Posted on 01/25/2015 4:55:37 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
DES MOINES — As a chance to evaluate possible 2016 Republican presidential candidates, the Freedom Summit here in Des Moines was a solid success. Several potential candidates — Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, and a few others — left the 10-hour political marathon with their prospects undeniably enhanced.
All that was good news for Republicans. But at the same time, more than a few GOP loyalists came away shaking their heads at the performance of a party star, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, whose long, rambling, and at times barely coherent speech left some wondering what role she should play in Republican politics as the 2016 race begins in earnest.
Palin made news when she arrived in Iowa saying she is seriously considering a run for president. In an interview with ABC the day before coming to Iowa, Palin answered "of course" when asked if she is interested in running in 2016. Then, when she arrived at a Des Moines hotel late Friday evening, she told the Washington Post, "Who wouldn't be interested?" Asked to clarify, Palin told the paper, "You can absolutely say that I am seriously interested."
The news, given big play on the Drudge Report, heightened the anticipation of Palin's speech to the Freedom Summit. After all, there were still memories in the crowd of her rousing speech at the 2008 Republican convention. But when Palin took the stage, it was clear this would be no inspiring effort.
First, Palin embarked on an extended stream-of-consciousness complaint about media coverage of her decision to run in a half-marathon race in Storm Lake, Iowa in 2011. She then moved on to grumbling about coverage of a recent photo of her with a supporter who had made a sign saying "Fuc_ you Michael Moore" in reaction to the left-wing moviemaker's criticism of the film "American Sniper." Then it was on to Palin's objections about the social media ruckus over a picture of her six-year-old son Trig standing on the family's Labrador Retriever.
It was all quite petty, and yet the complaining took half of Palin's allotted time. She then proceeded to blow through her time limit with a free-association ramble on Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, the energy industry, her daughter Bristol, Margaret Thatcher, middle-class economics — "the man can only ride ya when your back is bent" — women in politics, and much more. It would be hard to say that Palin's 35-minute talk had a theme, but she did hint that she is interested in running, although there are no indications she has taken any actual steps in that direction.
"Long and disjointed," said one social conservative activist when asked for reaction. "A weird speech," said another conservative activist. "Terrible. Didn't make any sense."
"There was a certain coarseness to her that wasn't there before," said yet another social conservative who noted that some in the crowd were uncomfortable with Palin declarations like, "Screw the left in Hollywood!" (It's not that they like the left in Hollywood — just the opposite — but the crudeness of Palin's expressions turned them off.)
"I know she is popular, but it is hard to take her seriously given that performance," said Sam Clovis, the conservative Iowa college professor, radio commentator, and sometime political candidate. "Palin was a sad story Saturday. With every speech she gives, she gets worse and worse. If one were playing a political cliche drinking game, no one would have been sober after the first 15 minutes of an interminable ramble. It was really painful."
"I think she has a role in the conservative movement and in the party," Clovis continued, "but she needs to get serious about what it is she can contribute and accomplish."
To be fair, it should be noted that Clovis ran in the 2014 Republican Senate primary against Joni Ernst — a race in which Palin endorsed Ernst. (Citizens United, a sponsor of the Freedom Summit, endorsed Clovis.) But Clovis was by no way alone in faulting Palin's performance.
"Calling Gov. Palin's remarks bizarre and disjointed would be charitable," said a well-connected Iowa Republican. "Her shelf-life, even with the most conservative voters in our party, seems to be near the end. In a day filled with strong performances from likely candidates ranging from Scott Walker to Ted Cruz, her remarks were a distraction."
"It was a long and incoherent speech," added Craig Robinson, of the Iowa Republican blog. "At best, there were a few good one-liners." Robinson continued:
Of all the people I talked to about Palin's speech, only one person didn't have a negative reaction. That person basically said it was a typical Sarah Palin speech. It was received poorly by everyone else I spoke with. I'm not comfortable sharing everything I heard about the speech — it was that bad.
No offense to Gov. Palin, but I do think it is problematic to have someone give a speech like that in the midst of a string of serious speeches by people who are seriously thinking about running for president. Palin made a guy like Trump look like a serious presidential candidate today. Incredible.
By the time Palin finished speaking, it was hard for anyone to believe she truly is "seriously interested" in running for president. Palin followed former executive Carly Fiorina, who gave a well-received speech that left many in the audience wanting to hear more. Like any serious would-be candidate, Fiorina had obviously taken care to prepare the best speech she could. The contrast with Palin could not have been clearer.
