Thus, Republican Rep. Spencer Bachus of Alabama recently had the audacity to assert what heretofore had been relegated to whispers behind closed doors: “Sarah Palin cost us control of the Senate.”
maybe, maybe not. But she probably gave you the House and all these state legislatures.
Palin endorsed Joe Miller in AK and Christine O’Donnell (last minute) in DE. She did not endorse Linda McMahon in CT or Ken Buck in CO. She endorsed Sharron Angle in NV, but only after Angle had won the primary. She made no endorsement in NV before the primary.
Miller is still trying to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. If he loses, he can blame the Republican senators (except DeMint) who refused to strip his opponent of her committee assignments and gave her legitimacy after she decided run against him as a write-in and he can blame himself for making some bad campaign mistakes. He can’t blame Sarah Palin.
You can blame Palin for O’Donnell if you want, but remember the alternative was a flaming RINO who would have voted more with Democrats than Republicans. Also, the exit polls showed that he too would have lost to Coons. Where was the NRSC in supporting their candidate in DE? Shouldn’t they take some blame for not backing the Republican who won the primary?
Then there’s Carly Fiorina in CA. Yes, many of us would have preferred a different candidate, but most now acknowledge that Fiorina stood the best chance to beat Boxer. With Democrats winning almost everything in CA this year, it’s doubtful that any Republican could have won.
Criticizing Gov. Palin for these losses is like bad mouthing Babe Ruth because he occasionally struck out. If Rep. Bauchus would like a perfect candidate, maybe he should seek out Jesus Christ.
Which Bachus actually said in the same speech, in which he PRAISED the tea party and Sarah Palin.
His comment about the Senate was in the form of a "yes-but" discussion. Like pointing out a couple of negatives while saying the result was overwhelmingly positive.
Nobody who reads Bachus' entire speech would think he was saying Palin and the tea party should have stayed out of the race. He was a strong supporter of what they did. He simply thinks we could have won the senate, and seems to think we need to do a better job picking conservative candidates who can win.
Not that the candidates were Palin's fault -- she didn't hand-pick the people and convince them to run, and so far as I can remember, she didn't endorse Buck or Angle before their primaries.