Posted on 03/22/2011 5:08:01 AM PDT by FreeManDC
Sarah Palin’s standing with the American public has undergone a stunning reversal of fortune, according to two recently released polls. Just two and a half years ago, Sarah Palin’s star was ascending to the political heavens. A solid 53% of Americans held a favorable opinion of Mrs. Palin, while only 28% had a negative view. But according to a March 3 Bloomberg News poll, only 28% of Americans now hold a positive view of the former Alaska governor, while a stunning 60% see her in an unfavorable light. And a March 16 Washington Post-ABC poll found Palin’s negative ratings fell to a nadir of 37% among Republicans and right-leaning independents. How do we explain this stunning reversal for the immensely ambitious political wunderkind? Following John McCain’s surprise selection of Palin on August 29, 2008, and her well-received acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, she notched an impressive favorability rating of 53% as a virtual political unknown (all figures I cite are from the Gallup poll, unless otherwise noted). But as the campaign jolted toward the November election, stories began to circulate about a simmering discord between the McCain and Palin campaign staffs. “She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone,” complained a top McCain adviser just days before the election. “Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party.” Following the GOP’s sweeping losses on November 4, Palin’s favorability ratings still registered 48% — a respectable number, considering the predictable miscues of the grueling campaign. Soon shaking off the post-election blues, Palin’s first move was to establish SarahPAC, which would eventually raise $1 million for conservative candidates around the country. Throughout 2009, Palin’s favorability ratings cruised along in the acceptable low to mid 40s range. Palin’s heralded book Going Rogue came out on November 17. Even though the autobiography would eventually sell over 2 million copies, it also raised questions about the former candidate’s conservative credentials — even her character. Going Rogue highlights Palin’s endorsement of the controversial Title IX quota program. It reveals her predilection for gender-baiting clichés like “I’ve been living in a man’s world all my life.” The autobiography even suggests a mean streak. When then-boyfriend Todd told his friends that Sarah didn’t know how to kiss, Palin’s judgment was as harsh as it was swift: she “learned a lesson about guys that day: even the good ones can act like jerks.” As if women never gossip about their mates’ sexual prowess! Throughout the year Palin appeared at endless Tea Party rallies around the country. On February 6, 2010, Palin keynoted the inaugural Tea Party convention in Nashville, TN, cementing her position as the charismatic leader for the burgeoning movement. But in mid-2010, the apparently unstoppable train suddenly took a pro-feminist turn. During a May 15 speech at a Susan B. Anthony conference, Palin unveiled the term “Mama Grizzly,” and invoked the words “feminism” and “feminist” no less than a dozen times. This provoked predictable attacks from the NOW blowhards — and raised conservative eyebrows as well. Palin’s response was to accuse her critics, including her female detractors, of chauvinism — a stance that began to wear thin in the eyes of many. The cracks in Mrs. Palin’s formidable reputation began to show themselves in the Gallup poll taken after the November 2 elections. While she garnered a steady 40% favorability rating, for the first time ever her unfavorable numbers spiked to 52%. Perhaps the decisive turning point, though, was the day that Palin decided to take on Barbara Bush. First ladies occupy a revered spot in the American iconography, but apparently Palin was too tone-deaf to understand this. When the former first lady remarked that Palin might prefer to stay in Alaska rather than throw herself in the hurly-burly of national politics, Palin rebuked Mrs. Bush — and her family — as a group of elite “blue bloods.” Wrong move, Mrs. Palin. Then came her “blood libel” gaffe on January 12. And just last month, Palin insinuated former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was “Neanderthal.” Manhattan Institute scholar Heather Mac Donald has ridiculed the “feminist strain” of the Mama Grizzlies and notes that Palin “is living up to the most skeptical assessment of her.” But the real reason for her plummeting support is that many Americans are confused about who Sarah Palin is and what she really stands for. Is Mrs. Palin the tireless spokesperson for a recrudescent silent majority? Is she a have-it-all, do-it-all Super Mom? A dazzling, but ephemeral Media Maven? Or is she an old-school, quota-embracing, male-bashing feminist who also happens to be pro-life? Is she a shake-and-bake liberal whose political resumé includes support for the ill-fated bridge to nowhere and a record-breaking $6.6 billion state operating budget in 2007? Until Mrs. Palin takes steps to reconcile these apparent contradictions, these questions will continue to be grist for the political mill.
Ahh... Rand has never run for President, his father Ron did, and he’s a completely different person.
The son is far mroe reasonable than the father.
Ahh... Rand has never run for President, his father Ron did, and he’s a completely different person.
The son is far more reasonable than the father.
No harm at all. But because she has such strong opinions on many issues, don’t you find it odd with the dithering she is doing about the presidency? I hope she does run, as it will make an intersting primary. Run Sarah, Run! Do it already!
It just seems that the FR Sarah brigade is so touchy. I have made no secret that I am not a supporter. So what? I don’t support Huck or Romney either...fact is the Republican party is pretty vacuous right now.
