Gallup: Palin top choice of Republicans to run in 2012

hotair.com ^ | November 22, 2008 | Allahpundit

[Free ThinkerNY]

They’re asking whether various candidates should run, not who the nominee should be, but it’s a fair proxy for enthusiasm. 67 percent say yes to the ‘Cuda, 62 to Romney, 61 to Huck. No one else cracks 50. Among conservative Republicans, it’s Palin 73, Huck 65, Mitt 64; among moderates and liberals, Mitt 59, Palin 48, Huck 46. Based on those numbers, it’s actually Romney who’s best positioned to unite the party.

The more I think about it, the more skeptical I am that all three will run. Even I’m not pessimistic enough to believe the recession will last until 2012, which means The One will inevitably be credited with having succeeded in his chief task by the time his term ends. Huckabee will run anyway because he’s hot to remake the party in his image, but Romney doesn’t strike me as eager for another expensive primary war just to be a sacrificial lamb in the general. My hunch is he’ll run only if Obama looks vulnerable and, even then, only if there are enough social cons running to split the base among them so that his strength with moderates is magnified. (It worked for McCain this year, didn’t it?) If he doesn’t run, I assume Pawlenty will throw in and try to capture those moderates with his “Sam’s Club” rhetoric. He won’t win, but he desperately needs a higher profile if he’s going to make a serious run in the future. (It worked for Huckabee this year, didn’t it?)

[DesertRhino]

Also the only guy experienced in socialized medicine, fund raising from abortionists, gun control, and sitting out vietnam in france on missionary deferrments. No thanks,,,

[svcw]

it’s actually Romney who’s best positioned to unite the party. On the democrat ticket.

[svcw]

Why? Because of the woman thing.

[MozarkDawg]

Be fair, Jindal did not have a months-long national platform in order that "even the dopes who flunked the Ziegler-Zogby questions" would know who he is. A couple of press conferences during a hurricane do not a national figure make. There is no reason whatever not to believe that he could garner significant excitement were he to give a rousing convention speech, same as Gov. Palin did.

If he wants the job, he needs to make speeches at every turn, appearances on the talking-head shows, get his face and his ideas, background out there for people to get to know who he is. The lesson that should be learned from this last election is that the GOP should not allow the lamestream and the elitist "She hasn't had lunch with me yet!" phonies to define their candidate to the American people for them.

[Tempest]

you’re too crazy.

You see anyone can make claims.

Care to back that up?

[MozarkDawg]

So the 'Rats and RINOs in Congress could shoot down and ridicule her every idea?

That's a set-up for failure.

Wait a sec ... it's a set-up for failure to have her be a cabinet secretary, one who proposes and advises a president, but it's not to actually have her run for the office itself?? I'm lost.

[DTogo]

Huck in 2012 = Obama until 2016.

Bobby & Sarah!!

[svcw]

What are you talking about?

[BlueStateBlues]

So Mitt is fooling some of the people all of the time. Not a RINO as much as a chameleon. But with Palin’s honesty she should uncover Mitt’s masks in no time.

[FastCoyote]

[it’s actually Romney who’s best positioned to unite the party. ]

Romney has already done enough dis-uniting to make a lie of that statement. He will peel of some of the Evangelical vote, he will peel off some of the conservative vote, and he will not carry Massachusetts or Michigan. Other than that, what’s not to like?

[FastCoyote]

[Of course stupid people don’t have an interest in that. ]

Yeah, some of the same stupid voters who wouldn’t elect McCain either.

By the way, when you are calling people stupid, double check the reflection in the mirror.

[FastCoyote]

[Oh please. Romney is brilliant in economics. That is proven everywhere.]

Yup, Romneycare is an absolute economic wonder to behold! It even defies gravity!

[Diogenesis]

Romney "Disses" Amateur Radio In Televised Town Meeting (and why he won't get my vote)

"Mitt Romney...alienating America one group at a time."
AlaskaErik

[E. Cartman]

What are you talking about?

Google "Bobby Jindal" and exorcism. It's been well documented. While his conservative bona-fides are good and conservatives shouldn't let the msm define their candidates for them, his foray into exorcism back in college is a bit too weird.

And after not having carefully vetted Bush in 2000 and 2004, conservatives would be fools not to first overturn every rock in investigating any man who wants their support as he makes a run for the presidency.

[svcw]

So Jindal believes in exorcism?
Bush not vetted, I mean really we knew what the inside of his colon looked like.
I just don't think it is possible to have any one, conservative or liberal not have something weird that they do.

[Diogenesis]

Why do the RomneyBOTs ignore Romney's actual record?

Dictator Fascist Mitt Romney here imposing socialized medicine
HILLARYcare=RomneyCARE-1 (RomneyCARE-2 was Hezb'allah-CARE)
without a single Mass. vote except his, the DNC, and his friends in Utah.

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Across Mass., wait to see doctors grows [because of ROmney's socialized medicine]

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Sen. John Kerry to Don Imus on RomneyCARE=HillaryCARE: "I like this (Romney socialized medicine) health care bill".

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The Price of RomneyCare The Wall Street Journal July 29, 2008; Page A16
"Gearing up for 2009, liberals are eager to claim Massachusetts as a Valhalla of health reform. Their enthusiasm is apparently evidence-proof.

