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 ...
It wouldn't make any sense for her to announce now but come December the clock will be ticking and we don't want to get stuck with another McCain (or Romney in this case.)
Thanks again.
so if we believe Palin fights for us, when she is slammed unfairly, we just say its her job to defend herself??? That’s another reason why the USA is where it is, we all just take it lying down. The Libturds, rinos, and msm have to know this time, it’s not going to be their candidate
Look i only agree maybe with 80% of SP positions. I wish she would not be pro-interventionist for example, but bottom line she is a real conservative, and she has integrity and she cares about ordinary people who work and pay taxes. I trust her
I have no idea what you're saying here. Why shouldn't she defend herself when attacked? It seems to me she does a fantastic job of throwing it back at the fools who attack her in the media. I don't think her fans do it nearly as well as she does herself.
Thats another reason why the USA is where it is, we all just take it lying down. The Libturds, rinos, and msm have to know this time, its not going to be their candidate
I'm not talking about not defending her. I'm talking about people who attack anyone who dares put her through the POLITICAL--not private life--examination we give everyone else.
“If you think that’s Jefferson’s line, or that Jefferson wasn’t qualified for the office...”
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Wrong inference. Of course Jefferson was as qualified as any of the founders were, and all of them were qualified not from experience in government, but from real world activities in business and professional life. This is exactly what we desperately need right now.
Palin also is as qualified as any of the founders were for the same reasons. The Palins successfully ran three businesses, and Sarah has held and excelled in four public executive positions. This is that of which real qualification for the Office of president is made.
If by any chance there is another candidate out there that is qualified to run, they will be similarly qualified, and most certainly will not be members of congress!
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I would add that Andrew Jackson quit public office two other times.
He resigned from the House in September 1797 after serving only ten months.
He resigned from the Senate in April 1798 after serving only seven months.
LOL!
Were welcome.
I support Sarah Palin and I’m proud of it.
What happened during those two plus months?
A remarkably dumb article.
Gee. Palin took the trouble to go through the Alaska budget HERSELF! How horrible. She should have let her flunkies do it.
Well, in fact she did a pretty good job of it, cutting expenses, throwing out pork, and learning which of her advisers she could trust.
Sure, a President needs to rely on others. But a president also needs to get involved personally and make sure she knows what the hell those others are doing, and whether they are really carrying out her orders.
That was Bush’s problem. He meant well, but he never seemed to be able to control his bad appointments. They went astray, and he did NOTHING to correct them until the damage was so bad he had no choice. That happened repeatedly.
Keep in mind, that Ronald Reagan ALSO took a personal interest in important matters. He inserted that phrase, “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear down that wall!” not once but several times, as his so-called speechwriters and advisers kept taking it back out again. But Reagan stuck to it, and got it his way.
Palin did the same in Alaska. When she became governor, the party was corrupt and broken, and she did a lot to straighten it out—by taking a personal interest.
“And while supply-side conservatives are rightly thrilled at Palin’s mayoral record as a tax-cutter, fiscal conservatives again have reason for concern: the town’s long-term debt reportedly jumped from $1 million to $25 million.”
Oh, by the way, I have heard that the reason or the debt was because of the Wasilla Sports Complex which Palin, if I’m not mistaken, insisted be put up to a popular vote.
Oh I don’t know I think it had something to do with being the First Female VP Candide on the Republican ticket./sarc
Al B mentioned the debt is going to be paid off by next year. One less takling point dwon the drain.
I read Mr Hillyer’s essay and the 50 first comments so my point may have been made by others:
I must admit I laughed heartily when I read mr Hilyer’s likening to Palin pouring over the State budget line by line with the film “Dave”.
Has Mr Hilyer never heard of Margaret Thatcher?
Her claim to fame was the fact that she knew the policy papers of her minsters better than the ministers themselves. Having to do battle just as much within her own government as against the opposition it was the fact that she knew the nitty gritty details (and had the correct conservative gut felings) that made it possible for her to beat the “wets” (the UK equivalent of RINOs).
My interest in Mr Hilyer’s essay waned appreciably after that passage.
Certainly Sarah would benefit from a little seasoning and more experience. But, like I said - the country can’t wait that long; and Sarah is our best hope, IMO.
If she was on the ticket I would not hesitate voting for her...
I also seem to sense a certain morphing of the increasingly lemming-like attitude toward Governor Palin on Free Republic akin to the attitude of the Bushbot crowd here, who so totally became committed to ONE PERSON and often imagery over substance, over a set of principals that when this one person did something as an anathema toward Conservativism, you would invariably be called a "hater" or "basher" for simply taking issue--and often politely so--with whatever issue it was GWB wobbled on. These people (with exceptions) truly become unthinking automotons politically speaking. You could not get a point in edgewise, or any concession that a current approach by GWB (such as government spending or North Korean capitulation) was not in keeping with Conservatism.
Truth be told, on FR for the last 10 years, I always had a trouble with, and God Bless them anyway--the so-called "Day in the Life" and "Pray for President Bush" groupie threads because they were devoid of any real deep critical thinking nor political analysis, devoid of doctrine, and were often just a mere Amen Corner cheering on clever marketable products. When I a) begin to see some of those same cheerleaders now move into the forefront of the Palin camp adopt the same close-minded tone here on FR which is antethetical to open, respectful internal Conservative debate--in others not countenancing thoughtful concerns expressed about Gov. Palin; and b) it glosses over some concerns such as the McCain endorsement, the wobblyness on illegal immigration, etc., red flags go up in my mind.
This is not to say that I do not support her, as nobody has even announced for president and so I am neutral at this point. I am just saying we had better be very very careful as we move forward. I think some of the concerns I heard out there of people stepping out of our internal conservative box and looking at this from the viewpoint of the average voter out there (I know this is hard to do, this total, distanced objectivity), there is a certain shrill, at times whining-like type delivery by the Governor which can in fact be worked on over the next few months. I think that turns a number of people off and it is not her strong point.
Imagine how boring FR would be if we ALWAYS had the same opinions all the time,24/7. I would fall asleep myself. Be thankful to God for the variety. ;-) I am still in the furniture store and have not settled yet on what we are going to buy, is where I am at currently. 2012 is a long way off. Part of the things I am looking for is her unabashed support and vigorous campaigning for JD Hayworth in the Arizona general election, as well as her meeting with a cross section of Legal Immigrants in a Governor Palin Immigration Summit (an idea that has been floated). To quote the great Ronald Reagan himself (whom I personally knew): Доверяй, но проверяй. (Trust but Verify).
Certainly if she were the Presidential or Vice Presidential nominee of the GOP in the General Election (unless as VP, her Presidential running made was a total RINO phony, like McCain was), or in an Alternative Conservative Party as standard-bearer, why she would most definitely have my vote in November 2012 too, as things stand.
Sarah is ready. So is Michele Bachmann. So is Liz Cheney (if she wants it). All must play a role. I hope Bobby Jindal is ready too. All great folks.
Let's send oBama back to the beach, full time. I think the majority of Americans want this. And a crack legal team needs to finally find out where his birth cert is.....unless no one cares that we had a pRezident who the Manchurian.
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