Posted on 06/05/2011 4:21:21 PM PDT by Bigtigermike
In case anyone missed it, Governor Palin gave an excellent interview on Fox News Sunday this morning. She gave crisp, clear answers to all questions posed to her by Chris Wallace. The topics ranged far and wide from Afghanistan and Libya to energy, the economy, taxes, the debt ceiling, the 2012 election, and Obama’s miserable presidency. Wallace, by no means a conservative, said after the interview that Governor Palin was “a serious candidate for president” and had given a “boffo performance” in the interview. However, after Governor Palin’s interview had concluded, the show quickly went off the tracks when the ”Sunday Panel” talked presidential politics.
Mara Liasson, a liberal, made the case that Mitt Romney would be a great Republican candidate because he’s focused on jobs. Obviously I couldn’t disagree more with Liasson on the palatability of the Mittster as the Republican standard bearer in 2012, but her comments on the panel were, surprisingly, the most lucid of the four.
John Podesta, who runs the far left ”think tank” (an oxymoron, I know) Center for American Progress, which is largely funded by George Soros, was also on the panel. Podesta claimed that Governor Palin’s entry into the race would help Mitt Romney or something. Podesta prefaced this absurd statement by acknowledging it was counterintuitive. Ya think? But seriously, who cares what Podesta says. In addition to his leadership of CAP, Podesta headed Obama’s presidential transition team after the 2008 election so any observations he makes about the 2012 Republican field should be taken with a rather large grain of salt, if not outright amusement.
Ironically, but par for the course at Fox News of late, the least intelligible comments came from the panels two conservatives: William Kristol and Kimberly Straddel. Kristol, a regular member of the Sunday panel, continued his recent penchant for stupidity. Readers may recall it was Kristol who, in March, claim that Governor Palin hasn’t been active in terms of leading on policy issues or framing the national debate. The fact that she’s been doing just that and, indeed, is the only Republican who has been consistently and relentlessly taking on Obama throughout his tenure illustrates just how far Kristol has strayed from reality. Kristol followed up that sage observation today by pronouncing that if the nomination comes down to Palin and Romney, Paul Ryan and/or Chris Christie will jump in or something. A few observations.
Let me state for the record that I have great respect for Paul Ryan, but (a) he’s not running and (b) he has no executive experience. The disaster that is Obama’s presidency tells us all we need to know about the hazards of electing someone with no executive experience to the position. Second, beltway pundits, Kristol included, keep telling us Palin can’t run because she hasn’t been laying the traditional groundwork for a presidential run. Has Ryan? No, I didn’t think so.
Kristol’s flirtation with Christie is, at best, puzzling. Like Ryan, Christie is not running. But more importantly, unlike Ryan, Christie is not a conservative. To be sure, he’s due some credit for tackling New Jersey’s budget problems left by years of Democrat control. But let’s not get carried away. New Jersey is flat broke. Reducing state spending was not something about which he had a choice. It was the only option available. Further, Christie’s recent helicopter ride will certainly detract from his reputation as a guardian of the taxpayer’s money, no? And let’s not forget that 53% of Republicans in New Jersey don’t think Christie is qualified to be president.
(emphasis added)
Why has Kristol been losing his mind of late when it comes to Governor Palin? It’s tempting to say it’s due to his realization that she is a true foreign policy conservative in the Reagan mold, and not a raging neo-con who believes it’s the duty of the United States to get involved in every dispute on the planet as the world’s policeman, cost be damned. But that would be logical, and Kristol’s increasingly illogical behavior argues for a more emotional reason.
Personally, I think Kristol’s erratic comportment is due to the understandably traumatic realization that his budding political bromance with Mitch Daniels will remain forever unrequited. It’s only been a couple weeks now since the hammer was dropped and he’s still in the denial stage, I suspect. When the emotional clouds clear and it becomes obvious to Kristol that his transitional choices, Ryan and Christie, will also reject his overtures, I’m sure his approbation will be directed elsewhere. Bob Dole anyone?
The fourth panelist on Fox News Sunday was the erstwhile Kimberly Strassel, who wrote an anti-Palin column in the Wall Street Journal on Friday which was as noteworthy for its lack of coherence as its lack of substance. She praised Romney for his healthcare plan because “at least he’s got one”. Huh? So do Bernie Sanders and Barack Obama. Apparently in Strassel’s ostensibly conservative mind, having a plan for state controlled health care trumps a belief in the free market. Stacy has much more on Strassel’s hit-piece here
Today, in what had to be the most surreal moment for the panel, Strassel said that Governor Palin’s problem is that she “weighs in on almost every issue” (video below, 1:20 mark). Er…what? How is weighing in on issues wrong? Isn’t that what we want in our candidates? Is Strassel suggesting we should elect someone who doesn’t take a position on the issues? Or perhaps she prefers a candidate who has a position on the issues but keeps voters in the dark by keeping them secret, and us simple voters in the hinterland should leave all that important government stuff to the geniuses in Washington who know best. Or is it that Strassel prefers someone whose position on the issues change so often that we can’t possibly pin him down? Who knows. Whatever the case, in Strassel mind the last thing we need is a candidate who has the audacity to be…candid.
