Palin, blueblood-bashing and Mitt Romney (Bushes endorse Myth)

Salon ^ | November 24, 2010 | Steve Kornacki

[2ndDivisionVet]

Sarah Palin wasted little time firing back at Barbara Bush, who used an interview with Larry King early this week to express her hope that Palin will stay in Alaska.

"I think the majority of Americans don't want to put up with the blue bloods," Palin said on Laura Ingraham's radio show on Wednesday. "And I say it with all due respect because I love the Bushes. The blue bloods who want to pick and choose their winners instead of allowing competition to pick and choose the winners."

While it's true that Barbara Bush remains a well-liked figure, particularly within the Republican Party, there's really little risk for Palin in taking this shot. The GOP used to be driven by the old line, Mayflower-ish, country club-types that Barbara and George H.W. represent. Remember that George H.W. Bush essentially ran as a Rockefeller Republican in the 1980 presidential race, branding Ronald Reagan's tax cut program "voodoo economics" and indicating support for abortion rights. With the rise of Reagan conservatism, Bush's crowd was marginalized and, in many cases, driven out of the party altogether.

This is why it's noteworthy that George H.W. Bush, in the same Larry King interview with his wife, appeared to endorse Mitt Romney for the 2012 GOP nod:

He's a reasonable guy. He's a conservative fellow, that's good. But no, I think he'd be a good president, a very good president.

If you asked me, who will the nominee be, I couldn't tell you. We like Mitt Romney. We know him well and like him very much.

As I've written before, Romney is the closest thing there is in today's GOP politics to another George H.W. Bush. Like Bush, he was born into a family of status and privilege and entered politics as a moderate, establishment Republican; the Romney who ran for Senate in Massachusetts in 1994 sounded fairly similar to the the Bush who ran for president in 1980.

But also like Bush, Romney is ultimately an ambitious opportunist. When his '80 campaign fizzled, Bush quickly recognized that the GOP was rapidly turning into an ideologically cohesive right-wing party in Reagan's mold. He maneuvered his way onto the GOP ticket with Reagan, renounced his primary campaign rhetoric, and spent the next eight years laboring to convince members of the GOP's New Right base that he was one of them. Romney has pursued the same course. In the run-up to his 2008 campaign, he walked back one position after another that he'd staked out in Massachusetts, desperately trying to align himself with the sensibilities of the party's right-wing national base.

Even Romney's famous late-2007 defense of his Mormon faith (delivered at George H.W. Bush's presidential library!), widely portrayed by the press as a passionate defense of religious liberty, can be viewed as more of a cynical campaign ploy -- an effort to convince fundamentalist Christians that they should consider him one of them. If anything, the speech called to mind Bush's ridiculous attempt in 1987 to win over Evangelical leaders by claiming to be a born-again Episcopalian.

In 1988, Bush was able to pull off his chameleon act, mainly because of the leg-up he got from running as Reagan's loyal No. 2. Reagan refused to formally endorse Bush during the GOP primaries, but it was clear that Bush was running with the White House's blessing. Essentially, Bush used his two terms as vice president to cajole the New Right into giving him the benefit of the doubt -- which they did, with plenty of reluctance. (And that reluctance proved well-placed when Bush went back on his "no new taxes" pledge as president.)

This is why it can be hard to see Romney capturing the GOP nod in '12. The GOP base is even more conservative now than it was in 1988, and it's mood is far more restive. The Tea Party crowd isn't nearly as willing to give a suspected RINO the benefit of the doubt as the New Right forces were in '88 -- and Romney doesn't enjoy the political benefits of the vice presidency either. In this sense, Palin's back-and-forth with Barbara Bush could be a sign of trouble to come for Mitt. In a one-on-one fight with Palin (or Mike Huckabee, or maybe someone else) in 2012, he'll be the one playing the blueblood role -- which isn't a position any ambitious Republican wants to be in these days.

[2ndDivisionVet]

I’m descended from the Hapsburgs of the now defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire. I haven’t noticed it helping me in any way. Mr. Obama, IIRC, is related to the Bushes, Clintons, Cheneys and Gov. Palin on her parents side. OTOH, Mr. Palin is part Eskimo.

[Diogenesis]

“I am not a GOP backstabber.
I pay others to do it.”

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The McCain/Palin ticket was up ++4 to 10 pts. in some polls, days prior to the election.
So rather than helping the GOP, Romney
guided by his business partner, George Soros, had
Parker, Frum, and the rest of TeamROMNEY
attack Gov. Palin to throw Election2008 to the DNC.

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Late in October, The American Spectator's The Prowler revealed:
"Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers…
have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election.
'Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,'
says one former Romney aide…
'The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney.
"Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a 'diva' and was going off message intentionally."

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Kathleen Parker: "[I]t is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem." "Parker ... says something publicly that many of us have thought privately
but lacked the courage to say out loud - Palin should step down:"

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"Kathleen Parker: After Interviews, Palin Should Bow Out"

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Kathleen Parker: "Romney would bring more than squeaky clean qualifications
and youthful good looks to the ticket.
Romney would seem a logical choice."

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"Parker: Romney raised bar on freedoms"
Kathleen Parker: "If Kennedy's speech was an important landmark in American political history,
Romney's was surpassing. With heartfelt humility and poetic eloquence,
he tracked the nation's struggle with and for freedom."

