Posted on 10/06/2011 8:03:10 AM PDT by pgyanke
Governor Sarah Palin mattered.
She had gathered a terrific following and upset all of the right people. Conservatives loved her and liberals feared her. They were both right to do so.
For the conservatives, she had the unique combination of being right on the issues with a national presence, political machine, steel spine, gumption, charm and a salt-of-the-Earth attitude which comes from being one of the people--rather than one of society's elites. She was a fierce independent who battled both parties and their corruption. In every battle she fought her way (and 2008 was not fought her way), she won. She didn't rest on her victorious laurels, either... she cleaned house, reduced the perks of her own office and restored confidence in government offices. She did these things for Alaska... we wanted her to do these things for America.
To the liberals, she was a lightening rod standing up to their storm... and they hit her with everything they had. In every strike, her narrative was proven (emailgate revealed she was an engaged executive making day to day decisions--horror!) rather than destroyed. Like Sisyphus, the Left continued to push the boulder higher and higher only to have it crash down on them every time. They feared her because of all of the reasons the conservatives loved her... she didn't just TALK conservatism... she acted on it. Liberals will allow their leaders to say just about anything--just as liberals didn't fault Clinton for his Christian talk but faulted Bush for his Christian walk--as long as they toe the line in policy. Gov Palin took the greatest amount of flack from the enemy's guns because she was the greatest current threat to their view of the world... just as they were threatened by President Reagan a couple of generations ago.
Gov Palin now tells us that you don't need a title to make a difference in America. I agree with her... if you're talking about innovation or changing hearts and minds. Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talkers do that each and every day. I disagree with her in regards to our current troubles in this country... it will take conservatives in office to fix the problems. Sarah Palin wasn't popular with conservative voters because she SAID the right things... she was popular because she had a track record of DOING the right things.
I'm a fan of Rush Limbaugh, but let's be honest about his influence... if his voice could change America, we wouldn't have gone from Reagan to Obama during his tenure on the radio. I'm glad to have him (and others like him) doing what he does... but unless we have real conservatives in government offices (with titles), we will lose this country.
People didn't crowd Gov Palin's speaking engagements to hear her speak. They were there in the hope that she would run for President and take the wheel of a wayward ship of state. Yesterday's announcement will greatly diminish Gov Palin's voice and influence. We already have people who say the right things. She was uniquely poised to do what needed to be done. And now that is gone. I'm glad her priorities are in the right place... God, family and country are certainly the correct order. The problem is that the government of this country is quickly becoming the enemy of God and family. She gave up her chance to do something about that.
Now, it's time to settle for the next best candidate... and pray we don't end up having to settle for evil once again (albeit the lesser of two) in the general election.
She wasn’t going to do anything.
She wasn’t going to be a presidential candidate.
What part of “NO” don’t you understand?
On the Greta show, Palin spoke of Cain as a non-politician who pulled himself up by the bootstraps.
As for her decision—if you put your intellectual imagination to work, what do you think you could reasonably conclude regarding the nature and extent of threats to her family in recent months?
Nice words. Nearly meaningless in the current conversation.
The Tea Party is a strong representation of mainstream America. They are doing and I am proud to be among them. However, we aren't going to elect them to the office of president. We needed a strong, conservative standard-bearer to run for this office. Now, we can choose among the next tier and go for the most-conservative-among-whose-left.
I am too Laz ;(
Now who we got to vote for? Only the liberal MSN and RINO picks of the field.
Essentially, nobody. ;(
Let’s be honest here—the reasons for supporting Palin were the need for small government, moral accountability, individual liberty and self sufficiency.
These reasons are not gone. Palin has elevated them and placed them front and center. Nobody else could have done this. Because of Palin, the primary candidates will be fighting over who is the strongest on all these principles.
With this and the fact that Sarah is now relieved of a tremendous personal burden, I don’t know what more we could want.