I would also note that much of the narrative from the Kim Strassel’s of the world is that Governor Palin doesn’t weigh in on the issues, now she weighs in on “almost every” one? But not to worry, she’s got that one covered too as ten seconds later she does a 180 and leaves us with this non-sequitor:
She’s gonna have to be presidential to run, and that is gonna be focusing on policies. And that’s something she’s done less than less of as she’s tried to connect with voters on a personal level. She’s gonna have to talk policy.
Gotcha. She weighs in on too many policy issues so, obviously, the solution is to talk about them more. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Que the Twighlight Zone theme. Click below to watch.
I quit watching it awhile ago, not because of Palin. The birth certificate was a big issue.
Your analysis and apprehension are spot on; unfortunately too late however. Podesta's CAP has been writing this administration's agenda before the election was over. His evil is a large part of what has been unleashed against our Republic over the past couple of years, hence my prior comment.
Greta is the only FNC host worth watching.
FNC is taking its viewers for granted with the same old, same old every night - Krathammer, Juan Williams, Rove, Perino, Morris. The same crap over and over and over.
It was exasperating to watch a desk full of panelists, all of whose brains seem to function well - talk about job losses and the reason for them, in every single possible way except the one which is the reason for no jobs:
We’re sending our jobs to other countries and buying far to many imports.
It’s not complicated. But it seems a forbidden subject.
Until we wake up and do something about our trade deficit, our economy will continue to implode.
Might want to include a couple of lines in red that Obama poignantly won't reveal about his background/childhood. Kind of like, "We can fill in the blanks about Sarah, but who is this guy who hides his identity/background?"
Granted, no natural born/valid birth certificate is dispositive, but a couple more blank lines about who he is kind of emphasizes the point.
Sarah: Steppin’ on toes, and makin’ some soup! Gotta love it!
When will enough be enough? We get the freakin’ point already.
The truth is FNC has gone downhill the past 18 months. The only reliable conservative is Hannity and he couldn't articulate conservative philosophy to save his life, but “you re a great American, fish hawk.”
Speak for yourself please.
I never get tired of reading those. It’s an important point to keep hammering imho.
>>>I never get tired of reading those. It’s an important point to keep hammering imho.
To each their own. There comes a point where to much is too much. And I’ve reached mine.
I noted on an earlier post concerning the same FOX panel that Kimberly Strassel (Princeton) has joined Krauthammer (Harvard), Frum (Dartmouth), and Will (Oxford and Princeton) in dissing Palin. I didn’t realize William Kristol (Harvard) was also on the panel and joined in belittling Palin.
Princeton-Harvard-Dartmouth-Oxford and Princeton-Harvard all think Palin (Idaho) manifestly unfit for the presidency. Does anyone else notice a trend here? The stench of insufferable elitist conceit is overwhelming coming from this pack of pseudo-conservative RINO’s. I’m watching FOX less and less these days.
Chris Wallace (Harvard) better watch his apostacy, or he’ll be ostracised at alumni get-togethers. Mara Liasson (Brown) needs to be careful as well; her comments about Palin were nowhere near as critical as necessary to remain in good standing with the faculty and alums of that other Ivy League institution.
As the campaign silly season rolls on, expect pundits of this ilk to continue to coalesce around Romney (Harvard) or start trying to urge Jindal (Brown) into the race. They’ll sniff down their noses at Perry (Texas A & M), Jeb Bush (University of Texas) or Pawlenty (Minnesota). Sorry, these guys just don’t have what it takes. If they’d been denizens of the punditocracy at the time, they would all have likely scoffed at the preposterous candidacy of a fellow with a degree from a podunk college like Eureka College back in 1980.
Boffo - Slang
adj.
Extremely successful; great; sensational
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boffo
Are FOX’s ratings going down? I hardly ever have it on anymore. Seems they are going a little too far to show how tolerant they are of libs. Good example was BOR suck-fest 2 night interview with Jon Stewart. I get sick of that kind of stuff.
Don't forget Daniels (although wifey said No) who is a Princeton grad and Huntsman (Penn).
Between 1944 and 1989 we had one Ivy League President - Kennedy. For the past 23 years we have had nothing but Ivy League Presidents and I believe we are worse for it.
Really?
FNC has over twice the audience CNN has.
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/06/03/cable-news-ratings-for-thursday-june-2-2011/94654/
FNC crushes CNN consistently.
I have begun watching a lot of Fox Business and am starting to like it better than the regular Fox News station. I love Stuart Varney's show, but it starts at 6:20 a.m. pacific time, so I don't always get a chance to see it. Love his panel (or "company" as they are known on his show). I also loved Brit Hume.
Fox has changed and not for the better. Pretty much everyone on there has become monotonous and boring. I find it hard to watch - they’re not much different than CNN. Especially sick of “the panel”.
BINGO. You hit the nail on the head. All of these snobs just can't stand the possibility of someone who is not from the "right school" even getting close to the presidency.
On a side note, my youngest daughter got her degree at Washington State University (WSU) which is about 7-8 miles from the University of Idaho. Both schools are in farm country; but, my daughter got a decent education at Wazoo, and I don't think there is anything wrong with the University of Idaho.
We seem to have so many divides in this country at the moment. Dem/Rep; Conservative/Liberal-Progressive/makers-takers/and now; East Coast Ivy Colleges vs. the rest of the U.S.
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