South Carolina wants a 'more presidential' Palin

Washington Examiner ^ | 9 Dec 2010 | Byron York 1

[mandaladon]

If Sarah Palin wants to win the Republican nomination for president, she'll have to do well in South Carolina.

The state's first-in-the-South primary is a key indicator of a candidate's strength in the GOP's strongest region. In a state filled with social conservatives, veterans, and spending hawks, a candidate has to prove that he or she can appeal to a large swath of the Republican primary electorate.

So how would Palin do? "It's not a clear picture," says Oran Smith, head of the Palmetto Family Council, the state's top organization of social conservatives. Smith points to his group's 15-member board of directors as a cross section of South Carolina voters -- the last time around, there were McCain supporters, Huckabee supporters, Romney supporters and others. Now, Smith says, "They like Palin's values, but they're still hoping she can make herself more viable in the sense that she is a little more knowledgeable and a little more presidential. They're not going to be interested in her simply because she's conservative and nice and popular."

Of course, the council's board is not exactly a rank-and-file group. Ask Smith about the group's supporters across the state -- the people who donate money, respond to e-mail appeals, and are among the most conservative voters in South Carolina -- and the reading on Palin is more upbeat, but not without reservations. "She's wildly popular," Smith says. Even so, the ties between Palin and potential supporters are still a little tenuous. "I think they're not fully on board with her as a candidate," Smith says, "but deep down they would like to be."

[cicero2k]

All she has to do is look less bad than Obama. So how much gravitas does BO have, foriegn policy wise; anyway?

I think when she points out that we have more important problems than closing GITMO, repeal of DADT and fake green jobs; she’ll get support.

[allsouthern]

What an a**!!!

[WVKayaker]

A happy homemaker, and my hope for America...

Elect Sarah Palin for President 2012

Re-Elect President Sarah Palin 2016

[katana]

Nothing to be worried about, IMHO. I fully expect a very knowledgeable, articulate, almost policy-wonkish Sarah Palin to show up in the primary debates late next year and early in '012. That's assuming, of course, that she actually decides to run.

The woman is a natural fierce competitor, of very much underestimated intellect, whose policy statements on subjects she has familiarity with are at least as detail oriented and far more coherent than anything you'll hear from any of the other candidates being talked about.

She's lights out on energy policy and seems to be a very quick study. I expect she will still have the wink and twinkle in the eye, but when the time comes to show "gravitas" in a debate her performance will "shock" the casual observers who now only have the press invented "dumb" and aggressive but too country "Alaska Mama Bear" personas to tag her with.

[SoConPubbie]

We all saw the gap between her experience (not values, not ability, but raw experience dealing with evil) and the level necessary to deal with our anti-American media. In her first few national interviews, she looked to me like someone caught completely off guard, like she expected a friendly conversation that would be edited in a professional manner to tell the true story of who she was and what she believed instead of what she encountered (an ambush designed to elicit answers that could be edited for the specific purpose of making her look bad). Considering the unexpected nature of those first few sets of questions, I didn’t think she did a terrible job - certainly not great, but not terrible. When she and her children were attacked with an insane level of venom, she dealt with it remarkably well and stood up to the hateful liberals. I liked that, but it gave them a chance to call her “divisive”.

You are basing that opinion on interviews that were heavily edited in order to make her look as bad as possible.

Furthermore, if the last two years of her continually getting out in front of the fight and not letting any lie or attempt to twist the truth go without a response is not proof to you of how "Palin has a detailed plan for the evolution of her public image" then nothing will prove it to you.

You come across like a "concern" troll.

[agere_contra]

It’s a cosmetic point only, but some voice coaching lessons to take the edge off her speaking voice will do a lot for her.

I remind FReepers (not for the first time) that Thatcher’s original Grantham accent was harsh enough to erode the Schiarapelli canals on Mars. She took lessons and went on to save Britain.

Palin has much less of a problem with her voice, but I believe that some vocal coaching would be an excellent investment for her.

[JApost]

Go do what Cheney told leahy. And do it till you burst a major artery.

[MontaniSemperLiberi]

You can have him but we get to keep DeMint.

[t-dude]

OMG!

Post of the year!

That should put her in her place. Thank you!

LOL

[HospiceNurse]

You obviously have COD DS. Go CO’D!

[EyeGuy]

If we send you Albert Pujols, a case of toasted ravioli, a half dozen kegs of Michelob and Obama’s sniveling, idiot caddy Claire McCaskill, can we have Jim DeMint in Misssouri?

[MontaniSemperLiberi]

Trade DeMint? Who do you think I am? Harry Frazee?

[EyeGuy]

Ha!

Good one.

Though AP ain’t chopped liver.

[Pollster1]

You are basing that opinion on interviews that were heavily edited in order to make her look as bad as possible. Furthermore, if the last two years of her continually getting out in front of the fight and not letting any lie or attempt to twist the truth go without a response is not proof to you of how "Palin has a detailed plan for the evolution of her public image" then nothing will prove it to you. You come across like a "concern" troll.

No, my point was that the interviews were intended to be heavily edited. She spotted that in the interviews and became very cautious in her responses, which didn't look as bad as if she had never spotted that the interviews were intended to be hostile. I know it wasn't a fair interview, but it helped the far left media to tell the story they had written before they even knew the name of the nominee. Palin is already my top choice for the nomination by a huge margin - if she wants to run. My "concern" is whether she has a plan to work around the mainstream media and get her message to mindless MSNBC viewers and other swing voters, not to the true far left believers but to the viewers who watch because they like the clothes or the hair of the MSNBC reporters.

As for whether Palin has a detailed plan for the evolution of her public image, that is an entirely different question from whether she has a detailed plan to advocate for the positions that match her deeply held values. As a Tea Party leader, she just needs to get the base motivated and frame the message clearly, which she has done beautifully, better than any conservative since January 20, 1989. As a candidate for President, she needs to build her image among swing voters to such a level that she is immune to the massive media attack that will follow her announcement of her campaign for the White House.

[earlJam]

"They like Palin's values, but they're still hoping she can make herself more viable in the sense that she is a little more knowledgeable and a little more presidential. They're not going to be interested in her simply because she's conservative and nice and popular."

bump