The timing of her announcement I do find troubling. A letter had gone out to her supporters from SarahPAC within the last two weeks, emphasizing that the Governor was on the verge of a major announcement, asking for contributions. The Bannon DVD (The Undefeated) hit store shelves two days ago.
I don't know what happened. I kind of don't care anymore. She made her decision (for whatever reason). Now, her supporters have to deal with another politician letting them down.
As others have commented on here, to believe she can influence government and issues more without a title than with one is delusional. She ended her political career yesterday and likely her future influence. Had she timed her decision better, it's probable she would have ended neither.
Interview this morning on Bob & Mark radio program:
http://barbaricthoughts.com/2011/10/video-palin-on-her-decision-not-to-run-on-the-bob-and-mark-show/
Said she came close to saying ‘yes’ until the last few days.
Two of the kids said ‘no’ to her running. I’m sure it was Track and Willow.
Maybe one of them is going to threaten the wrong person one day.
But that’s not fair!
Ronald never had the media attacking him 24/7 or calling his intellect into question!
Sarah is the only person in political history to have a hostile media environment like this, I mean she got lampooned on Saturday Night Live!
Don’t worry she’ll continue to lead us all with more power and influence than the mere title of President of the United States.
Besides now she’ll have plenty of time to read the newspaper.
In her statement, she named the problem - “fundamental transformation” - and she named the solution - “restoration”.
Who is there among the candidates who understands the situation Obama has created, and what is to be done?
Most of them say “the problem with Obama is that he’s incompetent”.
Sarah understands that he is highly competent.
What is to be done?
Hello? We talking about the same Ronald Reagan? The man who was roundly snickered at as an ‘actor’?! He wasn’t taken seriously- he MADE the press take him seriously by making America LOVE him. His REALNESS!
I never saw Palin as ‘real’. Too scripted, to ‘designed’ -basically the anti-Obama, complete with the same supporters who deified her as Obamas do.
We don’t need another thin veneer of leadership, or another ‘sound byte’ President. We need depth and substance.
Palin doesn’t have it- if she did there would be no way she could deny her duty to her country.
I see dead that you're still flogging the tired, intellectually lazy, people-imagined-she-had-magic-powers strawman.
Most Palin supporters did not think that.
Read again what the person (pgyanke) who posted this vanity said...
You do a disservice to most Palin supports and the poster of this thread when you wave around the careless strawman.
Clearly someone missed the joke.
Oh please.
For months, I've seen rage and vitriol when I simply pointed out that Sarah Palin was not going to run this cycle. It was obvious. She had no infrastructure, no team, no plan.
But I was told I was an idiot. I didn't know Palin, or I didn't listen to her.
She didn't need advisors. She didn't need a plan. She didn't need an infrastructure. She was going to run and win.
Maybe that sounded logical to you. It sounded magical to me. It was a power Palin never had. Nobody does.
To me, her decision is akin to the best football player in the world, arguably Tom Brady, disappearing on playoff day, but suddenly emerging during a time-out to rush in with the Gatorade. He’d still be an effective cog in the team’s “success” that day, I’m sure. Bob
No (sarc) tag. Glad it was a joke. Not much of that on these kinds of threads, right?
To add, Sarah doesn’t need a “title” to be an effective influence, but we all sure as hell needed her to assume the *authority* that she so competently and wisely would have administered. You can’t be 1/100th as effective without winning the Presidency. Anyone who believes different is fooling him- or herself.
Even my wife, who was more of a lukewarm supporter of Sarah’s than I, said that she was angry and had “lost all respect” for her after she “pulled this stunt”. I don’t believe it was a “stunt” myself, but the endless ruminating was clumsy, and uncaring about Steve Bannon, Pete Singleton and thousands of others who toiled for many extra months unnecessarily. Bob
She gave us all kinds of hints that she was running. “Game on!”, “Polls are for strippers” and countless more. I think that the timing of this final decision sucks royally. Bob
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.