Iowa Focus Group: Palin is Unelectable; Healthcare Spells Major Trouble for Romney

TheIowaRepublican.com ^ | 3/1/11 | Kevin Hall

[bigred08]

The Iowa Republican.com, in conjunction with McClatchy newspapers, assembled a small group of conservative activists last week for a focus group. The main topic, naturally, was the upcoming 2012 Iowa Caucus. The group was unanimous, or near unanimous, on several topics. The most interesting conclusion is that most of them believe Sarah Palin is unelectable.

[USSR Didnt Fall]

Why are you so anxious about dismissing such a strong conservative like Palin?

I mean, we haven’t had a single debate, yet you seem to be as concerned as the liberal leftist media about the possibility of her being the next president.

Mccain was supposed to be the perfect candidate for the so called independents just as Dole was before and what did that get us but huge losses.

I have to question someone who will make blanket statements and spend so much time trying to spin a poll of 170 people and make it look like its over for her.

Sorry my friend, my instincts tell me you have a clear agenda and even if you are not a liberal like I suspect, you are not doing this nation any favors by spreading lies about a true patriot.

Cheers.

[trisham]

I hear you. Imho, Huck’s fans are mostly those who share his religious beliefs. That’s a difficult issue to combat in some parts of the country, but he’s weak in other areas. His recent statements regarding Michelle Obama’s food campaign are an example.

[Let_It_Be_So]

Agree 100%! Why should we allow any candidate be deemed a loser in a race when the runners have only taken a single step from the starting line? Does it make any sense at all to declare the winner of such a race 1 second from the sound of the starting gun?

[Leader_Of_The _Conservatives]

so Reagan was......

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I want to know why 10 people from Iowa are picking our Pres. Id really like to change the primary’s. Its not representative anymore. I say 1 primary day for all. Is that possible???

My theory is that it's logistically possible to conduct a nationwide primary of Republicans, at least Republicans who contribute to the RNC. There ought to be a way to create a national "credit card" with which every Republican could "buy" a candidate with a "credit" put in his/her account. It wouldn't be a secret ballot, I suppose - but it could be done expeditiously IMHO.

I suspect that the states would prevent it, tho - and they have the authority to do so because the defining characteristic of a political party is its line on the ballot, which the states control.

[sand88]

That's all Iowa wants to know about candidates.

It absolutely astounds me that ANY Freeper would support Ethanol subsidies. Ethanol is a huge scam. Without Taxpayer subsidies ethanol would disappear. I pray Sarah comes out strong against this wholly unconstitutional ripoff of the taxpayers.

It makes me ill to see Iowa farmers screaming about Ethanol. It makes them just another class of parasites on our Republic's Liberty. I wish some candidate would confront them and say plainly, "complete in the marketplace or get another line of work you pathetic whiners".

I wish Sarah and other candidates would just shun Iowa. It is pathetic that Iowa has such influence on our candidates.

[Kevmo]

This is good. Reagan was unelectable.

[andy58-in-nh]

I think some of your premises and assumptions are incorrect. That is my considered opinion, and as I alluded to you: I'm an older guy who has studied American politics for a long, long time. Among other things, I got my graduate degree in the subject. So you might just want to listen and think before responding. That's all I ask.

I am not "anxious" about Palin. I believe she is a good conservative, but that fact alone does not make her a good candidate. Some of her personal qualities repel people whose support any candidate will need to have in order to win. Instead of attacking people who express doubts about Ms. Palin, try asking them what bothers them about her. Hint: for many, it has nothing to do with her conservatism.

As for John McCain, he was not nominated because he would appeal to Independents. He was nominated for the "traditional" GOP reason: he was the next Establishment guy in line, and early primary voters split the non-Establishment vote among several other candidates. Exactly like Bob Dole, as a matter of fact. Now, Bob Dole was a solid conservative, and a war hero, too. But he was a lousy candidate - just as McCain was an awful candidate, and George Bush (41) was an awful candidate in 1992 (he won in '88 because he had the good fortune of both following Reagan and running against an even worse candidate, one Michael Stanley Dukakis).

