Posted on 01/28/2012 11:56:58 AM PST by reformjoy
Editorial by John Ziegler
Does Sarah Palin Want Obama Reelected?
1/28/2012
We certainly live in bizarre times and everyone knows that politics makes for strange bedfellows. But the fact that as of late I (the guy who spent over two years being probably her strongest defender) have been one of the very few on the right pointing out the absurdity and hypocrisy of recent Sarah Palin’s public statements, shows exactly how close we indeed may be to the apocalypse.
Palin’s latest Facebook salvo is targeting the Republican “establishment cannibals” for using “Alinsky” tactics against Newt Gingrich in the run up to the Florida primary. Her main objection appears to be that those who have questioned Gingrich’s ties to Ronald Reagan have done so inappropriately and are effectively doing the work of the left.
The layers of silliness here are at least at multiple as those of snow in the frozen Alaskan icecap this time of year.
First, it was Newt Gingrich who raised the issue, constantly tying himself to Reagan and his accomplishments in almost every other bombastic breath. He made this topic an issue. No one else did that.
Second, those who have questioned whether the facts really back up the impression created by Newt that he is the last remaining heir to Reagan are hardly part of any Republican “establishment.” What the heck is the “Republican Establishment” anyway? Who are these people? Not even specifying who you are talking about makes you seen like a tin foil wearing conspiracy theorist.
So, because a few people who actually knew Reagan (unlike Palin who had barely graduated college by the end of the Gipper’s second term) have written articles which would have been largely ignored if they had been linked at the Drudge Report, this is so how evidence the work of a dark, shadowy “establishment”?
And how in the world is Matt Drudge part of any establishment? Anyone who has followed him closely (I used to fill in for him on his old radio show and have studied his tendencies extensively from multiple perspectives) knows he isn’t even a political person He is a brilliant business man, but his incredibly soft treatment of Obama during the 2008 primaries proves that he really couldn’t care less who wins elections from an ideological perspective.
And what about Drudge’s pal Ann Coulter who has also led the charge to tell the truth about Newt? Calling her part of the Republican Establishment is more hilarious than saying that about Drudge. She has made her very commercial career on being anything but “establishment.”
Palin goes on to defend Newt from the specific (and largely politically insignificant) allegation that he exaggerates his Reagan ties with an “argument” so thin it makes her 2008 attempt to explain her foreign policy credentials seem substantive by comparison.
She says that because Nancy Reagan once, while being extremely polite to Newt who was in attendance, sort of (not really if you look closely at the statement) proclaimed that “Ronnie” passed the “torch” to “Newt” and the other House Republicans who led the 1994 take over, that this is somehow proof that Newt is impervious to criticism here. Then she says that because Reagan’s step-son Michael and biggest fan, Rush Limbaugh, like Newt and condemn these “attacks,” that they must not be true (By the way, aren't Rush and Drudge also pals? How does this fit into the anti-Newt conspiracy?).
Even more laughable than this intellectual house of cards is how Palin simultaneously suggests that going after Newt like this is inappropriate, but that “vetting” Mitt Romney and his finances for as long as possible is good for the cause of beating Obama. Her “thinking” here is that because Democrats will surely use the issue of his wealth against him if he is the nominee, we need to make sure he can withstand the onslaught.
This might make some sense if Romney hadn’t already addressed the issue as much as he reasonably can and if Newt Gingrich hadn’t single-handedly legitimized this line of attack for the media/left, practically serving it up them on an envy-plated silver (certainly not gold) platter.
Now, to be fair, if there is a “Republican Establishment,” the former presidential nominees would certainly qualify and John McCain and Bob Dole have certainly been outspoken about the obvious electoral dangers of nominating the clearly unelectable Gingrich. But since when is actual knowledge about how the process works a disqualifier for your opinions?
And wait a minute; I thought Palin said people who knew Reagan should believed, so why are the far more numerous former colleagues (not to mention wives!) of Newt somehow discredited in their observations about him? Then, of course, there is the most obvious flaw in this entire theory: When did “Mr. Establishment” Newt Gingrich suddenly somehow become the anti-establishment candidate?
Palin simply isn’t being consistent in any of this, but it isn’t because she is stupid (as I have always said, she is most certainly not dumb). I believe her motivation is actually far more troubling than that.
There is no way that someone whose biggest issues in this cycle have been: combating “crony capitalism,” promoting “life,” beating Obama and overturning Obamacare, could possibly really favor the guy who got paid $1.6 million by Freddie Mac to be an “historian,” has zero chance to win the election, and had been in favor of a federal healthcare mandate for twenty years, especially when Mr. Pro-life (with a special needs child, no less) Rick Santorum is still viably in the race. It just makes no sense.
