Posted on 01/19/2016 7:59:42 PM PST by Isara
Back in December, I was at a small event in a Las Vegas bar; CNN's Jake Tapper was interviewing Sarah Palin. He asked which candidate she'd most like to grab a beer with. Her answer? Donald Trump.
Trump, of course, has been sober his whole life. But the moment perfectly encapsulates the Palin-Trump romance. Because in addition to endorsing a beer run with a man who doesn't drink, she also just endorsed for the presidency a man who is neither a committed conservative nor an anti-establishment rogue.
Trump's long history of liberalism is well known. He was once a registered Democrat who supported Democratic candidates, from Bill de Blasio to Hillary Clinton. He has said publicly that the economy usually does better under Democrats. At times he's supported legalizing drugs, raising taxes on the wealthy and embracing isolationist foreign policies.
But what's most jarring is the positions he's held on a number of issues that are particularly important to Palin.
In the past, he called himself "very pro-choice." Yet Palin - who made the very courageous and compassionate decision to have a baby she knew would be disabled - is unbothered.
On guns, he once supported a ban on so-called assault weapons and longer waiting periods to purchase a firearm. That should be deeply disconcerting to Palin, a Second Amendment firebrand who once said, "If you control arms, you control the people."
And Trump has supported universal health care - expressing admiration for Scotland's single-payer system as recently as last year. Palin spent years denouncing Obamacare, which is many steps short of a single-payer plan, as "socialized medicine."
These aren't minor policy differences. The beliefs long embraced by Palin and long eschewed by Trump are fundamental to conservatism. That Trump has suddenly gotten religion - on issue after issue - should be met by Palin with suspicion.
If his world-view weren't enough to make Palin cringe, Trump's inauthenticity as an anti-establishment candidate should be. Palin admirably took on what she called the "good old boy network" to become Alaska's first female governor. Now, she leaps to support a guy who helped create that network and who thrives in it. In what bizarre world is a billionaire real estate mogul who donates money to Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid "anti-establishment"?
Over the past eight years, Palin's influence within the Tea Party has remained strong, but her favorability rating among all Americans has dropped 40 points. Worse, her rating among Republicans has declined more than 55 points.
But despite that waning influence, I've supported and admired Palin for defending life, religious liberty and gun rights, and for being a strong mother to a disabled son and another serving overseas.
The Sarah Palin I knew in 2008 - the one who campaigned tirelessly and many times thanklessly for John McCain, a war veteran Trump has openly mocked - would have seen through Trump's charlatan candidacy. The Sarah Palin I knew in 2008, a devout Christian whose faith was constantly scrutinized by the secular left, would have no affection for a man who is constantly scrutinizing the devout Christian faiths of other conservative candidates.
The Sarah Palin I knew in 2008, who was a passionate and fearless voice for hockey moms, mama grizzlies and women everywhere, all while enduring patently sexist attacks from the left, wouldn't have supported a man who calls other women bimbos and slobs, thinks women who breast-feed and go to the bathroom are "disgusting," and criticizes another candidate for her looks.
That Sarah Palin is gone. Maybe one day, over a beer, she'll tell me why.
Which child? The one preaching abstinence who got pregnant or the one who beat up his girlfriend ( allegedly )
What a family old phony has.
Better a very popular populist spouting conservatism at the moment who has a chance to winning the general election.
The hope is that he will stick to his campaign promises rather than degenerate back toward his past remarks.
If Palin helps Trump defeat Clinton, that will be a good result to me.
Interesting.
What is wrong with your souls?
Does anyone (beside Mz Cupp) not understand that ‘the person you’d most like to grab a beer with” really has less than nothing to do with actually drinking beer as opposed to just ‘hanging out?’ Maybe you’d rather have a sarsaparilla or root beer or champagne. Or Perrier.
“Beer” was put it to make it sound really working class, down with the people, one of the guyz.
