Posted on 10/14/2010 3:13:11 PM PDT by roses of sharon
Think you know Sarah Palin? The former Alaska governor has been in the spotlight ever since John McCain named her as his running mate on Aug. 29, 2008. Yet, while practically everybody has an opinion about Palin, not all of those opinions are grounded in reality. Many of them are based more on a "Saturday Night Live" caricature than on the living, breathing, 46-year-old mother of five. The real Sarah Palin is a complex woman who has risen in no time from obscurity to the stratosphere of American politics, fusing celebrity and populism in novel ways. Now that she's laying the foundation for a possible presidential run in 2012, it's worth taking a moment to separate the fact about Palin from the fable.
1. Palin cost McCain the 2008 election.
She didn't. CNN's 2008 national exit poll, for example, asked voters whether Palin was a factor when they stepped into the voting booth. Those who said yes broke for McCain 56 percent to 43 percent.
Before Palin's selection, remember, McCain suffered from an enthusiasm gap. Republicans were reluctant to vote for the senator from Arizona because of his reputation as a maverick who'd countered his party on taxes, immigration, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and "cap and trade" climate legislation. But Palin's conservative record in Alaska and antiabortion advocacy changed the Republican mood. With her by his side, McCain's fundraising and support from conservatives improved. It wasn't enough to beat Barack Obama -- but McCain probably would have lost the presidency by a greater margin if he had, say, selected independent Sen. Joe Lieberman as his running mate, further alienating the GOP base.
(Excerpt) Read more at ht.ly ...
No one expected Palin's resignation on July 3, 2009, just 2 1/2 years into her term. Her hastily composed and clumsily delivered farewell address left many observers confused about her motives. Some of her critics were only too eager to fill in the gaps with conjecture and hearsay (She's being investigated by the FBI! Sarah and Todd must be headed for divorce!). If there was one thing everybody knew for sure, it was that Palin's career in politics was over. But none of the rumored scandals ever broke. The Palins remain married. And as for Sarah Palin's career, it's taken off. She plays a far greater role in American public life than she did before she left office.
When Palin returned to Alaska after the 2008 campaign, she confronted three problems. The political coalition on which she had based her governorship -- a combination of Democrats and renegade "Palinista" Republicans -- had, needless to say, collapsed. Her critics were using Alaska's tough ethics laws to launch investigations into her behavior, sapping her finances and her energy. Finally, every time she traveled to the Lower 48, Alaskans criticized her for putting her political interests above the state's.
Palin's solution was to resign. Her agenda stood a better chance of passing if then-Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who shared Palin's goals, succeeded her as governor. As a private citizen, meanwhile, Palin could make enough money to pay her legal bills. And she would no longer be accused of neglecting her official duties.
Some might say that Palin's resignation was shortsighted and showed that she was not ready for the demands of executive office. But if Palin had remained governor, she would have been denied opportunities to rally the tea party and fight in the battle over the Obama agenda. She would have been stuck on a regional stage. Instead, she's back on the national one.
There, fixed it for you.
I seem to remember she took a family vote and it was overwhelmingly in favor of her resigning.
Not to mention the unrelenting attacks on her children. Fighting back is much more difficult if you are in public office.
In my opinion, she had little choice.
Okay, I see the author writes for Weekly Standard. That explains why this isn’t another hit piece, although I’m a little surprised it made it into the (com)Post.
“Some might say that Palin’s resignation was shortsighted and showed that she was not ready for the demands of executive office.”
The speaking fee money was to good to miss. Her face earns her millions in the private sphere.
That she caused McCain to fail was propaganda put out by McCain’s campaign staff. That’s not a secret, the lib press reported them as the source, and without any regard to conflict of interest.
Well, she did take a political risk.
Risk is her mother’s milk...I think she thrives on it.
Nice! LMFAO!!!
8^D
She has more audacity—and self-reliance than Obama. She succeeded in winning office by her own efforts, without rich patrons behind her. I am not sure that she is the person best qualified to be president, but then that why they call it a race, don’t they? If she runs faster than the others, she will win.
McCain cost McCain the 2008 election, period.
Palin is the star.... she is going to be our next real president.
That is it in a nutshell.
I like the term "Constitutional Conservative."
She kept Bob Barr from coming in second.
bttt
There, fixed it for you.
I still don't know where that one came from. She brought him back and they almost had it won until bone-head McLame blew it in the debates, voted for TARP, and a couple of other moves which I can't really remember. It was almost as though he was self destructing on purpose.
agree Palin will be the next prez. She will have to fight the McCains, the huckster sleazy but I think the Romney crowd will be a bit tamer and not drag her thru the mud. Guess we will have to wait and see.
My barber insisted that Pailin was incompetent, because she said, "I can see Russia from my house." I explained that she had said nothing of the sort, that the quote was from Tina Fey.
Fixed again....
:-)
“McCain cost McCain the 2008 election, period.”
You expected McCain (or any GOP candidate) to overcome the low ratings to which Bush and the GOP Congress had reached?
Great minds and all that.......
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