So, in light of history and present circumstances (the country is in dire trouble), I am seeking the most conservative candidate we've got, who also has the personal and professional qualities that will make him - or her - more likely to beat Obama.

As for polls, I sent you a link not to just one poll but to many. I really urge you to look at them in detail because they tell some stories - not clearly, yet, but enough to be of concern for Republicans who love Sarah Palin and want her to be our next standard-bearer. If she is, I will not only vote for her, but I will actively work for her election. That intention will not change my concerns about the breadth of her appeal.

I have no agenda. As Glenn Beck likes to say: "the truth has no agenda", and my purpose is not to "spread lies" as you seem to believe, without example or evidence, I might well add. If Sarah Palin truly wants to be President (and I'm not sure she does, at least this time around) she first needs to do several important things, in my opinion. I will not list them all here, unless you ask me to, which you have not yet done. One of them I have already mentioned: she needs to adopt a more serious, and less "folksy" tone when discussing issues of national importance. Palin would do well to listen to the speeches of Margaret Thatcher, read some Winston Churchill, watch Reagan's debate performances.

We are headed into seriously dangerous times. They call for an equally serious candidate, and I believe that it is a nagging uncertainty about her seriousness - not fear of her conservatism - that makes many people nervous about Sarah Palin.

[USSR Didnt Fall]

LOL Bob Dole was an conservative. Did you pull this propaganda from your draw or get it straight from Moscow?

You my friend are a propagandist and the truth is not what you seek that is for damn sure.

Move along..

[andy58-in-nh]

A closed mind gathers no thoughts.

[USSR Didnt Fall]

Closed minded to propaganda yes, but remember it doesn’t work on the educated. Your tactics look quite pathetic to me, nice try though...

[andy58-in-nh]

You are truly paranoid.

[USSR Didnt Fall]

No sir, I will explain.

To say that a person needs to change their image, is moronic to the core.

I don't take my direction from the leftist and inside the beltway media because I have something called a brain and love of country.

You got the perfect candidate, that the media was so accepting and impressed with (Krauthammer), who sounded so polished and now is destroying our nation.

To say that she needs to be less like herself, which is a patriot who loves this nation is right out of the RINOS playbook.

There is no way to defend personal smears, which in the end have nothing to do with saving America.

Americans want to be free and want a person who not only speak to principles but actually stand by them and enforce them while in office.

I don't care what the person looks like, sounds like or is to the liking of the inside the beltway Marxists, elites.

I don't care what Charles Krauthammer and the boys think when they are all huddled up at the CFR to claim the importance of a media debate, and who won or lost it in the end and why that should matter.

I have a brain, which tells me to pick the person who will stand up for America, not the international bureaucracy that runs it today.

Take your pick with the others Gingrich, Romney, Bush's, Kissinger and other hacks that don't see the presidency or being a US diplomat as anything but a stepping stool for the grander design of selling this nations sovereignty down the road towards world government.

You want someone who sounds good and morw serious but in the end will not fight to the bitter en to get this guy out of office, like a Mccain or Dole then you are the enemy?

The fact that you said that Dole was a good conservative, tells me that you have no clue what conservatism is.

The statist agenda has always been to not give the American voter a choice at the ballot box, so that in end we lose, and the progressive agenda is advanced which has been the case since Reagan.

Freedom loving and hard working Americans don't care a hill of beans how a person sounds, but what they will actually do when in office.

Your people have had its way for far too long, and look at the mess that has been created from Bush 41 to today.

I will not sit here and listen to someone who claims to be a supporter of a patriot, yet says she needs to change who she is as a person to become a more serious candidate. (who are you to say that?)

Serious? Her family is being attacked at every level and their lives are being threatened. I don't think she needs someone like you to tell her the serious nature of what we face as a Americans today.

I would say, if you want to be considered a “more serious” blogger, stick to the substance of your arguments not the petty 2nd grade logic.

