Posted on 11/19/2010 6:50:35 AM PST by WebFocus
By telling Barbara Walters that she thinks she can defeat President Obama, Sarah Palin has dimmed hopes cherished by sensible Republicans that she might decide against a run for the White House in 2012. Here are just some of the reasons she should not run.
The Republican nominee should be someone with a vast and impressive record in government and the private sector. Voters chose a novice with plenty of star power in 2008 and will be inclined to swing strongly in the other direction in 2012. Americans will be looking for sober competence, managerial skill, and maturity — not sizzle and flash.
After the 2008 campaign revealed her substantive weaknesses, Palin was advised by those who admired her natural gifts to bone up on policy and devote herself to governing Alaska successfully. Instead, she quit her job as governor after two and a half years, published a book (another is due next week), and seemed to chase money and empty celebrity. Now, rather than being able to highlight the accomplishments of Sarah Palin’s Alaska, we get Sarah Palin’s Alaska, another cheesy entrant in the reality-show genre. She’d so much rather be out dog sledding than in some “dull political office,” she tells the audience. File that.
It’s true. She is wildly popular with a swath of the Republican electorate. And, as a conservative woman politician told me, political consultants (who get paid the big bucks, win or lose) will doubtless descend upon her with game plans showing how she can win in Iowa and then cruise to the nomination. Maybe. But the general election would be a problem, since 53 percent of independent voters view Palin unfavorably along with 81 percent of Democrats, according to a recent Gallup poll.
There is no denying that Sarah Palin has been harshly, sometimes even brutally, treated by the press and the entertainment gaggle. But any prominent Republican must expect and be able to transcend that. Palin compares herself to Reagan. But Reagan didn’t mud-wrestle with the press. Palin seems consumed and obsessed by it, as her rapid Twitter finger attests, and thus she encourages the sniping. She should be presiding over meetings on oil and gas leases in the North Slope, or devising alternatives to Obamacare. Every public spat with Dave Letterman or Politico, or the “lamestream media,” or (God help us) Levi Johnston, diminishes her.
Speaking of television, have you watched “Dancing with the Stars”? Calling the show cheesy would be too generous. Perhaps the former governor should not be blamed for the decisions of her adult daughter. Yet there in the audience we see Sarah and Todd Palin, mugging for the camera and cheering on their unwed-mother daughter as she bumps and grinds to the tune of “Mamma Told Me Not To Come.” Her parents had advised her, the 20-year-old Bristol told an interviewer, that she had to stay “in character” if she expected to win. Being “in character” evidently meant descending to the vulgarity that DWTS peddles on a weekly basis. The mama grizzly was apparently unfazed by, or — equally disturbingly — unaware of, the indignity. And she is supposed to be a conservative culture warrior?
Voters prize judgment, above all, in a presidential candidate. Some of Sarah Palin’s 2010 endorsements were sound and arguably helpful. Others betrayed flightiness and recklessness. Tom Tancredo, Palin’s choice for governor of Colorado, has ridden his anti-immigration hobby-horse in a style perfectly suited to alienate Hispanic voters (describing Miami, for example, as a “Third World city”). Her endorsement of Christine O’Donnell was irresponsible and damaging, losing a seat that would otherwise have been a Republican pick-up. Of course, O’Donnell received an absurdly disproportionate amount of ink and attention during the race (the liberal press naturally seizes upon any opportunity to make conservatives look kooky), but Palin should have anticipated that. Besides, this one cannot be laid at the feet of the biased media. O’Donnell was a thoroughly unqualified candidate.
Palin has many strengths. I admire her fortitude and her principles. Her ability to connect with a crowd is something most politicians can only dream of. I will always remember her 2008 convention speech as a rollicking star turn. She would be terrific as a talk-show host — the new Oprah.
But a presidential candidate? Someone to convince critical independent voters that Republicans can govern successfully? Absolutely not.
— Mona Charen is a nationally syndicated columnist.
I tell ya something I wish all these chicken littles would just go play in traffic.
Mona Charen has for years been an outstanding writer. Like many here, I love what Sarah has done and what Sarah IS doing. She has more brass ones than 10 men from the GOP. She has no qualms about barking right back at the absurdities that the left tosses out daily.
What the GOP needs is a person nominated for president that ALL GOP and Independants and part of the Dems can really get behind. I know good conservatives who will NEVER vote for Sarah. Makes my head explode, but true.
What we also need is to go back to the way we USED TO nominate a presidential candidate - chosen AT the GOP convention by ALL states equally. I do NOT want people in Iowa and New Hampshire choosing who will be our candidate, nor do I want the GOP Rinos choosing either. (Dole, McCain)
Paul Ryan is from my state - he is excellent, a bit young but a bright new face to be part of the future GOP. Thune just voted FOR the Food Bill gubment takeover! Yikes. BTW, if Wisconsin can turn from nearly all blue to nearly all RED, any state can do it. Don’t let your guard down now, as the Dems are in “full speed ahead” mode. Just as we thought Bubba was a goner after Monica, he came back for another 4 years.
..conservative activists and bloggers will have Romney for breakfast AGAIN if he even thinks about running—establishment RINOs never learn...
She’s an empty suit. She’s the GOP’s version of Barack Obama. She has written two books? So what? The woman has no real record of accomplishment and has parlayed being a moron into wealth and notoriety. Palin is a combination of “Being There” and “A Face In The Crowd.” And I want her kept as far away from the White House as possible.
I have never seen her resignation as governor as a liability. She did the right thing - for the state and for herself and her family.
She has built a huge following and given herself an even bigger megaphone. Sarah has become a force to be reckoned with.
In a way, she stole tactics from the media. As governor, she was a sitting duck and she had to take the brickbats that the media was constantly lobbing at her. In her current liberated state, she can fire back at will and without warning. She has used this new situation extremely well.
Every statement she makes gets her national attention. She boosted many unknown candidates in the 2010 elections.
Are you naturally so optimistic, or do you have to work hard at it?
Here's an example:
Republican Vote for New Nanny State Regulations on Food Producers
“Here is the list of Obama’s Republicans:
Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Enzi (R-WY)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Johanns (R-NE)
LeMieux (R-FL)
Lugar (R-IN)
Snowe (R-ME)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)”
That being the case, I can understand why you would agree with the author.
My prediction is this: Later that night 122 Uhaul vans appear at the White House and move Obama back to his homeland...Kenya.
RE: She’s an empty suit. She’s the GOP’s version of Barack Obama. She has written two books? So what? The woman has no real record of accomplishment
I’d like to read your comments regarding POST #3 above which LISTS a record of her accomplishments as Governor of Alaska.
I agree with every word Mona said. And, she is neither a RINO nor an elitist. If Palin wins the nomination, I will do everything I can to help her win. But I think we will be throwing away an opportunity to beat a wildly unpopular Obama.
Living in the "Beltway Bubble" certainly does seem to corrupt conservatives.
Hi.
Of course you agree. How is Mitt?
How are his Utah cheerleaders? Lot of PDS there, right?
He was another I was for the war until I'm against the war.
Reagan would have hated Savage because of the damage to Conservative movement!
How was breakfast down at the Holiday Inn with your liberal friends ? You are so full of B.S. that it is overflowing out of your ears man. And you call yourself a conservative ?
Well said.
That 92% approval rating began to evaporate shortly after Sarah’s nomination as VP. Now, she does not have enough residual popularity, even in her own state, to help defeat a write-in candidacy for a Senate seat.
If she gets the nomination, we wont want your support. you can just go away and a crow sandwich on election night 12.
bookmark for later
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