Posted on 09/20/2010 7:39:02 AM PDT by pissant
This weekend, the Values Voter Summit took place. As you may remember, prior to the event, the group was complaining that the Republican leaders were not paying attention to their issues any longer. Then, during their meeting, they held a presidential straw poll among those attending, the ‘leaders’ of the group.
Well, here are the results. Sarah Palin finished fifth with 7%. In fourth was Mr. Family Values himself, Newt Gingrich (10%). In third was the current Republican frontrunner, Mitt Romney (13%). Mike Huckabee (22%) finished second. And you guessed the winner…that’s right, it’s Mike Pence (24%).
Reporters were sort of taken aback by these results, since right now there is only one rockstar among family values voters, Sarah Palin. So, they asked Tony Perkins, the head of the Family Research Council, to explain this unusual phenomenon. Perkins responded that “Maybe it is that she is more of a cheerleader and one who rallies conservatives together as opposed maybe to being their top choice for president.”
(Excerpt) Read more at rightpundits.com ...
Right now SP is the QB in a serious game of street football...
Anyone who gets in Palin’s way needs to be dehumanized and ruined at the grassroots level.
this is OUR time dangit. the RNC needs to follow our lead or decline and become meaningless. this is OUR party.
How did Jim DeMint do? He was actually there.
A real mama's boy.
My point is that she is an energizing figure/icon for the dhimmicrats to oppose. They viscerally HATE her and what she stands for. By (potentially) being on the ballot, she energizes the LEFT. She may be more valuable by (staying off the ballot) energizing SCORES and LEGIONS of Tea Partiers to vote against the usual slate of lame Leftist Dimoract candidates who generate little or no real enthusiasm on the Left.
As pointed out yesterday, there were 723 votes.
Palin didn’t show up; she was in Iowa packing the house at the state’s bigger GOP event. Nobody was there on her behalf - no staff, representatives, or bused-in voters. As the organizer himself said “Sarah Palin does not NEED to show up.”
25% of 723 votes is just over 150 total votes. Most of these folks brought friends, family, staff, and volunteers. Typically, events with straw polls are used by the candidates to pack the ballot box (which is typical, not diabolical). For example, DeMint got almost no votes, Barbour got 1%, etc.........if someone is going to argue that this is an accurate sampling of Presidential sentiment, they are foolish at best.
When you don’t attend the event, and every other candidate has staff, supporters, and friends present to back them, you don’t finish very high. Most of these folks rounded-up people for the purpose of attending and voting in the straw poll (which is entirely normal).
The truly funny part is: Pence isn’t running and has said so. I always do get a kick out of the fact that Romney gets about as many votes in every straw poll as he does in that state’s primary.......
The second truly funny part is that everyone picked Sarah Palin as their Veep (#2) to their candidate of choice. This tells you all you need to know in several parts:
1.) She is, cumulatively, the most popular figure.
2.) Everybody thinks they’ll need her on the ticket.
3.) She doesn’t even need to attend to be everyone’s #1 or #2 choice.
Okay, I get that.
But wouldnt any another Christian Pro-Life Conservative nominee we pick cause the same reaction ?
Are you suggesting that we move away from nominating religious people ?
All good points.
Keep in mind one other thing:
Perkins will be endorsing Mitt Romney, just like he did in 2008.
This is just another example of the delegitimizing, belittling, and sometimes dehumanizing of Sarah Palin that comes on a daily basis from Team Romney.
....and haters like pissant eat it up.
Oh, please. This type of straw poll tells us very little.
First and foremost, no one has announced a campaign or started campaigning in earnest yet. Until that happens, everything is wild speculation and no one really knows how well the potential candidates will do under real fire.
Secondly, these straw polls generally favor those present at the event. They’re fresher in the straw poll voters’ minds, and in many cases, the attendees came specifically to see that person in the first place. (How many straw polls were won by RON PAUL! again?)
Thirdly, they don’t really have predictive power. In 2008, this very straw poll (at least done during a primary season, as opposed to out of season) chose Mike Huckabee, who finished quite distantly to McCain in the votes that actually counted.
A valid and well-reasoned answer - just because someone doesn't give you the answer that you want, doesn't mean they're mentally unstable.
I love Palin and would vote for her in a heartbeat, and Tony Perkins probably would, too - but that wasn't the question.
No. I am not saying that.
The Left have ‘branded’ Gov. Palin individually, as someone to despise and oppose at all costs. They are effectively ‘insane’ about Palin. They do not apply the same vitriol and hatred to all pro-life, religious conservative candidates.
Mrs. Palin may be more valuable to the Cause by materially contributing to the election of SCORES of the right candidates as opposed to herself getting elected.
It’s a battles and wars moment.
Dude, labeling a fellow FReeper as a “hater” is beneath us. He (pissant) disagrees with you and opposes the candidacy of Mrs. Palin. That doesn’t constitute “hate.” And my post is not meant to support or impugn pissant or his positions.
I encourage you NOT to adopt the childish tactics of those we truly oppose.
FReep on.
What's he supposed to say? "The straw poll that gets all of the media attention for promoting our event is in reality a pointless waste of time."?
I still say they will do the same thing to any nominee we pick for President.
I think we would be cowards to throw her under the bus. If she wants to run, she deserves a chance.
I still want to believe Palin could unite the country with a good positive Reagan-like conservative agenda...Some people are not so sure about her yet. but there is no reason for people to hate her personally. thats what I fear.. that the hatred is personal reguardless of her message. I don’t want to believe America is that twisted..
pissant knows how coming in first in a straw poll usually ends up.
*ouch*
Pissant failed to tell you guys that Tony Perkins is a Mike Pence supporter.....it’s true, there were tweets from a few reporters talking about the reason he said this about Palin was because he backs Pence......pissant has failed once again
re: “ I don’t want to believe America is that twisted.”
darkness and light.
perhaps not “twisted,” but rather ‘evil’.
Hopefully people will give her a second look. shes a wonderful woman with a wonderful vision for America. the “shiny city on a hill” like vision..
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.