Palin provides one hell of a boost to McCain's chances for re-election. And there are few greater obstacles to the conservative agenda than McShame himself. If she doesn't wake up in a timely manner and we end up saddled with the bozo for another 6 years, assuming he lives that long, I will commence to despising her. She will surely lose a lot of support come 2012.
Also I think this event goes a long way to what I have been saying are my fears about Palin support. For years McCain has been appropriately been the whipping boy of anti-RINO sentiment here on FR, particularly with Jim. To be honest, I was a little surprised of continued fervent support for her in this action. Knowing Jim's support of her I wouldn't expect him to toss her over but I would have thought a little more criticism of it would be in order.
If this was anyone except Palin, the criticism would have been high and hard. Why does she get a pass? My concern is that she will continue to get passes no matter what she does. The Palin support is all about image and symbolism, not substance and how long have we criticized that in politics?
Putting Palin high on a pedestal makes her out of reach of criticism and if we can't hold her feet to the fire (as we did with Bush over Meyers and immigration) then we lose all power as a constituency and voters over our leaders.
Bring Palin back down to earth, make her accountable for her actions as we do any other politician and if she is still standing tall after being put through the ringer than maybe she has what it takes to be president instead of just a pundit.
To be fair, at this point I still have my concerns. I don't believe she is ready, I'm not even sure she has what it takes. Time will tell but until then I'm not anointing Palin anything other than a potential and she is not going to get any free passes from me.
She is going to have to keep it on the straight and narrow but this endorsement of McCain sure looks like a veer into oncoming traffic to me.
Palin had two choices, support McCain or not support McCain. Is she were to come out publicly for Hayworth it would have justified and supported the image of her being a “rogue”. All of Palins rhetoric about working for the good of the country regardless of personal reward, taking on the bad guys in her own party, supporting basic conservative ideals and then turning that into supporting the right candidates who share those same beliefs, would have been consistent.
Yes she would have taken heat for not supporting the guy who asked her to be on his campaign team, but it would have been “the right thing to do” and cemented the impression of her in the mind of the electorate as someone with their own mind who was willing to buck powerful members of her own party and walking the walk instead of just talking the talk.
But Palin chose to support McCain. To me this was a clear indication that she intends on “playing the game” and it's back to politics as usual. I don't think we can expect many more “rogue” plays at this point. The die is cast.
For those who say she had no choice, baloney, this is the press release/speech I would have suggested.
“Today I am throwing my support behind JD Hayworth for Arizona Senator. Some will accuse me of not showing loyalty but after long and hard consideration I decided it was much more important to support the conservative ideals I hold and have pledged to pursue, which includes helping to elect strong conservative candidates that can assist in putting this great country back on the right track, even if that may mean a toll on my personal relationships.”
“Some will ask why I then agreed to join John McCain on the 2008 presidential ticket, that's a good question that I would like to address now. When I was asked to join his he was already nominated to be the GOP candidate. Although John and I don't agree on every issue I felt it would be a great opportunity to work with him issues with which we agree and then be in a position to offer alternative viewpoints of those we don't, maybe changing his mind and direction on those issues. At that point in time I can't think of a better position to be where I could positively effect policy and legislation on issues I hold dear.”
“I continue to have great respect for John McCain, for his contributions and for his support of this country and our military. But we part ways on too many issues for me to be able to support his reelection as Senator. I wish him luck and Godspeed in all he does, but I must follow my conscience. It's time in America for fresh ideas and fresh champions and Arizona needs a Senator that will uphold ALL if it's basic and fundamental values.”
I think she’ll be ok. She’s a natural conservative and that’s why we love her. It’s looking like the establishment has selected Romney vs Huckabee for us in 2012 and we need Sarah in there as the grassroots tea party conservative antidote. The anti-establishment Tea Party movement is growing leaps and bounds in numbers and power and they’re not going to settle for a business-as-usual, Big Government RINO!.