Posted on 03/09/2010 8:28:51 PM PST by Brices Crossroads
I cannot tell how much of this outrage about Sarah Palin's endorsement of McCain is feigned by those who do not wish her well. It is not principally to those folks that this post is directed.
To those conservatives who are genuinely disappointed by Sarah Palin's decision to support McCain, let me say that I think Rush and Mark Levin understand it and have said that it is a question of loyalty and that loyalty is a virtue. That makes sense to me and, personally, I would be a little put off if she did otherwise, since it would look like rank ingratitude.
But, if you remain unappeased by this explanation, let me give you an historical analogy, based upon the supposition that Palin was wrong to endorse McCain to attempt to put the matter in perspective. In 1943, there was an American General who had taken the Seventh Army from a humiliating defeat at the Kasserine Pass to the conquest of all North Africa and then of Sicily. He appeared to be the overwhelmingly likely choice to lead the invasion of Europe, code-named Operation Overlord. The German General staff viewed him as, far and away, the best field commander in the Unnited States Army, and they feared and respected him enough to follow his every move.
He had no tolerance for shirkers, however. While visiting a field hospital, he saw a soldier suffering from battle fatigue, lost his temper and slapped the soldier, humiliating the man but not injuring him. I think that most anyone would agree that the General was wrong to slap the soldier. He was relieved of command of the Seventh Army and sent back to England. The invasion of Italy was commanded by a mediocre General whose lack of ability cost the lives of many Americans at Anzio and Cassino and the command of the Normandy Invasion forces fell to a less talented commander, who got bogged down in the hedge row country, again with heavy casualties. Just in the nick of time, this General was recalled to active duty, given command of the Third Army and carried out one of the most remarkable military campaigns in history, smashing huge German armies at Saint Lo, the Saar and finally the Ardennes Forest.
That little slap in Sicily cost the lives of many American soldiers and could have altered the war, because the response to it by the General Staff was DISPROPORTIONATE. In the larger scheme of things, it was no justification for removing a commander of this stature. In 1943, many a worried parent would have preferred to know that their son was under the command of this general because their boy's very life was at stake, and they would not have wanted a fracas in a field hospital to interfere with what they regarded as a matter of life and death. Great military commanders are a relatively rare commodity. They don't turn in long casualty lists and they have been known to save their countries.
Political geniuses are no less rare. They too have been known to save lives and to save their countries. The stakes in this upcoming election could not be higher. The Republican party, at this particular point in history, possesses a unique weapon, a political genius who so flummoxes the other side that they devote all their attention to her every move. Yet there are some sincere conservatives who believe that her endorsement of John McCain, a 75 year old Senator likely serving his last term, is so serious as to justify removing her from consideration for the GOP nomination. This strikes me as the political equivalent of "cutting off one's nose to spite one's face." The response is, once again, disproportionate.
My view is that the Obama White House would be as delighted to see Palin removed from the scene as the German General Staff was delighted to see Patton relieved in 1943. For the Germans, it was much easier to contend with the likes of Mark Clark and Omar Bradley than Patton. For Obama, it is much easier to contend with the likes of Pawlenty, Romney or Huckabee than Sarah Palin. With our country very likely at stake in 2012, can we as conservatives, even if we sincerely believe Palin to be wrong in this matter, afford to be so disproportionate in our response to it?
The trouble is that she is showing her loyalty on the backs of the American people. If you had a serious medical problem would you praise the loyalty of the family practice doctor who referred you to an incompetant older specialist because that specialist wrote his medical school recommendation?
It is McCain who delegitimized all lines of objection to Obama during the campaign, leaving us with a President who is trying to destroy America. For Sarah Palin, who has proven by her speeches and writings that she knows what is going on, to endorse this man in order to keep him in the Senate, is at best borderline corrupt because she is doing it on the basis of a personal favor and not based on what is best for out nation.
Refreshing perspective.
:::Thank You:::
Indeed.
Principles first.
Get a clue. MCCAIN-Feingold helped elect a Dem Congress 2006/2008 and Obama 2008 - FACT. Helped by the Liberal media/news demonizing Bush and the Repubs.
The Dems screamed when SCOTUS struck down McCain’s abortion
The best points raised on this issue....
Palin made a huge mistake supporting McCain. When McCain loses the AZ primary....every whiny liberal will blame Palin for the loss.
McCain is a Liberal RINO who should have joined the DNC 25 yrs ago. He is a cancer to the GOP...and will always make real conservatives hesitate to vote for any GOP candidate.
The GOP needs real leadership....and Palin has failed in that regard. She could have taken the leadership role and not support McCain, and supported Hayworth....which would have strengthened her status in the eyes of CONSERVATIVES. By supporting McCain....Palin sends the message that Liberal RINOs are OK.
It is such poor judgement that will make me think twice of supporting Palin in 2012. The GOP needs REAL CONSERVATIVES to run for office, not Liberal RINOs. People need to wake up and stop voting for people who merely have an “R” next to their name
It’s the spelling nazis again. Just don’t know what I would do will out you.
