Get Over it, Sarah is gone as a National Candidate

vanity | 7-5-09 | Bob J

[Bob J]

Sarah is now unelectable on a national stage. The “quitter” specter will hang around her neck like “swimmer” does to Ted Kennedy.

You’ll be able to spot the realistic, clear thinking conservatives because they see and admit this early so we can put it behind us get on with identifying the candidates who can win in ‘12.

BTW - This doesn’t rule out a tangential private career ala Newt or a run for a House or Senate seat (although I don’t know where at this point) but as a national candidate she is toast.

That so many conservatives can’t see this is one of the reasons we lose so often...in campaigns and ideology.

It’s quite sad but something I’ve learned to live with. At one point I thought the conservative cause in this country could be galvanized around solid principles, sober and realistic goals and turned into an effective winning strategy and movement. But I’ve come to realize too many voluntarily ignore the ugly realities of politics and put their faith in Hail Mary passes, and frankly, are just too lazy for the time and effort needed to bring this country back to where they profess they want it to be.

[steve-b]

With this resignation, I don't see the larger public's perception of Palin improving, at least in the next few years

Yep. The jokes are already flying thick and fast (e.g. I hear that her next job is going to be running the big Alaska dog race: the I-quit-arod.)

[meyer]

I'd love to see Newt take over the RNC, and then perhaps run for President in 2012.

One showing of the Newt/Pelosi "glow-bull warming" commercial and he'd be toast.

[RasterMaster]

more than likely a mushy RINO like McLame, Tooty Fruity Rudy, Mike Huckster, or FLIP Romney who’s big money from shady sources would shut out any Indenpendent who ran against them.

I’d much rather TAKE BACK the GOP from the RINOs and make them WALK THE PLANK back to the DUmocrat party where they belong, like Arlen Specter. Burn down the BIG TENT and toss out the clowns and circus freaks.

The only ship sinking is the JACKASS party, which is why they need to infiltrate the GOP and pass Obaminations like McLame and Goober’s shAmnesty, socialist healthcare, and every other tax-n-spend program they can think of. They’ve aborted their future and simply don’t have the numbers. The DUmocrats know that they won’t be able to get away with vote fraud forever which is why they need felons and illegals to fill the void. Otherwise, they’d not have to offer SMOKES FOR VOTES, BOOZE FOR VOTES, CRACK FOR VOTES, etc. to get numbers of apathetic homeless to the polls.

[se_ohio_young_conservative]

Who the heck are you to even say that ?

Laugh Out Loud.

[roses of sharon]

(Coulter)

I’m confused by all the confusion among the chattering classes about Palin. I thought her press conference explained it very clearly – though she couldn’t put it precisely this way without sounding vain, but it’s obvious.

Even though she’s just a state governor, she’s a HUGE national star who is both sought after and attacked as if she is already a president (a Bush, not an Obama). But she basically can’t participate because she’s tethered to the governor’s office up in Alaska. Consequently, she has to fight with one hand tied behind her back and she also can’t go around the country campaigning for candidates and principles she believes in – because she’s governor and would be accused of neglecting the state.

Meanwhile, the Lt. Gov. is a great guy, so she’s leaving the state in good hands and now she can go on to be an even bigger star.

It’s a weird Washington insider perspective to be perplexed by what she’s doing. Contrary to Mark Sanford’s e-mails to his mistress, no one was really impressed with him; 99.99999999999999999% of Americans didn’t know who he was. Who is more influential: Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge and Bill O’Reilly, or Tim Pawlenty, Bobby Jindal and Mark Sanford (before the fall)? As Palin said, God bless people who run for political office, but – and she didn’t say this part – she’s too big to be a lame-duck governor stuck dealing with fishing licenses in Anchorage right now.

She’ll be much bigger now and can play on the national stage without constantly setting off state ethics investigations by loons, parasites and liberals. None of this applied to McCain or Kerry – both of whom went back to the Senate – because their national campaigns diminished them. Palin’s national campaign made her a major star. As she said, she’s not retreating, she’s advancing in another direction.

[Tallguy]

Ted Kennedy did run for president in 1980. He got in the primaries against Jimmy Carter & finished a respectable 2nd in the delegate count. Close enough that some backroom shennanigans nearly got him the nomination.

[kidd]

As the governor of Alaska, her hands are tied. She is the focus of a well-funded legal/press smear campaign, but has to maintain the composure of a governor. There was NO way she was going to win the Presidency while she was governor.

As a private citizen, she is free to respond to the press without holding back. She is also free from the lawsuits.

The next couple of weeks will show her intentions. If she actively rebuts the press, she will be more popular than ever. If she shys away, then she is protecting her family.

In either case, I do not view her as a “quitter”.

As a reminder: Ronald Reagan won the Presidency as a private citizen.

[Snurple]

As usual Ann hits the nail on the head. Thanks for posting that.

[william clark]

The rules have changed. Get over THAT.

[OldDeckHand]

"You’re right. But if you read them the 10 measures in the Communist Manifesto without giving the source, most Democrats (and way too many Republicans) would agree with most. They have chosen Marxism and they don’t even know it."

I don't doubt that for a moment. But, I could also construct 10 questions from a purely orthodox conservative standpoint that would be answered in the affirmative conservative position by a great majority of people. Things like...

Do you think you should keep more or less of what you make?
Do children do better in nuclear families or out of nuclear families?
Are you responsible for your own actions, or is someone else?
Should someone less qualified or deserving be given a job over you purely because of the color of their skin?
Will you receive from Social Security what you paid in?