She is not of Washington and of plastic Greek columns, which is why so many support her.

She is just like the rest of us, true red blooded American, who sees what is happening to this country and may have power with the help of millions of us to stop it, so that future generations will be able to say they too live under the flag of freedom.

Perino months ago said she wasn't authentic enough, most recently Christie said she needs to be more unscripted and now you say she needs to adjust her speech.

Do you see the common theme of all these attacks?

They have nothing to do with her plan and committed will to save America.

There is not one criticism on one major policy stance, because she stands with the majority of the American people and they know in doing so, they would only be emboldening her message and popularity.

Sorry my friend not paranoid, but sick and tired of people like you who come out with baseless character flaws of a patriot that will fight to the end to get this Marxist out of office. (You show me a perfect person and I will show you a dangerous man or women)

Many of the people who you hold up in the light as conservative, will be the same cowards rooting against her if she were to win the nomination against a Marxist, because they have sold this nation down the road to ruin for their own personal gain and security.

The old “I liker her BUT she has personal flaws” doesn't wash with me or the American people.

Criticize and vet the policies of all candidates, but once the image thing comes up and ad hominem attacks start to fly, I will call it for what it is; pure propaganda which should have no place in the vetting process for our next candidate because the stakes are way too high....

[andy58-in-nh]

I was a conservative before you were half a sperm, so don't pretend to tell me what a "conservative" is.

Your refusal to consider Ms. Palin's very real flaws as a potential candidate is not rational. It's not who she is; it's what she appears to be; and if you don't think that's important, I cannot help you.

Many voters make judgments based upon appearances, not reality. Is that fair? No. Is it true? Hell, yes. Otherwise, please explain Obama to me. No experience, no character, no adherence to American ideals. Not a patriot, but damned close to the opposite. Did people care? No. Why? Because he sounded good. Bitch all you want about how much that sucks, but that's life, buddy.

There are other true conservatives out there who would appeal to more than just Palinistas: Paul Ryan, Michelle Bachmann, and Jim DeMint, just to name a few. What do they have that Sarah does not? They don't sound like they just fell off a turnip truck.

[USSR Didnt Fall]

2nd grade logic once again, doesn’t work with me my friend.

I am beginning to notice a pattern, when you lose an argument here, the typical thing to do is go after how long the other has been a freeper or pull out the age card.

What does age have to do with the fact that Bob Dole was never a conservative, let alone a good one?

I don’t care if your 110 or 5, been on this site for 10 years or what you call yourself, but after a comment like that, you clearly have very little understanding of what it means to be conservative.

In fact, it makes me think that you are too stubborn to admit this and will never truly understand what this nation is facing before its too late.

I hope you see the light for you and your family, but if Bob Dole is your definition of a good conservative, then I have very little hope that you will ever see the light.

Take care...

[USSR Didnt Fall]

You Wrote:

Many voters make judgments based upon appearances, not reality. Is that fair? No. Is it true? Hell, yes

******
So who the hell are you to make these subjective judgements?

Which was one my points, that you think she needs to do some things to be considered a more serious candidate based on what God-like expertise?

Are you an expert in pointing out character and image flaws, clearly you missed a huge boat when describing Dole as a good conservative?

This is why educated people don’t involve themselves in this type of debate and stick to the issues, which in the end is all that matters.

If not, you waste your time on senseless, baseless things out of your control which the media wants and in the end up you end up with people like Obama.

In doing so, you give the media the power to choose the winners through their effective character assassination of a candidate like Palin.

Lets talk about her media image and the dress, not the fact that Obama is a marxist and destroying America.

If thats the game you want to play , like I said before you are already the enemy to the cause that I support, which is taking back America.

That’s why I think your claims are based on nonsense.

Cheers..

[andy58-in-nh]

I see that you resolutely refuse to deal with the substance of my critiques. Bob Dole is not the issue. But just for the record, his voting record is available on line at the American Conservative Union. Lifetime - 83%. Pretty good - not perfect, but good. I met the man and when I shook his hand (shattered by enemy gunfire) and looked him in the eye, I knew who he was. I did the same (twice) with John McCain, and let's just say I did not have the same feeling. Read between the lines, if need be.

