Posted on 06/12/2010 9:00:24 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. — Is this the year of the Mama Grizzlies? The answer is a clear, resounding maybe.
Sarah Palin coined the phrase to describe an “emerging, conservative feminist identity” among Republican women running for higher office.
Several female candidates who received her endorsement — or fit her definition — scored impressive victories in primary elections last Tuesday. Other Mama Grizzlies won tough primaries earlier this year or are running well in states that have yet to vote.
Without a doubt, Republican women are more energized and enthusiastic than their Democratic counterparts this year, and Palin has a lot to do with that. In describing a Mama Grizzly, she was of course describing herself, and in state after state, commentators are asking whether their homegrown talent will be Nevada’s or South Carolina’s or New Mexico’s version of Alaska’s former governor.
But these MGs face two problems when it comes to the fall elections, and both have to do with arithmetic. First, a hard-edged conservative creed plays well in Republican primaries, but will it win over the swing voters who usually decide statewide contests?
Their second problem is the contradiction that lies at the heart of Palin’s low-tax, less-government, anti-Washington theology. That litany sounds great in theory, but as the oil spill in the gulf and the economic collapse on Wall Street demonstrate, only the federal government has the ability to counterbalance powerful economic interests — and clean up the mess when they fail.
Then there’s the economic crisis facing the states. The same Republican governors who cheer on Palinism are pleading with Washington to plug gaping holes in their state budgets. Where are those federal dollars going to come from if an anti-tax obsession cripples Washington’s ability to raise revenues?
Still, the Mama Grizzlies are for real. In California, Carly Fiorina, a wealthy business executive, profited from Palin’s endorsement and won the chance to face Sen. Barbara Boxer in the fall. Certainly Fiorina’s fortune was more critical to the outcome than Palin’s favor, but being dubbed an MG gave Fiorina credibility among hard-line conservatives who might have backed one of her opponents, tea party favorite Chuck DeVore.
In Nevada, Sharron Angle, a former state legislator, did not have Palin’s backing in her successful run for the Republican nomination to challenge Sen. Harry Reid in November. But Angle was clearly channeling her inner Palin when she told a Washington audience: “You know, I feel a little lonely today. I usually bring Smith and Wesson along.”
In New Mexico, county prosecutor Susana Martinez was locked in a tight race for the gubernatorial nomination when Palin blessed her candidacy in mid-May. Two weeks later, she scored a narrow victory and gave the Republicans a valuable political commodity: a Hispanic woman who colors in the party’s pale, male outline.
In New Hampshire, Kelly Ayotte, a former attorney general, is running for the Senate nomination in a September primary, and the Daily Beast headlined its story on her: “The Next Sarah Palin?” The comparisons are striking: Ayotte is 41, the mother of two small children and the wife of an Iraqi war vet who started a small landscaping and snowplowing business. She’s now the favorite to face Democrat Paul Hodes in the fall.
One of the most intriguing Mama Grizzlies is here in South Carolina. Nikki Haley was an obscure state legislator when she decided to challenge three better-known men in the Republican primary for governor. Her campaign took off after Palin endorsed her as “the scrappy underdog in a tough, competitive primary.”
After two men claimed to have had sexual relations with Haley, Palin recorded a taped phone message urging voters to ignore the allegations: “They come after you with all kinds of made-up nonsense to try to knock you down. Believe me. I’ve been there.”
It was a classic Mama Grizzly response, and on the eve of the election, Trudy Martin, a retired nurse told the Washington Post that Haley “is like Sarah Palin. Sarah told them to take a hike — the oil companies, the crooked Republicans. Nikki can do the same.” Haley garnered 49 percent of the vote on Tuesday and is the heavy favorite to win a runoff later this month.
Not all these Mama Grizzlies will win in November. Like Palin herself, they have to demonstrate their ability to reach beyond their conservative base and attract moderate voters who don’t think of “government” as a four-letter word. But they have already left their claw marks on the politics of 2010.
****
Steve Roberts’ new book, “From Every End of This Earth” (HarperCollins), was published this fall. Steve and Cokie Roberts can be contacted by e-mail at stevecokie@gmail.com
How's that working out so far, folks? LOL
BTW: Who knew this couple was still around?
“You know, I feel a little lonely today. I usually bring Smith and Wesson along.”
...I like it. Beats “who’s ass I gotta kick” from an undernourished, spaghetti arms, tough guy wanna be kenyan.
“In New Mexico, county prosecutor Susana Martinez was locked in a tight race for the gubernatorial nomination when Palin blessed her candidacy in mid-May. Two weeks later, she scored a narrow victory and gave the Republicans a valuable political commodity: a Hispanic woman who colors in the party’s pale, male outline.”
A narrow victory, Martinez won by at least 25 points.
If the democrats want to hang on to the senate and house they have to demonstrate their ability to reach beyond their liberal base and attract moderate voters who don’t think of “capitalism” as a four-letter word.
Is that Sarah on the right?
Har! "Republican" governors like Arnold Schwarzenegger from states where Democrats have spent themselves into oblivion? Naturally, these two fossilized socialists, Steve and Cokie, don't even contemplate plugging the "gaping holes" in state budgets by cutting spending. No, the only solution for these two socialist dinosaurs is to "raise revenues" (they could at least have the guts to say "raise taxes").
I can't believe these two poster children for failed liberalism are still around.
The main reason why they failed in the first place is because of the government's ineffectiveness and inability to act proactively to prevent these disasters. The gubmint did not adequately inspect the BP well and gubmint policies unquestionably encouraged risky lending. Government is not the solution, it is the problem.
Good post. My thoughts exactly about these two government worshipping socialist loons.
“A narrow victory, Martinez won by at least 25 points.”
I’m surprised they didn’t say ‘unexpected’ victory. That’s the term that the lib media uses to downplay numbers and events that don’t fall their way.
yes. it is...
flattering ..ummm...angle
There is no contradiction. the federal gov has unlimited power in certain areas not unlimited power.
the GOP has been rudderless since Reagan understood that Common Sense position and explained it to the people.
We need a smaller, leaner, government directed like a laser beam on limited areas. not a vast Leviathan of government with their fingers in every aspect of our lives.
LOL, are they the pictures the scumbags were using to “show” that Sarah had breast implants?
How lame..
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