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Palin's political potential
Boston Globe ^ | 11/16/08 | Jeff Jacoby

Posted on 11/16/2008 1:26:52 AM PST by MartinaMisc

THE 2008 presidential campaign may be over, but Sarah Palin's moment in the spotlight has yet to run its course.

In a media marathon last week, the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee sat down for interviews with CNN's Larry King and Wolf Blitzer; had Matt Lauer of the "Today" show up to Wasilla for a family dinner; and told Fox News's Greta Van Susteren about getting the call from John McCain on her cellphone while she was admiring the local produce at the Alaska State Fair. She disdained the Republican "jerks" who spread anonymous rumors painting her as geographically illiterate, and vehemently denied the accusation that she had milked the campaign for a $150,000 wardrobe for herself and her family.

All that was a prelude to her star turn at the Republican Governors Association meeting in Miami, where she met reporters at a press conference, drew standing ovations from several hundred GOP donors, and humorously updated her fellow governors on what she'd been doing since last year's meeting.

"I had a baby," she told them. "I did some traveling; I very briefly expanded my wardrobe; I made a few speeches; I met a few VIPs, including those who really impact society, like Tina Fey."

Of course she was asked whether she plans to run for president in 2012, and of course she deflected the question. "The future is not that 2012 presidential race; it's next year and our next budgets," she said. But there can't be much doubt that Palin has become the brightest star in the GOP firmament. A whopping 91 percent of Republicans have a favorable view of her, according to a recent Rasmussen poll, and she is the runaway favorite when they are asked to rank possible contenders for the party's 2012 presidential nominee.

(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: 2012gopprimary; jacoby; mccain; nextusapresident; palin; pds
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To: roamer_1

Do you have a source for the “libertarian” views? Something ironclad? I have a lot of folks on another board who accuse her of being “fundie”....I’d love to be able to cite facts to the contrary.


61 posted on 11/16/2008 7:42:26 PM PST by WillRain ("Might have been the losing side, still not convinced it was the wrong one.")
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To: Colonel_Flagg

In the end, there is no difference between Marxism and Feminism.

Either one will destroy our Constitution and our culture.


62 posted on 11/16/2008 7:43:40 PM PST by donna ( Conservatism IS unappeasable. Conservatives will never relent.)
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To: ansel12

I did not know she was pro-Romney but one has to ask....is Romney not ambitious? McCain? Huckabee? Pawlenty?

Is it really reasonable to fault a politician, of all people, for being ambitious?


63 posted on 11/16/2008 7:45:32 PM PST by WillRain ("Might have been the losing side, still not convinced it was the wrong one.")
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To: WillRain

I can look at Palin’s life versus the direction that America has been moving during that life, and I can understand why she went from mother and part time commercial fisherman to a 14 year political career of change, fighting corruption, and bringing her strong personal character and leadership into public decision making.

I do think that a lot of us wonder what Romney wants though, his short stint in office didn’t reveal much of anything other than ambition, it had been preceded by a disgusting left wing run for senate, and then his time after his governor’s term was followed by an obsessive run for the presidency spending a fortune to go from unknown to one of the major primary players, yet it was based on politics that he had never embraced before that campaign.


64 posted on 11/16/2008 8:04:56 PM PST by ansel12 ( When a conservative pundit mocks Wasilla, he's mocking conservatism as it's actually lived.)
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To: WillRain
Do you have a source for the “libertarian” views? Something ironclad? I have a lot of folks on another board who accuse her of being “fundie”....I’d love to be able to cite facts to the contrary.

Sure. One-stop shopping here:

OnTheIssues.org: Sarah Palin

With special attention to these two sections:

OnTheIssues.org: Sarah Palin on Abortion

OnTheIssues.org: Sarah Palin on Civil Rights

If you need a better refs, I can dig around and find links to newspapers tomorrow (I don't have them here on the laptop), but this ought to suffice.

65 posted on 11/16/2008 8:33:22 PM PST by roamer_1 (Proud 1%er... Reagan Conservatism is the only way forward.)
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To: BlueCat

You made some good points, but I have a couple of questions to ask you. What makes you think that Palin has it in her to “learn” now? She went to college, she is a 44 year old mother. Chances are very likely, she hasn’t learned yet because it isn’t in her. Secondly, why should Palin be “annoited” and made worthy when she isn’t worthy right at this point? Since when do we take someone who doesn’t quite yet “have it” and “give it” to them what they don’t yet have? Isn’t that something that God is supposed to do? Either a person has it or they don’t. You got to be careful here, because what you are talking about entails that people must engage in some sort of worshipping of Palin. After all, who else would be worthy of so much effort? Either a person has it or they don’t. It could very likely that people are enabling someone who hasn’t it in them or has what it takes. We need to be careful. There are plenty of red flags about Palin. And you shouldn’t ignore red flags. She almost has a ruthless quality about her the way she neglects her baby in the pursuit of ambition. Not a good sign coming from a “conservative Christian.” Another major red flag, she always toots her horn about being a reformer, but what has she really accomplished? Getting the jobs of those she claimed to be “reforming?” Another major red flag, that could be code for she is an ambitious backstabber, not a good quality in a Christian either. I could keep going. I notice she does have a little bit of a gangster mentality going on. I think it is quite possible that she really didn’t know that Africa is a continent. I am concerned because I think she might have lied about it knowing that she can get away with it because people are treating her like she is the Republican version of Obama, untouchable. I don’t like that quality in a leader of the United States. It’s a little gangster-esque. It’s concerning. Just like the Democrats have their own monster in Obama, the conservative movement is capable of creating their own monster. And that’s where my concern is coming from.


66 posted on 11/17/2008 5:13:23 AM PST by rodeo-mamma
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To: rodeo-mamma

Please excuse my ineloquence.

You have been using Gov. Palin’s children to attack, to deter,
and to humble Gov Palin. Won’t work for you, will it?

You do it over and over to help your Master Mitt Romney.
How is that working?


67 posted on 11/17/2008 5:18:07 AM PST by Diogenesis
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