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Perry, Palin aren't running, just enjoying the ride
Beaumont Enterprise ^ | July 3, 2011 | Thomas Taschinger (I bet is a democrat)

Posted on 07/03/2011 7:57:06 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

Rick Perry and Sarah Palin aren't stupid, no matter what you might think of them. They are riding a comet, and they are in no hurry to get off.

I'm talking about the possibility of running for president.

Neither one will probably take the plunge. Given the realities of modern campaigning and fund-raising, they'd already be in this thing if they were serious about it. Both are content in their real jobs - Perry as governor of a huge state, Palin as a money-making-machine and voice of the hard Right.

But why stop the fun?

As long as they are referred to as "possible" candidates, they have an influence that just can't be beat.

Every speech and political move they make is followed with enthusiasm by the 24-hour news cycle. Witness Palin's earlier bus tour of the East Coast. If she were officially a non-candidate, she'd attract little or no coverage for a stunt like that. But her bus was eagerly followed by packs of reporters who hung around her just in case something happened, like an announcement that she was running.

Turns out nothing happened, except she muffed the reason for Paul Revere's ride. ("Hey, you British! The British are coming!")

It's possible that a wavering candidate can attempt a what-the-heck late fling that defies all the conventional wisdom about how to run for president, but that's risky. It probably won't succeed, and you will probably look like an idiot when your candidacy inevitably craters.

That undoes everything that the earlier tease built up - that you are a serious person who deserves to be considered for the most important job on earth. In the case of Palin, who is wavering on the edge of respectability, that's a mistake you don't want to make.

No, this is something you want to stretch out as long as possible. You give major speeches on important issues. You go to meetings and conventions you'd otherwise blow off. If national interest is waning, you hint that you might be jumping in after all.

And it's always possible, of course, that lightning will strike and party elders will beg you to ride to the rescue if no strong contender emerges. In Perry's case, this raises his stock for a VP selection, though he probably doesn't want that either.

Eventually, the game will end. A front-runner will emerge, or the primary season will be so close that the Hamlet act runs out of steam.

But for a few weeks, or a few months, you are one of only a handful of people who might someday be ... the president of the United States. That's a heady feeling, and in fact you'd almost be a fool not to flirt with the idea.

Besides, if nothing else, you can always tell the grandkids about it some day.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2012; gopprimary; guesswork; hitpiece; junk; palin; pdsattack; perry; rickperry; sarahpalin; speculation
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To: PSYCHO-FREEP

“Lively” like, It isn’t lively enough now?


41 posted on 07/03/2011 9:26:03 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: org.whodat

And The Clintoon “did not have sex with......that woman....” either. Fact: Paul Revere warned the British. What does intention have to do with it? Nothing. Nothing at all.


42 posted on 07/03/2011 9:26:28 AM PDT by dools0007world (uestion)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

No doubt!


43 posted on 07/03/2011 9:26:35 AM PDT by PSYCHO-FREEP (Always Remember You're Unique.......(Just Like everyone Else.))
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To: Cincinatus' Wife; Polybius

As a ‘Potential’ Presidential Candidate, Life Is Good

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2743202/posts

Highly recommend reading posts 22 and 27 by Polybius, links direct to these posts;

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2743202/posts?page=22#22

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2743202/posts?page=27#27


44 posted on 07/03/2011 9:26:43 AM PDT by Clairity ("The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected." -- VP Dick Cheney)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Take your pick! :)

PhotobucketPhotobucket

45 posted on 07/03/2011 9:28:51 AM PDT by smoothsailing
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To: unseen1

She was not ask a question, the reporter ask her how were things going. Sort of one of those nice day statements, a good answer would have been wonderful. And her statement was not an answer, it was gibberish.