The experience leaves Iowa Republicans with a lot to think about. Yes, Palin is still a draw. Yes, conservatives still empathize with her over the beating she took from the media in 2008. But if there is indeed nothing behind her "seriously interested" talk — and it appears there is not — should she be included in events leading up to the 2016 caucuses? A lot of GOP activists may come to agree with one of those well-connected Iowa Republicans quoted above, who remarked, "The sooner these forums in Iowa focus on those actually running, the better."
LOL.
You’re right!
People forget quickly all of the particulars from 6 years ago. Before her introduction on the national stage NO ONE had even heard of her. That is just how desperate McCain was. He already knew that he had to catch lightning in a bottle to win. The miracle is that she wasn’t a stooge, she wasn’t a pawn willing to just carry McCain’s or anyone’s water for that matter. Nothing has changed. She doesn’t scare worth a damn, and that’s the one thing that is essential if Washington is EVER to be reformed.
I guess they would have felt better if she had relied on a ‘teleprompter’ to give a ‘fake speech’.
The way you know Sarah has it all mapped out is that she can have some relaxed fun jerking around the gop-e AND zero.
She’ll be back at Snarling Grizzly Mama shortly. And these Jourolistas only get X amount of column inches per week to drag on TEA. Sarah’s gonna make them waste those inches and ink on her: they can’t resist, Palin articles bring way more click than Cruz, Walker because of her name rec. She’s running interference for Ted.
That’s what I thought too.
Byron’s been drinking the Cristie koolaid methinks...
I concur!
It was pretty much like the article described. I was very disappointed. Sarah has still been on my “most wanted” list but as someone else said “an opportunity squandered”.
To say I was heartbroken when she decided not to run last time around would be an understatement. I have to say that watching her since then I see nothing that indicates to me she is serious about running. Her teasing about it is lowering my opinion of her sadly. I don’t know what that speech was really about. And I loved her outfit. She can pull off something like that with her slender figure. But was it something that one would wear if they were seeking the presidency? I don’t think so. JMO. I wish I was wrong but a tight black leather skirt, black blouse and black leather knee-high boots just doesn’t scream “I want to be president” to me.
I thought Ms. Palin did fine. People who are going to hate on her (libs and GOPe alike) will continue to do so and try to take her down at every chance. There is nothing she can say or do that will get a good report from them. In the mean time, one look at who they ‘prop up’ says it all. You know the double standard. They fear her like they fear Ted Cruz. They both speak from the heart and points out ‘the king has no clothes’. Palin always draws crowds consistently - just to see her and hear what she has to say. She has proven she cares more for America than fear of the obambie crime circle. So the opposition can only ridicule her and hope others join in. That is all they have.
The GOP needs some serious Palin Therapy.
LOL. You’re right.
Indeed!
.
>> “She has 4 million plus ACTUAL Facebook followers.” <<
We need reality followers!
Perennial high school underachievers buy ‘smart phones,’ but do they do anything else?
.
And I do it for free! :)
Only “perennial high school underachievers” use Facebook?
“It was pretty much like the article described. I was very disappointed. Sarah has still been on my “most wanted” list but as someone else said “an opportunity squandered”.”
Thanks for the feedback. I was not able to watch any of them yesterday because I was out and about, although I did hear part of Mike Lee’s on the Sirius Patriot channel while I was riding around. (I thought his speech was excellent.) Last night at home, I watched Cruz’s on youtube since his speech was the one I was most interested in hearing. He did not disappoint.
Facebook is a barometer. It measures a certain slice for sure, but it cannot be ignored. McCain and Romney were beaten in real time daily via the Obama machine’s mastery of social media. What do you recommend? More door to door? Mailers? Chicken dinners?
Sarah P. understands the value of communication. It is precisely why her media profile is always shining.
I think she’s talking to a lot of people who are low brow. She knows how to talk to most of us regular folk, we’ve all seen and heard it.. However, It’s an unfortunate fact, that most of the young voters in this country have the attention span of a nat and are to some extent, more or less, low brow. And getting them to pay attention to anything, is a difficult proposition.
So one has to hook them with whatever bait and tackle will do the job. Sarah knows this, has youngsters of her own, who for good or bad, are a part of the demographic.
And, after all, Sarah is a fisherman.
Facebook barometers- (millions)
Rand Paul- 1.8
Scott Walker- .28
Ted Cruz- 1.1
Dr. Ben Carson- 1.1
Rick Perry- 1.1
Rick Santorum .26
Marco Rubio- .7
Total- 6.nothing
Sarah Palin- 4.5
No one disputed your disappointment at her delivery, so I guess it was underwhelming?
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