It is a simple fact that no candidate has defenders on FR like Sarah Palin. Other politicians can be discussed and it is usually about their issues, but when she comes up, someone feels the need to ‘defend’ her and insult the detractor. This type of candidate generally doesn’t do well in elections.
I am simply a very wary voter. I don’t like bandwagon candidates and am tired of the retreads. In fact, politics in America has gotten utterly disgusting.
It is remarkable that so many here can’t get pissant out of their heads. It’s like the left with Bush. He must have really had their number.
You miss the point I was making, I didn’t say you supported Obama, I said you sound like one of his supporters did during the 2008 campaign with regards to Palin.
That’s my whole point, none of you seem to look at her subjectively, yes I agree with allot of her positions, that doesn’t mean she’s the second coming of Reagan, because she sure as hell isn’t.
And as for cult, yes, many of you sound like cult members, refusing to see anything negative about her and defending her to the bitter end no matter what facts are presented.
Pissant never bothered me. His case, however, illustrates that it doesn’t pay to go over the line with tasteless comments. Not if you want to stick around here.
Actually, I think you do. The term is "concern troll".
There you go again! Your question by itself assumes that she can’t win a big state. Why not? Is there any evidence that she can’t? I remember reading about a poll that said Reagan would lose to Ted Kennedy in his own state of California in 1979! - I’m not going to play your game in assuming anything, why can’t you wait until the campaigns begin and come back and tell us who actually looks strong in real time instead of hypotheticals
Points taken, although I do not agree with most of them. I see negatives in every candidate, I see less in Mrs. Palin, but to be sure she is a human and is flawed as are we all.
My point was simply that if it bothers you so much, find a new interest.
There are no “cults”, there are active supporters and passive supporters. I don’t know who you support, but I’ll bet I could present facts that you might take issue with.
I think at this point that she might run, and she might win. I don’t know, all I know is that she is a Bently in a parking lot full of Yugo’s.
If you wsant to push a boulder up a mountain, like I said: HAVE AT IT.
You aren’t going to convince me and I’m not going to convince you.
That’s why politics can be fun.
Pick your favorite and give her/him some help and see where it leads. Presidential politics is important but I’m not going to get an ulcer over it.
Obama is the problem, not anybody in the GOP. I just wish one of them would demonstrate some broad appeal and the ability to generate excitement theroughout the country.
I have yet to see a reasonable argument on why Palin should not run for the nomination and why she would not make a great POTUS.....
James 2:19 "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder."
You're thinking of his father, Ron Paul, but your point is well taken: as a national candidate, Rand Paul is a relative unknown, and a non-starter.
Like Sarah? Throw your favorite out there and the merits can be debated.
Obama isn't flawed. He is perfect. His wife is perfect. His children are perfect. Even his dogs are perfect.Did I get what you are trying to say right?The people who serve him do not get paid -- they pay him. Or rather, they make offerings to him, because of the great honor of serving such a perfect man.
The Nobel Prize Committee should have awarded the 1962 and all subsequent Nobel Prizes to him, for no human is more perfect or can be than Obama. Obama is not Muslim, but Mohammed would be an Obamlim. There is no greater prophet and object of worship than Obama.
When Obama golfs the ball leaps into the first hole then leaps again into the second, and on until it leaps into the 18th cup. Obama is the only golfer in History to score ONE. Every time he plays he merely has to hit the ball once! But of course, out of concern and love for us lesser humans he walks and carts with us as we tediously take 200 strokes to make 18 holes. His patience is magnificent, beyond that of even Buddha.
Now we have heard of this unspeakable, detestable hideous shrew of a woman they call Sarah Palin. Disease carrying garbage flies surround her like a filthy cloud where she goes.She inspires blood-lust and killing hatreds in her followers, who number among them the scum of humanity, the offal.
Palin is stupid, jealous, stinky and putrid. Every word that comes out of her mouth is so stupid, 50 honest men die for shame. She then guts them and makes sausage of their entrails and tea cozies from their skin. She feeds her thousands of bastard fruit of incest children with the sausage and markets it to Walmarts.
Bankers and the rich run to her and throw flower petals before her giant monstrous snow machine that her whale-skin and blubber wearing monstrous husband Todd (that's Eskimo for "slaughterer of innocent millions") sits stride, wile her children Bristol and Trig bite of the heads of onlookers.
Thanks. Learn something new every day.
Guys like Mike Pence, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, Herman Cain, Allen West, those are the guys I would like to see run.
Whether they run or not is unknown, and I know many would complain about Ran Paul, but he has far more experience than Obama did at this point in the game, he actually ran a business.
Now many may not agree with my choices, and I’m fine with that.
“Carey Roberts probes and lampoons political correctness of all political stripes. His work has been published in The Washington Times, WorldNetDaily, Townhall.com, and LewRockwell.com.”
LewRockwell.com? Well, that pretty much explains this guy.
- JP
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