.

[GeronL]

So, he supposedly likes “Severely Conservative” Romney while hating on real conservatives.

They liked the guy lying about his conservatism but those who tell the truth are horrible.

[2ndDivisionVet]

When, in the history of this country, has person of low intelligence risen to high office of any kind, excluding dynastic and family wealth candidates? Governor Palin had no relatives or machine helping her become governor, quite the opposite.

[acapesket]

I agree. Sarah is willing to be the Martyr to save the Country…the Joan of Arc…if you will (a bit Over The Top) as a metaphor to get the Gang in line and cut out these B/S LOSERS.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

I can see Charles Cooke and Byron York from my front porch.
Sarah lives rent free in thier pointy heads.
Freegards LEX

[txhurl]

All the lefties and even those on ‘our side’ bitching about Palin have her next speech wide open on their calendars.

They’re addicted, and when she unloads next time in her more ‘familiar’ fashion, they’ll resume looking under their beds at night for her. Their ‘witch’ has hundreds of thousands of miles left on her to torment them.

[EinNYC]

immensely likeable Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey?

To whom is this one-trick teacher-hating pony likable? To Obamabots?

[CyberAnt]

Maybe not .. but I bet she’d make a GREAT Energy Secretary.

[Flick Lives]

Ever notice how long winded lib articles are? Guess they like to hear themselves. Much like Obama, they are.

[conservativegranny]

They sure are getting a lot of mileage out of one bad speech. I heard the speech. I’m a fan so I listen to as many of her speeches and interviews as I can. It wasn’t her best but hardly a career ender. If I had been there I probably would have given her a standing ovation regardless just because I would be so happy to hear her in person.

I wish she’d run but I don’t think she will. I was disappointed in her when she decided not to run the last time after all the hoopla. It just seems to me that she isn’t prepping for a run for political office.

I’ll have to go with my second choice for now. Cruz or lose!

[mylife]

She aint running.

[Boomer]

“Consider, say, Hillary Clinton versus a red-meat conservative who wants to shut down the Federal Reserve, the Environmental Protection Agency, the federal Education Department and maybe even the Internal Revenue Service, slash taxes, put God back in the public square, privatize social security, kill Obamacare, bomb the hell out of evil regimes abroad, and stop welfare Tuesday. “

Yes! This! Let’s do this and make it the platform to run on.

As time goes on I see myself as less of a Republican because the party is veering too far to the left for my taste’s and seeing myself as simply a conservative without a party.

This saddens me to no end. what happened to the Pub party when we weren’t looking? How did our elected representatives get so far off track? Boehner and McConnell are clearly only looking out for themselves.

We gave them a clear mandate in the last election and after it was over; they just said “uh, ya, thanks” and shined us on since our input was no longer important to them.

Seems to me it’s time for a change in leadership within the party and not just today; yesterday too.

Time to can both majority leaders IMHO. Let’s do it now. There must be a way to give them both a “no confidence” vote from the people who elected them.

[RobbyS]

Palin was stabbed din the back by the McCain crew because she didn’t get the message that his handlers had told him to take a dive.

[RginTN]

this op ed so dumb reading it made my head ache!

[Bratch]

That's not scorched earth.

---

Gov. Sarah Palin: Yet Again Mr. President, You Lie

Posted on January 31 2015 - 2:50 PM - Posted by: iizthatiiz

Governor Palin posted the following to Facebook:

Liked

Sarah Palin added 2 new photos.

Politician · 4,514,734 Likes · 8 hrs · Edited · 

Yet again Mr. President, you lie. You boasted that your exchange of an obvious traitor for a group of known terrorists hell bent on America’s destruction is because “we leave no man behind.” You lie. You left an entire nation behind in the Rose Garden while celebrating a military deserter whose treasonous act you smiled at for all the world to see. You hold the proverbial hand of a traitor, but don't have the character to do the same for deserving souls who consistently give their all to protect America. Have you spoken up for the likes of American sniper Chris Kyle or so many other fallen heroes? No. You have no guts for that.

Astute, commonsense patriots, you were right all along. I said months ago (https://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin/posts/10152470416973588), “You blew it again, Barack Obama.”

Read Bristol's post for truth about Bowe Bergdahl:
http://www.patheos.com/…/its-true-our-president-traded-5-t…/ 

As Bergdahl’s father spoke his scripted Arabic greeting while Barack Obama nodded approvingly, I've never been more ashamed of a President's action than this arrogant, destructive exchange of another stone in our foundation of freedom – for evil men who hate our freedom. Our once solid rock upon which we were built turns to sand with astounding anti-American acts praised by Leftists. We will – we MUST – survive this President, but God help us survive the people who still support this.

- Sarah Palin

---

THAT'S scorched earth.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Awww it’s only lightly toasted!

[DocRock]

"And then she made a declaration so incoherent it made international news.

"Everyday-Americans are getting taken for a ride … and GOP leaders, by the way: the 'Man' can only ride ya when your back is bent, so strengthen it! Then the Man can't ride ya and Americans won't be taken for a ride."

Sarah played them like a fiddle... the "Man can only ride ya when your back is bent" is taken from Martin Luther King, Jr's "I've Been To The Mountaintop" speech. The media is too stupid to do a simple google search before crucifying her.

[raygunfan]

[onyx]

Absolutely.