Posted on 05/16/2009 6:00:44 PM PDT by Maelstorm
Everyone is piling on Sarah Palin, even though she will never be president of the United States.
The Alaska governor is everyone's favorite foil, from the left-wing Huffington Post to the ever-posturing Mitt Romney. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee who cynically chose her as his running mate, now snubs her with relish.
They all act like she has a real chance to win the White House, when they all know the truth. When it comes to being taken seriously by the general electorate as a potential president, it's as over for her as it was for Dan Quayle.
Quayle was doomed even after he served as vice president. He was the heartbeat away from the first President Bush, but could never overcome the perception that he lacked gravitas.
Palin only ran for vice president; she never made it from Wasilla to Washington. And her problem is bigger than Quayle's, because it extends to her family.
From the moment Palin appeared on the national scene as a surprise pick for vice president, her family attracted critical attention. Palin had to fight off Internet-spawned rumors that her youngest child, Trig, who was born with Down syndrome, was really her daughter's. Then came the real news. Bristol Palin, her 17-year-old daughter, was unwed and pregnant, despite her mother's abstinence-only platform.
Palin weathered those headlines and others about her snowmobiling husband, Todd. As the campaign moved forward, she was undercut more by her own performance in a series of nationally televised interviews.
She was a major turnoff to the very voters she was supposed to attract — Hillary Rodham Clinton's female supporters.
Palin is still extremely popular with the hard-core conservative base and was recently named to the National Council for a New America, a group aimed at rebranding the GOP. Palin made Time magazine's list of influential people, causing Romney to crack: "But was that the issue on the most beautiful people or the most influential people?"
Romney is smarter and more accomplished than Palin, and just as good-looking. But Palin has something he lacks: a core set of unwavering conservative principles. It gives her an early advantage with Republican primary voters.
Palin faces an ongoing family soap opera that continues to undercut her political message. Bristol Palin broke up with Levi Johnston, the father of their child.
The line Palin walks as a mother of five and new grandmother continues to trip her up as a presidential candidate.
That makes her an easy target for Democrats and Republicans, who enjoy running against her.
Joan Vennochi writes for the Boston Globe. Her e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.
Sarah may not be president but she will be something—maybe speaker of the house, Senator from Alaska, UN leader, Head of a new political party, or Secretary of State, or Vice President. She isn’t done by a long shot.
I don’t see anyone who I would rather vote for. I like a candidate that I don’t have to hold my nose to vote for. I like one that says what they believe without apology. Standing up for the principles that founded this nation is nothing to be ashamed of, standing against the legalized thievery of a government grown too big and a political class grown too self serving should be a badge of honor, and standing up for the values of striving to have intact families with both a Mom and Dad with common decency and respect for human life should be something deserving of praise not cynical critique. Gov. Palin is a unique individual she is not one of “THEM” and that makes her perfect for the Presidency.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.” C.S. Lewis
Very good. :-) I didn’t even notice it was a Woman. It is sometimes hard to tell with the left.
The bridge to nowhere. Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t she cancel the bridge, keep the money and use it for other Alaska highway projects which enabled her to put money in the pocket of everyone in the state? Was this the state’s money, or the nation’s money which she did not give back to the rest of us?
Mitt is a waste of time.
He would not even make it through the primarie like last time. He is like beating a dead horse.
He is sitting around 10 miles north from me at his home here in San Diego. He can watch the waves come in and count his money
My thoughts exactly as reading the headline.
Quayle was the first successful smearing of a conservative by the liberal media/entertainment elite who saw him as a threat. He was done in as much as anything by retold lies surfacing as jokes on late night TV.
The only thing is she is the continuing target of the idiot Globe columnists of the world who continue to denigrate her and publish lies as the truth.
I don't think a one has ever defended her.
All you have to do is look at the Kennedys with their rapes, murder and drunkenness, AlGore's progeny who likes to race a Prius (and how metrosexual is that?) while smoking dope, AlGore himself who likes to tell others how to live yet spends three thousand dollars a month in utilities in his own house.
Then there is Biden who drove a man to his grave by claiming he was drunk when HIS WIFE DROVE OUT IN FRONT OF HIM. Yet to the day the guy died Biden was still out there, riding his dead wife to victory.
These idiots on the left have so much more baggage (tax cheats, philanderers, crooked lobbyists, etc.) that if the press really wanted to Quaylify or Palinize them too it would be so easy.
But that will never happen.
:)
I voted for Romney in the primaries. I voted for him for governor too. But I don’t think that he would necessarily beat Palin in the primaries. He couldn’t beat McCain.
Actually, those are considered positive attributes by the left...
Dan really took an undeserved beating. He was too nice of a guy.
Paul Begala!! What are you doing lurking in here?
Joan Vennochi is another Globe hack. This is like the NYT saying that the GOP should run McCain for pres.
That is what I find amazing. The guy had a huge head start. Tons of money and still failed horribly. I’m just sick of him. He has a beautiful family and seems nice enough but that aside I want someone I know is with us not someone who wants our votes but doesn’t want to be seen in public agreeing with us.
Palin is indeed a smart lady and interestingly enough they never applied their standards of smart to Joe Biden or the Chosen One but they never do. I personally don’t care how smart someone is, everyone has their specialties. What I care about is that they understand the basic principles upon which this government was founded and understand that like Reagan the government is not the solution but often the problem. Palin is dangerous because she isn’t afraid of them and she could very well be President.
Both Mitt and Sanford will never get to first base.
They are both bean counters and shysters
Peter it is just horrible the damage the left does and gets away with. They have foisted lies upon the public. It is horrible how they have lifted up the broken and the disheveled not to make them better or even encourage them to be so but to take away the stigma involved with their falling short while tearing down those who do succeed in producing stable loving two parent Mom and Dad families. Dan was just a nice guy and not the fighter he needed to be to win against the media. Sarah doesn’t have that problem.
AND...it was successful...Dan Quayle, despite being Vice-President of the United States, fell off the political radar, never to influence politics again...the writer is spot on...the parallels are there...the question becomes, what can Palin do to break away from this situation? Become a U.S. Senator? Spend time on the rubber chicken circuit, making her case to the Republican power elites that conservatism can win? Move to a more influential state to become governor?...magritte
I generally like Sanford but I don’t see him being able to marshal what it takes to make a real national run. What we need to be careful of is the Huckabee type candidate the media used Huckabee as a wedge which led to dividing the conservative vote.
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