I think he asked her if she’d like to have an opportunity to spit in the eye of the media and establishment. And she jumped at the chance. Opportunity for Sarah to redeem herself and for Trump to score a “get” at a crucial time. I don’t think Sarah herself helps Trump, per se, but the optics are good, the timing is right and once again, the media time is priceless and keeps him in the news for a couple of more days while being a dig in Cruz. Win, win, win.
He didn’t, but you can’t mock a handicapped person?
My soul?
I am not supporting someone who feels free to make fun of a handicapped man and then lies about it when called out.
It takes a real tough guy to mock someone born with a deformity, don’t you agree?
Apparently Glenn Beck is going to endorse Cruz and campaign with him. Not a good day for the Cruz team.
Well, some "so-called freepers" think that good decision was a "failure" on her part.
No names, but his initials are FerociousRabbit...
I still maintain that the Republican Party made a mistake by not evening the score with a couple of Democratic political carcasses.
Dude, there is no point to address. I worked at a law firm for years. The governors of the other 49 states are named defendants in cases every single day. Only one quit her post using it as an excuse. She failed. Get over it.
If you do even rudimentary research you will find that Trump endorsed McCain in 2008 and praised him for choosing Palin as VP, saying he had not previously met her but she was an impressive choice who had rejuvenated the GOP
In 2o11 when Trump threw his money and reputation into questioning obama’s fake birth certificate and evident coverup of records, all the GOP distanced themselves from Trump except Sarah, who took the heat by saying of Trump “ more power to him”
When the establishment tried to derail Trumps candidacy and make Trump a draft dodging scoundrel for questioning Juan McCains bona fides as a hero for being captured by the north vietnamese, Sarah again took heat for saying both men were “ heroes” in their respective careers as trail blazers who loved their country
That in a nutshell is why Sarah respects and admires Trump
She is a “ rogue”
Trump is a “rogue”
She loves this country and believes the same of Trump - However
She was a victim of the establishment, which has been similarly but unsuccessfully attacking Trump
If Trump is elected she will be join his cabinet if he asks because she believes he can bring positive change to the direction of this nation
There are principles other than “ conservative” or “ liberal” and both Palin and Trump share common ground
Yes she is...I was looking back today... to when she first entered the stage...even then I wasn't sure of her....Jim and others here were quite patient and understanding as I asked many questions along the way before I finally decided to support her. In the end I could not have voted for McCain were Palin not on the ticket.
But what she is today ...and become..is surely not unexpected IMO....watching her downfall has not been pleasant to view and unfortunately she herself has much to do with that.
I liked Sarah when she was simply being Sarah and not this depiction of herself as she has become. Maybe her familiarity with Hollywood and TV celebrity simply rubbed off too much on her...and obvious her family....but whatever she has changed and seeing that come about as she made public appearances ,even political ones, has not been easy to view.
So standing with Trump is simply a refection of that spiral...I'd hope she would just remain in Alaska and get on with living there as she once knew and loved....rather than enter the media drama again. ...she will be depicted as a has been..her hour is gone to all but her loyal celebrity fans...
It's all good.
Biden just wanted Chuck to wave his hand.
Trump mocked the reporter, then the "reporter" and his paper, the NYTimes, played The Gimp Card.
Playing the PC Gimp Card didn't work. Trump showed the little PCslimes for what they were.
It takes a real tough guy to mock someone born with a deformity, dont you agree?
I agree that he was born with a deformity - a deformed soul.
It takes a real weasel to play the Gimp Card for political gain, don't you agree?
I don't know how the slime lives with himself - but he is a Leftist, nicht wahr?
Gimp card?
It is not playing any “card”, the man was born deformed and Trump mocked him.
Can’t get much lower than that. What a miserable excuse for a human being.
Some of us knew the Sarah she once was....it’s not been an easy thing to watch her and her family tumble in the wind over these years..and they have done just that. Much of that brought on by their decisions and the life changes they’ve experienced. But what she is now is not the Sarah I knew....or perhaps that Sarah never really existed?...who knows...it’s celebrity reality TV time just the same.
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