Please I want to see the evidence. Now dam it!!!!/s
Nothing worse than a blind person who can't see what really happened on any given event. Were you born stupid or did you have to work at it?
All I can say then is that I believe conservative voters in Kentucky, and Sarah Palin are wrong.
There is no virtue when choosing party over principle
Excellent point.....too many of the blindly following Palin supporters fail to understand this.....especially when she chose the Liberal of the two candidates....and the same Liberal whose campaign staff has repeatedly blamed and trashed
“Patton had proven many times that he was a great commander.
Palin has proven that she is very popular.
Blind loyalty is not a virtue.”
1) An historical analogy is just that, analogy. Patton had not proved many times that he was a great commander. He took over the Seventh Army, his first field command, On March 6, 1943 and fought his first battle at El Qatar in Tunisia in mid March. He had been in command for less than five months when on August 3, 1943, the slapping incident occurred. He had won some battles, but his great triumphs in France lay ahead of him. He did have great potential, which very nearly went unrealized because of the insignificant slapping incident. That is the point of my analogy.
2) “Palin has proven she is very popular.”
That kinda tells me where you are coming from. In her two and one half years as governor, Palin accomplished a great deal, cutting taxes, slashing the budget, passing AGIA- the natural gas pipeline-(which had been stymied by Exxon’s corrupt alliance with previous administrations), in addition to exposing corruption as Chairman of the Oil and Gas Commission an during her terms as mayor and on the city council. In saying she has proven she is very popular, you prove yourself to be either a)grossly uninformed; or b) a surrogate for an unnamed candidate, or both.
In any event, my loyalty is not blind.
Actually, I’ve never seen you defend Palin by suggesting she didn’t know what she was doing. If not, none of my attacks have been against you.
I’ve been told that I’m not careful enough to point out that I am only talking about a subset of her supporters. I’ve figured most of us can tell the difference.
As to who I attack, I tend to argue against anybody who I think is getting it wrong. I think SOME Palin supporters have a false image of her in their heads, and that’s what they talk about, not the real Palin.
“even though I’d vote for J.D. Hayworth, it’s not like I find him all that impressive.”
Agreed. I think Jim Robinson said he liked JD better than McCain and Palin better than both of them. That pretty well says it all.
LOL. "Ed Sullivan...Ed Sullivaaaaan..."
Worked real well in 2008 when Hussein had $700 million from China, hedge funds, Saudi Arabia and others. Tons of offshore money. Thank McCain-Feingold for the Dem Congress of 2006/2008 and for Obama 2008.
Amazing how people defend Juan McCain. Maybe they are just Palin Parrots.
Unfortunately for the legions of Palin supporters, Sarah’s shelf life is decreasing by the day. It is a long way to the Iowa caucuses in 2012, let alone the GOP primary season and that is an eternity in politics. Anything can happen, and most likely will.
If Sarah can keep herself front and center between now and then, she will have as good a shot at capturing the GOP nomination as any candidate(s) considered to be her rival.
But just as Sarah came out of nowhere when McCain picked her to be his VP on the 2008 ticket, we may witness just such a phenomenon again because lightning CAN strike twice.
As for the ‘general’ analogy, it doesn’t hold water because whether it was Omar Bradley, Mark Clark, or George Patton, the Nazis got their asses kicked in the end regardless of who they wanted or didn’t want to see commanding the allied forces.
“As for the ‘general’ analogy, it doesn’t hold water because whether it was Omar Bradley, Mark Clark, or George Patton, the Nazis got their asses kicked in the end regardless of who they wanted or didn’t want to see commanding the allied forces.”
Agreed.
“As for the ‘general’ analogy, it doesn’t hold water because whether it was Omar Bradley, Mark Clark, or George Patton, the Nazis got their asses kicked in the end regardless of who they wanted or didn’t want to see commanding the allied forces.”
You seem to be saying that a) it doesn’t matter who commands an army and b) that the outcome of World War II was a foregone conclusion. As far as the identity of the Commanders, maybe you could poll the surviving soldiers of the First Army, under Clark, who slogged up the Italian boot for nearly two years and sustained horrific casualites at Anzio, Cassino and a half dozen other places. Then ask the Soldiers of the Third Army who rolled from the hedgerow country of Normandy to the Saar in six weeks from August-September, 1944 and would have made it to Berlin by the end of September but for Eisenhower’s “political” decision to let Brit General Bernard Montgomery try to win some battles, which resulted in the costly and futile Operation Market Garden in Holland. Yea. The Nzis lost, but there are a lot of dead Americans who would be alive today had some major military blunders (like relieving Patton) been avoided. And the outcome of WWII was no foregone conclusion. The Nazis were working on the bomb and jet fighters and were trying to buy time. Patton realized this and was trying to crush them. (If the Nazis had seized Antwerp which they very nearly did in 12/44, the war in Europe would have lasted at least another year) I guess you must have missed that chapter. Who knows whether they might have developed the A Bomb before we did.
“Sarah’s shelf life is decreasing by the day.”
No. Her stock is rising. The rapidly expiring shelf life is just the odor of your post which is chock full of the stalest Palin bashing and wishful thinking I have seen in many a moon.
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