Posted on 04/19/2010 5:52:15 AM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Of course there are, FR is shot through with trolls and RINObots that would be only too happy to keep Bozo rather than see Palin elected. I, OTH, would vote for Palin in a heart beat and believe that "55%" is a BS number.
Well, good luck in voting for Obama then.
“I agree she is in the fight for the R nomination. I am just explaining why I wont vote for her. “
That’s is fine and your right.
But, please don’t whine when Romney gets the nomination...and don’t cry a river when Obama wins again against DOA Mitt.
That's a less that deep analysis of all that was going on, but you're entitled to it.
1. I think the legal environment in Alaska made her continuation in office an extreme financial burden, and this is verifiable.
2. I think she had political and financial reasons that were far better handled in the lower 48.
3. I think that there was enough time for her republican replacement to gain the recognition he needed after assuming her seat as governor. IOW, she gave her replacement a huge leg up in the next election...she gave him incumbent status.
Others are free to ignore all those reasons. After all, this is, for the time being, a free country.
I’m worried about her support of RINOs. Also worried about her pro nuclear-power position. Also, her un-son-in-law, Levi, who will be paid to cause trouble for her.
Ever hear of damning with faint praise. All of his positive comments are couched in a negative context. And you seriously need to stop and reflect on his carefully calculated bottom line: she ain’t as smart as me and my fellow journalists and Washington elitists, folks; ergo, she’s not ready for prime time.
Maybe if she breathes in enough of this intellectual giant’s effluvia, she’ll one day make the cut. Hope not.
AIT it's always good to see you in forum. Your illuminatingly "scrutable" news and perspectives from the dauntingly inscrutable Far East are immensely helpful to us here... /g
I'm not picking on you here - your comment is simply a convenient hook on which to hang an important alternate perspective. There are two compelling arguments which demonstrate why being a US Senator would be one of the worst places for Sarah Palin to be:
1. First, because of the Senate rules, if the Dems retain control of the Senate Palin as a freshman senator would denied any significant committee posts and frozen out of the loop on any important policy issues. She would be told to keep quiet and remember her place.
Now if the Repubs should regain the Senate and we had a Repub Senate Majority Leader, the treatment Palin would receive would be... exactly... the... same.
The hard truth is that the Senate leadership of both parties consider her, and any other conservative, as their mortal enemy. They would use every Senate rule available to stifle, silence and neutralize her or anyone like her. If she dared to defy them and speak out on her own they would not hesitate to use the ironically-named Senate ethics rules to censure her.
Does that begin to sound familiar? As a sitting senator she would have the same liability and vulnerability to perverted and dishonest use of so-called "ethics rules" by her enemies as she did in Alaska. Being elected to the Senate would be a political kiss of death for Palin. They would either silence her or cripple her.
2. The second argument as to why a Senate term for Palin is wrong is much more simple and succinct: neither we nor she have the time to wait. With the current state of the country and the existing trends, whatever a Senator Palin might do or not do in six years will be irrelevant. By then the constitutional republic bequeathed to us by our forbears will have ceased to exist.
There are valid arguments to be made about the abilities and "fitness" (let's please drop the red herring terminology of "qualified" - it's a constitutionally defined legal requirement and most of us here are "qualified" to be President) of Sarah Palin or any other candidates for the office of President. She, and they, will rise or fall by dint of their performance in the coming months and we'll have to opportunity to choose (maybe...) who we believe to be most fit to be President.
However, events are moving at breathtaking speed both domestically and internationally. It is also beyond obvious that politics is no longer business as usual and the current players and the Obama regime don't give a fig about the traditional rules of the game, or even the law.
Regardless of whoever each of us might prefer as our leader, we need to stop deluding ourselves that we have six more years, or twelve more years, etc. to finally get our ducks in a row and put "our plan" into action. Donald Rumsfeld had it exactly right. We're at war right now, a political war, and we have to fight it right now with the army(people) we have. We don't have the luxury of waiting and hoping for the army(people) we hope we'll have one day.
Did you notice that as well? Only those who are not in love with her will notice that i.e. 80% of the voters.
You are worried because Palin is pro nuclear power?
Now, that is unique.
as the author states:
ALL OF WHICH IS NOT TO SAY that Sarah Palin lacks the right stuff — the right values, the right determination, the right gumption, the right toughness — to serve our nation in high office. She certainly has abundant and admirable amounts and quality of all those virtues, no matter how viciously the left tries to smear her.
She is wise enough to surround herself with the right people....(same as Reagan)...and make the right choices!
....and that scares the hell out of those that couldn't do that!
Bush has an MBA in economics from Yale and is greatly admired by Forbes. And Forbes would have had the exact same media treatment for eight solid years as Bush got with the only difference being Forbes and his family would have been relentlessly mocked for their looks.
Apparently you bought into the anti-Bush propaganda.
I was initially intrigued by Forbes. I think it became clear after a while that he was a fiscal but not a social conservative.
A real conservative is both. My memory’s foggy, though, so I could be wrong about the man. I hope I am.
I simply cannot support a pro-choice politician. Ever.
Yeah, that's a great way to start a reasoned argument. /s.
"Over 300,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic since inception in 1996."
As I recall, the time that a "whom do you support" poll was conducted her Palin garnered a little over 100 votes. That's about 0.000333% of those who have signed on here.
btw...when did I ever write that I hate palin? Please use my own words....I'll wait.
Excellent assessment - many thanks.
If it turns out that she quit to prepare for a presidential run, that would make it a good move in my book. I think most reasonable people would agree.
PPP has Sarah Palin's disapproval is currently at 52% , which is about the same as 0bama'a disapproval from Rasmussen, and she is only 2% behind 0bama in the polls for 2012 according to PPP.
And that is despite 0bama getting near 100% positive coverage from the lamestream media, even as Sarah Palin continues to get near 100% negative coverage from the media. Palin's disapproval numbers have improved from previous PPP polling and is getting better, even as 0bozo's disapproval numbers continue to sink. Palin has already done through the worst and is ona strong recovery track, whiole 0bama has plenty of room to fall, as the shield provided him by the lamestream media gets penetrated.
LOL! Too bad the truth offends you.
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If it turns out that, as you suggest, she quit to prepare for a run at the WH it would mean that the excuses she gave were lies. It would mean that her oath of office was trumped by ambition. It would give the msm a genuine "do you mean what you say now or did you mean what you said before?" angle of attack.
I think that most reasonable people would agree.
The term "government experience" is a general term, it doesn't describe any specific skill.
What specific skill is Sarah missing because she resigned from her office 14 months early?
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