Posted on 10/06/2011 8:46:17 AM PDT by Qbert
- “I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets…”
- From Sarah Palin’s statement announcing her decision not to run for president.
Um, probably not. Sarah Palin’s political voice had dwindled well before she announced her decision not to run. Now it will sink altogether into inaudibility. She will be no kind of force in future national discussions. She will have no sway over party debates. She will retain some starpower for a little while longer. She may for another cycle or two be able to help certain candidates for certain political offices raise some money. Even that will fade within two more years or four. Her political career was brief, bizarre, and sordid. But now at least it is definitively finished.
Palin will never become a party elder stateswoman. Over the past three years, it became apparent to all but a handful of cultists that her only interests were money and celebrity. She had no concept of public service, and no capacity to serve even if she had wished to do so. Soon even those last cultists will quietly abandon the argument. We talk often these days about makers and takers. Sarah Palin was the ultimate taker. She abandoned her post as governor of Alaska to cash in on lectures and TV. She squeezed her supporters for political donations and spent the money on herself. To adapt an old phrase, she seen her opportunities and she took ‘em.
In the end, she exploited, abused, or embarrassed almost everyone who had believed in her. Most embarrassing of all: she was never even a very good con artist. Everything that was false and petty and unqualified in her was visible within the first minutes of encountering her. The people she fooled were people who passionately wished to be fooled. To that extent, what was important in her story was not the faults and failings of Sarah Palin. There have always been grifters in politics. What was important in her story was the revelation of conservatism’s lack of antibodies against somebody with the faults and failings of Sarah Palin. That’s the story that should trouble us still.
Agree 100%.
What makes you think she is the maverick and outsider so many believe she is? What actions has she taken to show you she’s not a GOP insider?
Which candidates?
She wasn’t specific...she said Todd had taken those calls, though...I would like to know which ones; as well.
Whiny little b!tch, isn’t he?
Sarah’s political obituary has been written many times before, by men much better than this douchebag.
2010? Why not cite 2011? Obviously because her power’s already a thing of the past.
Clearly, many were waiting on her entry into the primary race, but she took herself out of the game.
She's not a contender now and her worth will fall accordingly, but almost forgotten? Can't say. Only time will tell.
One test will be whether or not her endorsement has value and if people seek it and/or her opinion.
“What makes you think she is the maverick and outsider so many believe she is?”
—First off, we need to retire the word “maverick”. It was a MSM term for McCain when he was stabbing Conservatives in the back. Palin taking on crony capitalism and corruption in her own party was an entirely different thing.
“What actions has she taken to show you she’s not a GOP insider?”
—Does her record as governor mean anything, or should we just cherry pick the “facts” and make dubious declarations?...
That is the question... I could see Bachmann or even Huntsman asking for her endorsement, anything to get a bump up out of the 4% and under category.
Seems that the “big 3” of Romney, Perry, and Cain - all of whom were pulling bigger numbers than Palin herself - really wouldn’t need her endorsement. They’re doing quite well with their own groups without her support.
OK, fine. So she's not a maverick like John McCain, whom she enthusiastically joined on the ticket and whom she enthusiastically supported for re-election. The same John McCain whom you rightfully call out for stabbing conservatives in the back.
We know the saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"; there's an implicit corollary that says "the friend of my enemy is my enemy". Were Palin's actions with McCain friendly or harmful to conservatism?
Does her record as governor mean anything, or should we just cherry pick the “facts” and make dubious declarations?...
Pray tell, what record? The one of supporting Frank Murkowski for election to the Alaska Governorship - getting on board with the GOP express?
Calling out the slimy Ted Stevens only after he had been indicted on Federal charges?
Supporting her lobbyist and co-ticket partner from her 2006 campaign when he was running against Don Young?
Or any of her stump-speeches where she supports the GOP and calls for people to unite and move the party forward?
Which one of those actions shows she's not a GOP insider?
Also, my post would be incorrect, not silly.
People who said they believed Sarah would run are INCORRECT.
People who said that she absolutely, positively would run, and would win every state, and 80% of the vote are SILLY.
Is Frum talking about himself here?
Sounds like Frum has a bad case of sour grapes...
Yawn.
I think we need to update your list then...
Reagan. Once voted for an abortion law, and selected O'Connor for the Supreme Court. Therefore, he was nothing more than an Establishment insider, and he was ultimately harmful to Conservatism...
Jim DeMint. Supported Mitt Romney for 2008. Thus, another insider...
Mark Levin. Supported Orrin Hatch for Senate in 2012. Oops, yet another GOP insider...
Well, gee. I guess everybody's a GOP insider!
If the maggot backstabber Frum thinks conservatives
will back his bedmate, backstabber Romney,
he should have his head examined.
Fifty million Americans will write in
“Sarah Palin” or vote “Mr. Cain” before they
even think of touching a lever labeled with Romney’s name.
Frum discloses more and more of his character's loathesomeness with every word he vomits.
This guy couldn't hold Sarah's jogging shoes. By the way, is he a citizen yet? Or is he still Canadian? I forgot ... if I ever noticed.
You'd think he'd have at least picked over and high-graded them by now.
My dad, rest his bones, didn't like the Beatles. He gave them 18 months.
Sarah set at defiance the heavily consultative habits of GOP insiders when, e.g., she did the bus tour. With debates and straw polls looming, she blew off all the conventional event attendance, refused to say what her plans were, but went on a bus tour over Memorial Day and led the media around on a merry chase through several states as they hung around waiting for her to announce a presidential run.
She DID NOT "run it by Ronnie and bounce it off Boomer" in the Republican way before doing any of this stuff -- she went off on her own hook, she didn't ask anyone for supportive statements or endorsements, nothing. As if the RiNO's didn't exist -- and that is intolerable behavior to them.
She did NOT ask for big campaign donations from the Usual Suspects -- corporate CEO's, 527 and PAC money-runners and bundlers, RNC doyens and poohbahs. She didn't hire Usual Suspect campaign advisors and financiers, pollsters and strategists. She didn't ask for proposals for an ad campaign. Nothing from nobody. That's independence, and in the Old Line GOP, that's bad.
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