Even Mitt Romney, who should know better, took to these pages recently to proclaim, "Health-care reform is working in Massachusetts." Shortly after Mr. Romney's self-tribute, Governor Deval Patrick wheeled out a new $129 million tax plan to make up for this year's health spending shortfalls. Yet partisans are cheering the cost overruns as a sign of success.

Supporters are exultant because 350,000 people are newly covered since former Governor Romney's parley with Beacon Hill Democrats in 2006; this cuts the state's uninsured rate by about half. That's not the promised "universal" system, but never mind. The ominous news is that only about 18,000 people -- or 5% of the newly insured -- have taken advantage of the "connector," which was supposed to be the plan's free-market innovation linking individuals to private insurers.

Most of this growth in coverage has instead come via a new state entitlement called Commonwealth Care. This provides subsidized insurance to those under 300% of the poverty level, or about $63,000 for a family of four. About 174,000 have joined this low- or no-cost program, a trend that is likely to speed up.

As this public option gets overwhelmed, budget gaskets are blowing everywhere. Mr. Patrick had already bumped up this year's spending to $869 million, $144 million over its original estimate. Liberals duly noted that these tax hikes are necessary because enrollment in Commonwealth Care is much higher than anticipated. But of course more people will have coverage if government gives it to them for free. The problem is that someone has to pay for it.

Thus the extra tab of $129 million, which may need to go higher because it relies on uncertain federal funds from Medicaid. For now, Mr. Patrick wants one-time (yeah, right) charges of $33 million on insurers and $28 million on providers, plus some shuffling of state funds. The balance comes from an estimated $33 million boost in the state's "pay or play" tax: If businesses don't offer "fair and reasonable" insurance to their employees, they get hit.

This is a textbook example of how business taxes evolve into "pay or pay," the first recourse of state-funded health systems. Politicians love levies on business because they disguise the overall bill from voters. But such taxes are merely passed along to workers in the form of reduced take-home pay, since all health costs are part of compensation.

The main reason people are uninsured is because coverage is too expensive. Massachusetts didn't have many options for reforming the way health dollars are laundered in the third-party payment system created by the federal tax code. But it could have helped make insurance cheaper by reforming its private market before defaulting to public programs.

The Bay State has long served up coverage-specific insurance mandates, such as for fertility treatments, which raise costs. Yet in a just-deserts twist, Massachusetts health planners are now reviewing ways to trim mandates because the state is footing more of the bill, even if they didn't care when imposing them on individuals and small business. A state-sponsored study shows that total spending on mandates was $1.32 billion in 2005, or 12% of premiums. The study is devastating despite its pro-mandate slant.

Not that such practical lessons have stopped liberals from joining the Massachusetts parade. They have to gussy up the state's model because the extravagant claim that led to its creation -- that health care will be less expensive if everyone is covered -- is being relentlessly discredited. It's the same claim they want to make when they try to pass a similar plan for the whole country in next year's Congress."

[E. Cartman]

So Jindal believes in exorcism?

Jindal claims he performed an exorcism...big difference and maybe he did, and maybe he didn't but even for cultural conservatives that's a pretty weird thing to claim to have done.

Bush not vetted, I mean really we knew what the inside of his colon looked like.

Pity, then, when they had Bush bent over and the scope up his ___, they couldn't find a polyp that would indicate a predilection toward profligate nation-building, economic surrender or for a passion for turning America into a third world country.

[E. Cartman]

Why do the RomneyBOTs ignore Romney's actual record?

Increasingly, the democrat and republican parties are looking more and more alike.

Is there anyone left who really believes it isn't time to put the axe to the GOP and start over with a new conservative party? It's happened twice before in American history with results favorable to conservatives. There's no good philosophical reason for not allowing it to happen again.

[Norman Bates]

“and does not mistreat her animals like Romney”

Why do you parrot a MSM attack line?

[Polybius]

Jindal/Palin 2012 is a winner! ..... albie

Why not Palin/Jindal 2012 ? .... SeekAndFind

What, exactly, are your goals?

To win the Republican nomination for your favorite candidate or to get a conservative to win the general election for the Presidency of the United States?

Jindal is brilliant. I saw him interviewed on Greta recently, and his grasp of the full range of issues is incredible. Obama could never stand up to him in a debate. .... ScottinVA

Following high school, Jindal attended Brown University, graduating with honors in biology and public policy. Although he had thought of a career in medicine or law and was accepted by Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School, he chose to pursue a political career. He received a master's degree in political science from New College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. After Oxford, he joined McKinsey & Company, a consulting firm, where he advised Fortune 500 companies.

Sarah Palin is a very nice lady with very good values and conservatives love her. Be that as it may, Sarah Palin will be remembered by the 73% of all American voters who are NOT Republicans as somebody who could not name a single newspaper for Katie Couric. Just a week after this year’s presidential election.... Forty-three percent (of all voters) view her unfavorably.

You cannot win a general election if, right off the bat, 43% of the entire electorate views your candidate "unfavorably".

Sarah Palin can win a Republican nomination but she can not win a general election. It's as simple as that.

The United States of America has over 300 million citizens. Surely, between now and 2012, at least two conservative candidate can be found for the 2012 Presidential ticket that conservatives love but that 43% of the entire American electorate does not already automatically write off.