This brings me to my most important and surely controversial point regarding Palin’s latest attempt to endorse Newt without actually saying the magic words.
Could someone please tell me what her personal incentive is for President Obama to be defeated?
I would suggest that there is absolutely none.
If Romney beats Obama she is immediately irrelevant. Her entire purpose at this point is to throw bombs at a liberal President with whom she is obviously linked through her 2008 VP run. Not only would there be no one left in power for her to be the brunette Ann Coulter against, but her chapter of American history also becomes instantly ancient.
Even worse than that, unless she decides to go completely rogue and humiliate herself by being Romney’s primary opponent in 2016, she would have no, even theoretical, next political act until 2020 at the very earliest. That will not be nearly enough to sustain her career as a commentator/speaker/author at anything near its current levels.
So the only logical explanation for Palin’s bizarre “endorsement” of Gingrich is that she knows that he can’t win and that she is using him to create this false narrative of an evil “establishment” keeping the noble Tea Party down (explain to me again how Newt is remotely “Tea Party”?), like they somehow did in those Palin-induced Senate losses in Delaware and Nevada in 2010.
I don’t know if she really thinks Newt can win the nomination (which would obviously help her in both the short and long runs), but she clearly sees no downside to creating as much damage to Romney as possible. This whole effort is nothing more than a branding/career move for Sarah Palin.
At one point she might have deserved the benefit of the doubt that she was just "misguided," but her clearly cynical presidential "tease" last year ended any ambiguity about her true motives now.
That is what makes this whole thing so incredibly ironic. In so vehemently questioning the credibility of the “establishment,” she has revealed that she has a massive conflict of interest herself and should no longer be trusted on the issue of this presidential primary.
This guy was nasty towards Palin, he should stay in his basement.
WORST ARTICLE EVAH!!!
This is the latest strategy from the Romney camp... Not supporting Romney means an Obama second term. It’s all over twitter.
I can just hear DarthVader’s voice saying that!
Look, John, I understand you’re still butthurt that Sarah just wasn’t that into either you or your political genius. I get that. But at this point, I think that question would be better directed to the current candidates.
LOLOL.
That is to say, ask the other guys if they want Teh Awesome re-elected. I’m more worried about their desire to win than about hers.
Yep, masks are falling everywhere.
It's delicious.
This brings me to my most important and surely controversial point regarding Palin’s latest attempt to endorse Newt without actually saying the magic words.
Ha, this guy would make a good novelist. In fact, here's the plotline he should've dreamed up:
Note: what you are about to read is FICTION. Any resemblance to real life or real individuals is purely coincidental.
From the fictional Publisher's Weekly blurb on the original author's fictional new best seller:
Far from being disincentivized to defeat Obama, our heroine is actually endorsing Gingrich without endorsing him because she KNOWS he cannot win the nomination, and, therefore, that this will leave his supporters, which she will be sure to keep in a highly suspicious state, ripe for someone who (in her thinking) can to ride in to the rescue.
So she endorses Gingrich without endorsing him, just to "keep things going." And, boy, do things keep going! (Remember this is just FICTION.) Okay, so she's hoping Gingrich won't really crash and burn -- and she actually is actually mad that a lot of Republicans didn't attack Obama back in 2008 -- but, on the other hand, if she manages to "keep things going" and Gingrich dies politically, he dies. Right?
So, like the novelist said in this fictional novel, things "keep going" -- and, wouldn't you know it, but things keep going worse and worse for Newt Gingrich! No one quite understood how deeply and widely he was hated, and it all begins to take a toll on him.
He fights and fights -- town by town, state by state -- Newt and Mittens, like Rocky and Apollo Creed, noses busted, eyes bleeding . . . until finally it's clear, it's all over and Newt can't go on and Romney also is an incoherent, concussion-damaged mess.
By this time, Gingrich's fans are even more invested than ever in their "anti-Establishment" mentality, and they won't be denied! But without Newt, whatever will they do?
Clearly, in this guy's fictional novel, our heroine has no choice but to ride in to the rescue. No one will blame her for interfering: since things "kept going," and Newt didn't make it to the last round, she has no choice but to save the day.
The End.
100% spot on. Bravo!
I reread this and again found it a wonderful and touching letter.
Yeah, I think this guy had the hots for Sarah, obviously it wasn’t gonna happen for him. Now he acts like a spurned teenager. In fact, i believe in an interview about his documentary, something was said about Todd being there, and he made a comment about “yeah, unfortunately.” Like she would have him anyway. I think Bannon’s “Undefeated” made him all jealous too.
I hope By some Miracle Sarah Palin decides to run as a third party and Allen West runs as Her Vice President. I would contribute and Vote For that ticket
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