The Problem With Palin

American Spectator ^ | April 19, 2010 | Quin Hillyer

[reaganaut1]

Sarah Palin, 55 percent unfavorable poll ratings notwithstanding, is a political phenomenon the likes of which American public life rarely has seen. There's something distinctive, something deeply personal, about the way her legions of strong supporters rush not just to defend her but to counter-attack any and all of her critics. Palin has a way of establishing a sense of connectedness with her backers -- such a strong, attitudinal sense that she is not just like them but one of them -- that she has created what amounts to a one-woman, conservative "identity politics" writ very, very large.

Yet if conservatives are to continue a political love affair with this admirable and galvanizing woman, we need to insist on more than mere identity. And more than mere attitude.

We know that Sarah Palin shares our conservative values. But is she the leader conservatives need?

IN HER RECENTLY RELEASED memoir, Going Rogue, Palin tells a story about how she approached the first state budget she handled as governor. It sounds like something right out of the 1993 Kevin Kline movie, Dave, except that Palin's tale is fact instead of fiction.

We worked late into the night with the warm midnight sun still pouring through my office windows....Pens in hand, we combed through the budget, line by line, page by page -- my inner nerd coming out again, just like Wasilla City Council days....I had to know what was in there, or I wasn't doing my job. We spent days trying to decipher who put in what and why. Late one night, I looked up from the table and asked our veteran staffers, "What did past governors do? How did they get through these budgets with so little detail?" "They didn't," was the response.

[MNJohnnie]

The first two general-fund budgets for which she was responsible showed spending hikes of 16.4 percent (from fiscal year 2007 to '08) and a mind-boggling 21.8 percent the next year. Total government expenditures (a slightly different measure) grew 38.6 percent in those two years combined. Good thoughtful article.

Not when you bother to do some research.

The "source" for those numbers is a Huff Po Leftist who admits in his original article he simply made a guess since the state of Alaska has a number of different budgets. Once again the Palin haters simply made up the data to validate their feelings.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

I agree with Hillyer and the majority of the American people that Palin is not qualified to be president.

Hey bub, I got news for you, this is the only qualification required...

ARTICLE II, SECTION 1, U.S. CONSTITUTION

No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

And your figure of 55% is dubious at best.

Sarah Palin's audience in Louisville, Kentucky, April 16, 2010.

Palin draws a crowd in Louisville

[MNJohnnie]

The posted article makes a lot of good, facts

Not when you bother to do some research.

The original "source" for those numbers is a Huff Po Leftist who admits in his original article he simply made a guess since the state of Alaska has a number of different budgets.

Once again the Palin haters simply selective edited the data to give their feelings a false gloss of intellectual credibility.

[rintense]

Yes, because micro management seems to have done this country SO well.

[sarah fan UK]

“Being a senator will thrust her back onto the national political scene”

Are you suggesting that she is currently absent/missing from the national political scene?

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

So, you’re hanging your hat on an oversampled WaPo/ABC poll?

[MNJohnnie]

The original "source" for those numbers is a Huff Po Leftist who admits in his original article he simply made a guess since the state of Alaska has a number of different budgets.

Once again the Palin haters simply selective edited the data to give their feelings a false gloss of intellectual credibility.

Why don't you try actually try looking at the details, instead of accepting any supposed "Facts" that just happens to validate your feelings about Palin?

[PennsylvaniaMom]

Outstanding post...I agree one thousand percent with.

Gov. Palin IS the real deal and she scares the heck out of the left.

End. Of. Discussion.

[sarah fan UK]

Sarah needs to forget about all that and get elected as the junior Senator from Alaska - hey Lisa and co might even let her make the tea and do some photocopying if she behaves herself! /s

[PennsylvaniaMom]

Greg, a ping.

[csmusaret]

January or June of 2011 is not exactly the last minute. And I guess you are going to say you were picking GW Bush in April of 1998. Try reading for comprehension instead of speed.

[JApost]

heard it. now shut up and go away. you’re boring me.

[duckln]

This is one of the most petty articles I have ever read. Complete nonsense.

We'll see as time rolls along. So far Palin has out performed them all, her pass accomplishments, her present barnstorming off America, and her visions of the future to come.

[MBB1984]

Very good post and poignant points.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

A nominee will rise to the top, and it might well be Palin, but the process doesn’t begin in earnest until after the midterm elections.

Have you ever heard of the Permanent Campaign, which the Rats have been waging ever since 2000?

It won't wait that long.

The days when Presidential campaigns were launched in the summers before election years are long gone. Look at Fred Thompson...he pretty much had missed the boat by the time he finally entered the GOP race in September 2007. Romney has not stopped running period since 2008, so no, it is NOT too early to be thinking about these things if you are serious about making a run in 2012.

[LucyJo]

"The key to a good president is the advisors they select and the administrators they empower."

Yes, and the aptitude to assimilate information and lead in worthy response to it and application of it.

I haven't noticed that Sarah is lacking in those qualities.

[dawn53]

I don’t like any of the “common” names mentioned like Romney, Huckabee, Gingrich etc. Been there, done that. We need some fresh blood. I think Haley Barbour could be a good fit. DeMint would work for me. Ryan would work for me. There have to be others, we’re not looking!!! We’re trying to recycle candidates and I don’t think that’ll work.

[tarheelswamprat]

Awesome. A good post is a delight to the eyes and mind. You clearly have this guy's range.

And, more precious still because they are becoming rarer and rarer these days...

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

The Senate is a political graveyard unless you belong to a certain minority and are being groomed by a monster political machine.

[csmusaret]

You are saying Kerry was in campaign mode in 2000 or 2001? Clinton ran for reelection constantly, and Obama is too, but other than incumbents, I don’t think the “permanent campaign” holds true for Presidential candidates, and I don’t think it has ever been the case for Republicans.