Republicans have been too busy reacting to the agenda that the Dems and the media set, rather than talking about specific issues, not general ideas.

[nathanbedford]

Newt Gingrich unquestionably has the talent but I saw him in person about two years ago and his appearance was not good. He was bloated and looked like he might have been hitting the sauce too much. He is really overweight and at his age it is becoming a threat to his life span.

Gingrich clearly has gravitas and forensic skills and he comes the closest of any living American politician to what we might legitimately call an American Churchill. In my view, his conservative credentials are adequate because I am willing to accept his explanation for his flirtation with Nancy Pelosi on climate change. I'm not sure that it is a conservative position to accept or to reject a scientific theory. Can we really say that one is not a conservative if he accepts Darwin? Is there a conservative theory on the extinction of the dinosaurs? My point is that a reasonable conservative can accept the science for global warming but not the remedies proposed by Al Gore. Gingrich's argument is that he tried to find free-market solutions to a real scientific problem to avoid the imposition of a left-wing solutions. Not Gingrich's finest hour, but there it is.

There is also his personal baggage which weighs on a conservative much heavier than it would a liberal.

Yet as I look over the field while so acutely aware of our desperate need to mount a credible attack on Obama, I am willing to overlook these deficiencies to get someone in there who has a chance of morally destroying Obama. When one considers the array of factors against the Republicans, one comes to understand that nothing less than the utter moral destruction of Barack Obama will turn the tide. I don't think that Mitt Romney has the courage to risk his nice guy image to really turn the screws on the Democrats. It is almost as though it might mess his hair. I know of no one but Gingrich who has a chance to do it.

[Republic]

Will you puuulllllleeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzeeee STOP being soooooo friggin LOGICAL when we are having so much fun bickering?

[Manic_Episode]

Thankfully there is a treatment for your condition HERE

[djf]

I agree. I think she weighed everything, family, Alaska, National Media, etc. and did what she felt was best.

Financially, she’ll probably get a book and a movie out of it, so there’s really no money motivation to get back in politics.

Give the gal some well deserved time off. Let her take a breather, for cryin out loud!

[JustaDumbBlonde]

"... although her political enemies are going to try to paint her as a quitter ..."

She did quit, which pretty much defines her as a quitter. Her political enemies don't even have to raise a finger to do any painting. I say this not to slam the former governor ... it is simply a fact. One needn't argue about why she quit, but she did, so the designation of quitter is one of her own choosing.

[Deb]

Unfortunately, you're wrong. Stephanopoulos, Carville and Begala badgered Bob Dole everyday about staying in the Senate while he ran for President. The minute he stepped down they branded him a "Quitter" and never stopped.

Just like they did with GHW Bush and his "Read my lips" statement, no story, news report, bio or feature on Palin will be written without the words, "abandoned her post as Governor".

I take her at her word, the Left has financially devastated her family and her concern is for their future.

[beaversmom]

I’m not in love with Sarah Palin but I do like her and I think she helped out McCain’s campaign tremendously. There’s a long time between now and when the candidates will start really gearing up for 2012. Palin will be back. She’s not finished yet.

[OldDeckHand]

"As a reminder: Ronald Reagan won the Presidency as a private citizen."

As a reminder: Ronald Reagan finished his second term as Governor of California in January, 1975. He ran for the Presidency in 1976. I remember vividly, as I was a Reagan volunteer during his primary run. He did not resign the office of Governor, in his second term, in 1972 because he was going to run for the Presidency in 1976.

Be careful with your Reagan analogies. They aren't always favorable for Palin, no matter how much you wish them to be.

[Servant of the Cross]

Lisa Murkowski?!.

LOL. Now there's a truly unbiased source. And speaking of what's good for Alaska, here's what was said at the time Republican Lisa Murkowski became Alaska's sixth U.S. senator on Dec. 20, 2002, when her father, former Republican Sen. Frank Murkowski appointed her to fill the remainder of his term after he was elected governor:

Jim Whitaker, an ally of Murkowski's in the Alaska House, said her appointment "is nepotism and therefore contrary to the democratic principles of representative government. An action of this type undermines the public trust and is therefore of great concern," he said, according to National Journal's Almanac.

And there's more!:

Lisa Murkowski's legislative experience included two terms in the Alaska House of Representatives. Known as a moderate there, she worked with a bipartisan caucus in an effort to design a long-range fiscal plan for the state, according to the newspaper the Juneau Empire. She also successfully shepherded a 10-cent alcohol tax -- an increase of 7 cents -- into state law. Murkowski angered conservatives when she voted against a bill limiting publicly funded abortions. On the issue of abortion, however, she also has said the procedure should only be legal if the mother's life is in danger and in cases of rape and incest.

more?

Conservatives opposed Murkowski's reelection to the state House, and redistricting pitted her against incumbent Republican Eldon Mulder. Although Mulder decided not to run, Murkowski still experienced a close contest with conservative Nancy Dahlstrom. Murkowski ended up winning by only 57 votes, the Almanac notes.

I'm also betting your 'popularity' stats are bogus.

[nathanbedford]

I hope you are right. It's very possible that she might become the finest campaigner on behalf of Republicans running up to 2010 and she could become our top money raiser. At that point, she will have made 1000 speeches and perhaps she will simply have settled in as someone with gravitas as well as moral courage whom the American people accept as part of the landscape and first among a group of presidential candidates.