Posted on 06/08/2011 7:00:37 AM PDT by perfect_rovian_storm
This is a follow-up to my post yesterday, Michele Bachmann's First Big Mistake - Hiring Ed Rollins, regarding Rollins out-of-the-gate attacks on Sarah Palin:
Hiring Rollins is an enormous mistake for Bachmann. It could be campaign killing. The people who hate Palin are the same people who hate Bachmann, and no amount of trashing of Palin by Rollins will change that. Bachmann needs to focus on building, not tearing down.The profound mistake Bachmann made by bringing Ed Rollins on board cannot be overstated.. (Several commentators to my prior post think Bachmann is a stalking horse, but I'll prefer to call the Rollins hire a simple mistake.)
Salon.com gets it right, Rollins is instigating a fight which is damaging to each candidate and the Republican Party:
For weeks commentators have tried to set up Tea Party darlings Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, both of whom may end up launching presidential bids, in opposition. Both women have, however, fought the catfight narrative. Bachmann, for example, told "Good Morning America" last week, "I like Sarah Palin a lot, we're friends."Bachmann and her supporters are kidding themselves if they think bashing Palin will immunize Bachman from the treatment. The mocking of Bachmann started long ago, but now will kick into full gear. They will portray every slip of the tongue or error by Bachmann as reflective of a lack of intelligence and wingnuttia.
But that was before Ed Rollins, Bachmann's new campaign manager with a checkered path of dirty and aggressive tactics, entered the scene.
Witness TPM's article about Bachman's hire of Rollins:
Of course, this has often lead to some amusing off-the-cuff fumbles. She once told a conservative rally at the Capitol: "It's the charge of the light brigade!" (The Light Brigade lost) She also misplaced the historic Revolutionary War towns of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, into New Hampshire. And in an infamous House speech, she blamed Franklin Roosevelt for something call the "Hoot-Smalley" tariffs.
But at the end of the day, the same qualities that often lead Bachmann to the edge of rhetorical cliffs, are the same that ignite fervor among her base in the far right wing of the GOP.A successful career and lifetime of achievement is turned into a caricature based on a handful of misstatements or mistakes. That's what Rollins is doing to Palin, and it's what will be done by others to Bachmann.
Update: Nice job Ed (h/t commenter Viator), is this how you wanted to launch your campaign, Michele?
I think the point most of us are making is not that it was such an awful thing for Rollins to say of Palin (it was more stupid than awful), but that Rollins' hiring calls into question Bachmann's judgment. We know what a big-mouthed RINO he is, and we know that as soon as the campaign is over he'll stab Bachmann in the back--so why doesn't Bachmann know this?
This isn’t the way the game is played..
Unless Romney’s man Cantor made a deal with you.
She is running for Mitt’s VP slot.
I’m beginning to suspect the same thing. She is running to split the conservative vote and guarantee Mitt waltzes away with the nomination.
It’s too late, she has shown all of us her decision making, by hiring a loser to run her campaign.
We can’t blame Rollings, he is only in it for money and glory.
OK Sarah, you’ve seen the conservatives, with a small c, who are in the field. Do what you know is the only way to save our Republic.
I agree and that is why Mitt said if "your" candidate doesn't win, don't go 3rd party and "give" it to Obama. He has to beat Sarah and he is using Michelle. Mitt is only slightly better than Obama. Should the GOP continue to support this approach, the GOP needs to go down, IMO.
My husband started not liking her several months ago when she backed an insider for the Republican leader in our state. There were several Pubs running for the post, and this guy is as big a RINO as they come, but she came down to our state to support him. She should have just stayed out of it completely.
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