Posted on 01/19/2016 7:59:42 PM PST by Isara
Back in December, I was at a small event in a Las Vegas bar; CNN's Jake Tapper was interviewing Sarah Palin. He asked which candidate she'd most like to grab a beer with. Her answer? Donald Trump.
Trump, of course, has been sober his whole life. But the moment perfectly encapsulates the Palin-Trump romance. Because in addition to endorsing a beer run with a man who doesn't drink, she also just endorsed for the presidency a man who is neither a committed conservative nor an anti-establishment rogue.
Trump's long history of liberalism is well known. He was once a registered Democrat who supported Democratic candidates, from Bill de Blasio to Hillary Clinton. He has said publicly that the economy usually does better under Democrats. At times he's supported legalizing drugs, raising taxes on the wealthy and embracing isolationist foreign policies.
But what's most jarring is the positions he's held on a number of issues that are particularly important to Palin.
In the past, he called himself "very pro-choice." Yet Palin - who made the very courageous and compassionate decision to have a baby she knew would be disabled - is unbothered.
On guns, he once supported a ban on so-called assault weapons and longer waiting periods to purchase a firearm. That should be deeply disconcerting to Palin, a Second Amendment firebrand who once said, "If you control arms, you control the people."
And Trump has supported universal health care - expressing admiration for Scotland's single-payer system as recently as last year. Palin spent years denouncing Obamacare, which is many steps short of a single-payer plan, as "socialized medicine."
These aren't minor policy differences. The beliefs long embraced by Palin and long eschewed by Trump are fundamental to conservatism. That Trump has suddenly gotten religion - on issue after issue - should be met by Palin with suspicion.
If his world-view weren't enough to make Palin cringe, Trump's inauthenticity as an anti-establishment candidate should be. Palin admirably took on what she called the "good old boy network" to become Alaska's first female governor. Now, she leaps to support a guy who helped create that network and who thrives in it. In what bizarre world is a billionaire real estate mogul who donates money to Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid "anti-establishment"?
Over the past eight years, Palin's influence within the Tea Party has remained strong, but her favorability rating among all Americans has dropped 40 points. Worse, her rating among Republicans has declined more than 55 points.
But despite that waning influence, I've supported and admired Palin for defending life, religious liberty and gun rights, and for being a strong mother to a disabled son and another serving overseas.
The Sarah Palin I knew in 2008 - the one who campaigned tirelessly and many times thanklessly for John McCain, a war veteran Trump has openly mocked - would have seen through Trump's charlatan candidacy. The Sarah Palin I knew in 2008, a devout Christian whose faith was constantly scrutinized by the secular left, would have no affection for a man who is constantly scrutinizing the devout Christian faiths of other conservative candidates.
The Sarah Palin I knew in 2008, who was a passionate and fearless voice for hockey moms, mama grizzlies and women everywhere, all while enduring patently sexist attacks from the left, wouldn't have supported a man who calls other women bimbos and slobs, thinks women who breast-feed and go to the bathroom are "disgusting," and criticizes another candidate for her looks.
That Sarah Palin is gone. Maybe one day, over a beer, she'll tell me why.
your sick!!
Do you ever sleep? How does a person post 24/7?
Stamina my friend
Concerned about the splinters in there eyes, are you?
I so agree with your assessment of Sarah now. It is tragic to watch this decay.
My prayer is that those in Iowa who want true conservatism will see this for what it is....and vote for Ted... I want a total upset on that night.
Meth. Lots of meth.
“I don’t have a link”
“I don’t have a problem with Trump making deals with the GOP establishment as long as the establishment gives in and does what is in the best interest of America (for a change).”
Trump is supposed to be anti-establishment. Now you want him in bed with the establishment not destroying them...making deals is what Bush the elder and the younger did enough of that crap.
The system needs to be changed not made deals with
The Establishment Republican party has been grossly negligent for decades in failing to support Republicans and Conservatives that are targeted, framed and falsely accused by uber leftist crypto Commie MSM and DemoRats, while failing to expose and prosecute criminal behavior to the point of trason by the same uber leftist crypto Commie MSM and DemoRats.
Scooter Libby.
Nice try.
New ethics rules in Alaska to take effect Dec. 22 [2010]
Dec 07, 2010
http://fairbanks.uber.matchbin.net/view/full_story/10563878/article-New-ethics-rules-in-Alaska-to-take-effect-Dec--22?
So, the Alaskans CHANGED the law because of how the Lefties took advantage of it, burning taxpayer dollars and tying up the government in the process.
Your argument is FAIL, and Palin's strategy was a SUCCESS, unless you can prove that the laws were changed in the other 49 states in response to abuse by political partisans.
We're waiting.
Sarah Palin sold her soul for one more trip through the limelight. Shame on her.
Trump supporting McCain in 2008 does not exactly boost is conservative cred. Conservatives were holding their collective noses on that on if you recall.
So their common ground is “rogue”. Pretty vague. I guess one could consider Fidel Castro a “rogue” as well, since that word only means a rebellious person fighting against the established system in this context.
Rogue says nothing to policy and issue stance. Will all the Trump supporters that love him for being a rogue still love him if he still thinks a single payer healthcare system is right for America after being elected?
Contrast Scooter Libby with John Kerry, who appears to have “accidentally” outed a 20-year Israeli asset on the inner circle of the Palestinian governing council.
Begone with your PC claptrap, and don't let the door of Free Republic hit ya where the Good Lord split ya.
Or more than one person posting on the same account.
It’s called “shift work”, in a lot of industries...
S.E. Cupp is concern-trolling Sarah Palin. S.E. Cupp is excellent MSNBC material.
Indeed. See my post above yours. I don’t post a lot but I do read FR everyday. There are so many unfamiliar names that are posting negatively about Trump and Palin around the clock.
Now it is “PC” to denounce someone who makes fun of a human being who was born deformed.
If anyone else but the great leader did that they would be ripped apart on this site, rightfully so.
But the zombies just nod their heads and say the man had it coming. After all, unless you bow to the great leader you are a loser!
Trump likes people with two working hands, anyone with a crippled hand is a looooser.
Trump’s comments about Sarah Palin not being allowed to speak at the Tampa convention are not my “opinion,” I saw them on television with my own two eyes. If you don’t believe me, then there is nothing more to say.
I do NOT want Trump to get in bed with the GOPe establishment. I hate those scumbags as much as you.
I want the establishment to do things the way Trump wants to do them. I want them to see things Trump’s way if he is elected. I want them to give in to Trump regarding building the wall, getting rid of the anchor baby crap, lowering taxes, bringing back our manufacturing base, etc. etc.
I want the GOPe to cave in to Trump, to throw in the towel.
It’s strange...like they’ve ‘acquired’ s/n’s here...with older sign up dates, etc.
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