Let me share something you may not know about Senator Dole:

During an Allied offensive near Florence, 2nd Lt. Dole led a platoon that was ordered to capture a hill ... when his radio man was shot, Dole dragged him into a foxhole, not realizing he was dead; afterward, Dole was hit in the shoulder by a bullet or a shell fragment and lay face down on the battlefield, in dirt bloodied to mud, believing his arms had been shot clean out of their sockets.... the Army shipped him home in a plaster cast, crated like a piece of furniture (and) the people of Russell, Kan., collected money to pay his medical bills in a Santa Fe cigar box that Dole stores in his desk drawer on top of a chunk of the Berlin Wall. For 39 months he endured a second infancy, relearning how to eat, dress, bathe, walk and use the toilet... an orthopedic surgeon who'd lost a brother in the war cobbled Dole back together for free...Dole exercised tirelessly, using ropes and weights and pulleys in his back yard, to regain what limited arm strength he has. He walked around with a 6-pound lead pipe on his arm that a former football teammate had molded for him and affixed with rubber bands in a scheme to straighten his right elbow and pry open his clawed fingers...

A lousy candidate? Sure. A patriot? Unquestionably.

You need to lose the emotionalism and listen to me: Sarah Palin, as decent a person as she is (have I ever said anything else?) will be destroyed by Obama at the polls unless she can figure out how to win over more people who live on the East and West coasts of America, and in the lower Midwest, too. For that, she doesn't need to change herself. She needs to learn to speak more elegantly and with more detailed knowledge - and that matters whether you think it should or not.

Now: are you paying attention or just considering your response? C'mon, be honest. Think about what I'm saying for once and not your perception of what you think I'm saying. Ever see Good Will Hunting? Great film. Robin Williams and Matt Damon. Shrink and patient. Williams is an old SOB trying to get through to a brilliant, but terminally defensive younger man and make him see his life as it is, not as though he thinks it must be.

Reminds me of this conversation for some reason. Although unlike Robin, I don't have to fake my Boston accent... LOL. You think you got it tough, partner? Try growing up in the only Republican family in your neighborhood... and you're a bleepin' Jewish family besides. Let's just say I learned how to use my fists. And made some really good friends. True friends are sometimes the ones you've been around with in the mud and still care to share a drink with after, because you can agree to disagree and still know that push come to shove, you'll cover them because they're on your side.

[USSR Didnt Fall]

LOL you are truly pathetic, but I like the energy....

[USSR Didnt Fall]

Yea thats why you and all the liberals feel a need to destroy her personally; because she would lose to Obama?

That’s the best you can muster?

Truth is that PALIN WOULD WIPE THE FLOOR WITH OBAMA, which is why the inside the beltway hacks on both sides of the aisle need to attack her on non issues.

This is why she gets under your skin and why I will support her, if she chooses to run.

[andy58-in-nh]

You're right of course. I'm secretly a left-wing liberal socalist who is here to disrupt Free Republic. It was so top secret in fact, that I myself did not know until this moment. I'm so terrible in fact, that I'm considering hiring some Westboro Baptist Church members to come picket my house. It's the least I can do to punish me.

And Sarah Palin: she is perfect, flawless and sublime, a brilliant light of wisdom towering above us mere mortals. We are fortunate to live in the shadow cast by her immense presence. Every word that passes from her sumptuous lips is a note in perfect pitch; every phrase, a sweet song; every sentence: an opera.

I cannot even recall at this remove what the world was like before she strode upon the public stage to dazzle us all with her Einsteinian brilliance, as though one were hearing the word of God laid delicately upon the air in nasal Alaskan monosyllables. It is much to my shame that I have failed to appreciate the great good fortune I have to live in an Age when such giants as she stride the earth and I now bow my head, deeply, either in reverence or because I can't stop laughing.