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Staggering bigotry of Kathleen Parker - UPDATED"

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Who benefits most from Sanford meltdown? Californian (that's right) Mitt Romney

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"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"

"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"

"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"

"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"

"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"

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[traintown57]

Romney scares me almost as much as Obutthead. He reminds me of Clinton - no principles, no real beliefs, just will say whatever is necessary to get elected and then watch out! Another narcissist, possibly sociopath, who is more than willing to bend to the powers that be for his own “legacy.”

[Russ]

Yes, and we are all descendants of Adam and Eve, so what?

[Brices Crossroads]

Palin has the Establishment so flummoxed they don’t know which end is up. Yesterday, she hinted she might not run if the Establishment united to stop her and she became a “distraction.”

Today,when asked for a response to the snarky comments by Barbara Bush, she labels the Establsihment “blue bloods” who want to pick candidates.

Just as they are breathing a sigh of relief, hoping that she might go away, she hauls off and hits them with a gut punch like “Blue Bloods” that really finds the mark and knocks the rest of the wind out of them. Beautiful. Just beautiful.

[onyx]

She done several radio interviews today.

She’s just warming-up and she put the GOP Establishment and the punditry supposedly on our side on notice:

Enough Sarah Palin bashing and trumped-up “opinion” polls.

Get an effing clue.

The object is to win in 2012 and the we the people, the TEA Party Republican patriots will choose our candidate, not through polls, not through pundits, and by God, not through the GOP Establishment. We will work for our candidate of choice, and that candidate is Sarah Palin if she agrees to run.

She need only apply and do her very best.

[rrrod]

and hit em again!

[onyx]

What's a thread without this post?

“A nightstick the size of a telephone pole and the muscle to wield it effortlessly.”

“A nightstick the size of a telephone pole and the muscle to wield it effortlessly.”

“A nightstick the size of a telephone pole and the muscle to wield it effortlessly.”

[Prussianone]

Between Romneycare, and not dismantling the exhaustive tax structure of his state, along with pleading, “No, really, I’m just like you!”, there is nothing that attracts me to Romney.

Likewise, there is nothing that attracts me to huckabee, wither! A governor acting on his ‘Christian mindset’, ( and defended on TV), in releasing a criminal that shot cops within days of his release, getting any kind feedback from me? Acting on his intuition, he endangered more lives than those taken that day. I cannot see him making a dangerous decision for this country, without his pastoral self getting in the way, damning us all in the process.

The LEFT wants Romney. The LEFT wants Huckabee. Just as the LEFT wanted McCain! No, and no.

Historically, we have put an end to affirmative actions. Black Americans have reached the pinnacle of American politics, with no higher office to accomplish. Too sad, it had to be by pertetrating the greatest hoax - a non-citizen being glossed over, and his truth sealed by orders.

So, as to the Palin question, there is no comparison, in either direction. No matter whom those that think they know what the American citizen wants, or those that think they can control this country, like George Soros, she will eat their lunch, and throw them the brown bag, in compassion for their use with their sick stomach!

[2ndDivisionVet]

Pretty amazing coming from a “washed-up, moronic, chillbilly quitter” huh?

[Brices Crossroads]

“A nightstick the size of a telephone pole and the muscle to wield it effortlessly.”

Don’t look now, Onyx, but I think that night stick just produced a bucket full of blood.....Blue Blood....

Ouch!

[Al B.]

Not sure what Palin was up to yesterday with Hannity...she might be sending coded messages to the GOP or something. LOL.

This afternoon on Tammy Bruce she made it very clear...she said if the establishment continues to attack Tea Party Americans (and her), it would mean the destruction of the GOP.

Catch it here: http://www.conservatives4palin.com/2010/11/governor-palin-talks-to-tammy-bruce.html

Of course, as we've talked, the ruling class GOP may not care. They may prefer Obama to Reagan conservatism. Pray for our country.

[onyx]

LOL.

Yes, Blue Blood!!!

[napscoordinator]

The only question I have is who is more economically skilled, Romney or Palin. That is what it will come down to. Who can get us out of this mess? I believe that most people on that ONE issue would pick Romney. Sorry but that is just a fact. Throw everything else in and Palin would be the winner of the Republican nominee. Romney owned a successful company, Saved the Olympics, etc. Sorry but economically he is sound. Blast away!

[onyx]

Just listened to the Tammy Bruce interview. Posted at PalinTV where it didn't break-up. Going to listen to Dennis Miller's now. If it ROCKS, I might post it on a thread of its own.

Governor Palin Talks To Tammy Bruce – November 24 2010

[reasonisfaith]

The most important economic skill a president can have is knowing how to let the people run the markets. No other economic skill comes close to this one.

Romney doesn’t know how to do this, because he wants to control.

[napscoordinator]

That is interesting. So basically “stay out of it”? Interesting.

[Al B.]

Who can get us out of this mess? I believe that most people on that ONE issue would pick Romney. Sorry but that is just a fact.

All the economic credentials in the world will not save this country. It will take a leader who can inspire Americans to accept the unbelievably tough choices that face this country in the years directly ahead.

Those that can't see that will naturally gravitate to the unprincipled Blue Bloods that have gotten us into this mess in the first place.

No thanks on Mitt Romney. Not now, not ever.

[napscoordinator]

I just don’t see things as bad as some folks. Sure it will be a challenge, but I thought the 70’s were much worse with unemployment, oil embargo, and various other stuff. Next to the 70’s, I believe this is cake. Of course I guess being 9 in 1979 might have given me a false sense of what was going on but it sure seemed awful.

[hosepipe]

Poor Barb seems to have jumped the ear mark...
As has her husband that she controls..