46 posted on 07/03/2011 9:32:07 AM PDT by org.whodat
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Actually, that would be a good thing.
Then, if we could Cain and Bachman to flip a coin and decide who gets to run, we’d be down to ONE conservatives candidate. Everybody endorses this one candidate, the conservative base gets behind them, and suddenly Romney, Huntsman, Gingrich and all the other RINOs are completely irrelevant.
Then its Obama’s turn.


47 posted on 07/03/2011 9:32:18 AM PDT by Little Ray (Best Conservative in the Primary; AGAINST Obama in the General.)
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To: PSYCHO-FREEP

Gov Palin and Gov Perry are both smart enough to not push the Right into the arms of a third party candidate. If they both run in the GOP primary, one of them would bow to the stronger candidate and then campaign for them. They are not destructive. They know a 3rd party choice would give Obama another 4 years to finish off this country.


48 posted on 07/03/2011 9:32:35 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: org.whodat

got a link to the video or audio of where the reporter asked her that question?


49 posted on 07/03/2011 9:35:56 AM PDT by unseen1
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To: unseen1; org.whodat
The "gotcha" question.....

"What have you seen so far today and what are you going to take away from your vistit?"

That is it verbatim and in its entirety.

It wasn't even about Paul Revere and it certainly was not a "gotcha" question.

50 posted on 07/03/2011 9:40:10 AM PDT by wtc911 ("How you gonna get down that hill?")
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To: org.whodat

Yes, Palin fumbled some wording about Paul Revere in an impromptu moment but she was basically correct. It caused me to research the history of the ride and to learn something. Any article that describes what she said in the way this one does is intellectually dishonest and not worth reading in my opinion.


51 posted on 07/03/2011 9:40:35 AM PDT by MulberryDraw ( Switch off the EPA.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Nobody is more aware of that fact than me. It alarms me that so many here believe that the general public is absolutely sold on a strong Conservative candidate. Especially, this dream that the most conservative candidate will win in a landslide, when most of the polls show that the country is still very much evenly divided.

With fraud, immigration, Welfare recipient class, etc, we are looking at another near 50/50 election again. It will be close, in spite of all the projection and claims of the opposite.


52 posted on 07/03/2011 9:41:21 AM PDT by PSYCHO-FREEP (Always Remember You're Unique.......(Just Like everyone Else.))
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Thank God Sarah will win both elections and be our nexr President.It becomes obvious with each passing event.


53 posted on 07/03/2011 9:44:28 AM PDT by ardara
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To: wtc911

Yes, it was more of having a nice time statement.


54 posted on 07/03/2011 9:45:30 AM PDT by org.whodat
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To: smoothsailing

I don’t think Palin is running.

Perry/Bolton


55 posted on 07/03/2011 9:45:34 AM PDT by Clairity ("The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected." -- VP Dick Cheney)
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To: PSYCHO-FREEP; Clairity

Clairity’s links in Post #44 are certainly something to toss in the political pot of punditry.


56 posted on 07/03/2011 9:46:27 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: PSYCHO-FREEP

“Romney would then walk all over the general primaries like McCain did.”

This is our greatest danger — the conservative vote being split among many candidates, and Romney becomes the nominee, just to lose spectecularly to Obama.


57 posted on 07/03/2011 9:48:07 AM PDT by Clairity ("The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected." -- VP Dick Cheney)
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To: Clairity
Perry/Bolton

Not Bolton. I love the guy but, no way.

58 posted on 07/03/2011 9:49:05 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: dools0007world

If you ask a kid in school about. Paul and what he did, an improper answer would be he rode out to warn the British. I do not care what planet you are from, that is the fact.


59 posted on 07/03/2011 9:49:47 AM PDT by org.whodat
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

I am not hard over on Bolton -— I am thinking of him as a good VP for Perry, the same way Cheney was for Bush. While Bolton is not quite Cheney, but he would bring foreign policy experience, while Perry could run on the economy.

But I’ll be happy with whomever Perry picks as VP. :)


60 posted on 07/03/2011 9:54:50 AM PDT by Clairity ("The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected." -- VP Dick Cheney)
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