CPAC Chairman: Palin Not Ready for Presidential Run [Dave Keene? Who's Dave Keene?]

newsmax ^ | Today | Kessler

[jessduntno]

CPAC Chairman: Palin Not Ready for Presidential Run

Thursday, July 9, 2009 8:27 AM

By: Ronald Kessler

Sarah Palin needs to stop whining about unfair media coverage and get over the fact that some people don’t like her, Dave Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, tells Newsmax.

Palin doesn’t seem to get that politics is a tough game, says Keene, one of the country’s most astute political observers.

The American Conservative Union, with 1 million members, runs the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington and publishes an annual "Rating of Congress," the gold standard for ideological assessments of members of Congress.

“You’ve got to recognize that there are people who want you to fail,” Keene says. “And if you spend your time worrying about them, or whining about what they say, at the very least it’ll get you off your game, because you ought to be worried about what you’re going to do, not about what they’re going to do to you.”

Resigning as governor of Alaska only compounded Palin’s problems, which have been accumulating since the November election, Keene says.

“In the period leading up to the resignation, she needed to get over the fact that people didn’t like her,” Keene says. “Get over the fact that she harbored resentment for the McCain people that used her. All of those things are true, but she got more out of it than they did, and she had to begin to move on with what she needed to establish in terms of her own image, to move to the next level. And she delayed doing that.

"Now it becomes more difficult because of the way in which she bailed out on the governorship.”

David Keene, Managing Associate of the Carmen Group Lobbying Firm, and Head of CPAC, Alexandria, VA.

Political contributions in 2008 election cycle:

KEENE, DAVID, ALEXANDRIA,VA 22314 THE CARMEN GROUP/EXEC 5/1/07 $1,000 Specter, Arlen (R)

KEENE, DAVID, ALEXANDRIA,VA 22314 THE CARMEN GROUP/EXEC 12/19/07 $800 Specter, Arlen (R)

KEENE, DAVID, ALEXANDRIA,VA 22314 THE CARMEN GROUP/EXEC 12/19/07 $200 Specter, Arlen (R)

Add to this the fact that this bum also endorsed Romney in December 2007 and you got a guy that has "part of the problem" stamped on his forehead.

DO NOT DONATE TO CPAC!

86 posted on 07/09/2009 11:53:57 AM PDT by Antoninus (Time to fight back--donate to Free Republic, then donate to www.sarahpac.com)

[Antoninus]

David Keene, Managing Associate of the Carmen Group Lobbying Firm, and Head of CPAC, Alexandria, VA.

Political contributions in 2008 election cycle:

KEENE, DAVID, ALEXANDRIA,VA 22314 THE CARMEN GROUP/EXEC 5/1/07 $1,000 Specter, Arlen (R)

KEENE, DAVID, ALEXANDRIA,VA 22314 THE CARMEN GROUP/EXEC 12/19/07 $800 Specter, Arlen (R)

KEENE, DAVID, ALEXANDRIA,VA 22314 THE CARMEN GROUP/EXEC 12/19/07 $200 Specter, Arlen (R)

Add to this the fact that this bum also endorsed Romney in December 2007 and you got a guy that has "part of the problem" stamped on his forehead.

DO NOT DONATE TO CPAC!

[MadIsh32]

Bull

If we can’t criticize our own, how the hell can we improve ourselves?

If you want to stick your head in the sand and say “hey everything is A-OK” you can watch Dems pick more seats and win more elections

I live in reality. Reality is Governor Palin, while the victim of vicious attacks, has a lot of work to do.

I expect results, not whining from conservatives

[MadIsh32]

How is hypocrisy?

Did you ever hear the CPAC chair say one positive thing about President Obama?

Really?

Why are you even talking about the President here? Grow a spine!

[lucky american]

CPAC is full of it! So goes RNC. I received another letter from them asking for a donation. I cut the letter into strips ( Their Anti-Obama talking points) and I pasted it back onto a paper with my response and mailed it in the post paid envelope. There is no difference between the parties and I believe this is what Sarah believes also.
I will donate to Sarah Pac.

[MrDem]

STUPID ASS! Yes politics is a bare knuckleball sport but what has been done to Palin is the worst I’ve ever seen.

[jessduntno]

“Again, the Palin supporters show their lack of spine and their continued goddess worship (in a sickening Obama like way) of Governor Palin”

Huh? Go off your meds?

[piytar]

What is the election this year? Nope, it’s in 2012, and she’ll be more than ready by then, Keene, ya dope.

[yoe]

Who says Sarah Palin is running? Has she mentioned it? Sarah Palin will be a polished winner when she does run, if she runs. Meanwhile she is energizing the conservatives in the country regardless of party affiliation. Palin tells the truth and that will hurt those who want America to be Europe West....who want Unions to rule the work place...who want to give salaries, medical perks and pensions to teachers and unionized workers who don't have or don't want jobs.....Sarah Palin just might shed enough light on those and other issues to help Americans who do work turn the Welfare tables and other give away to cronies programs, on the Washington Swamp/Cess-Pool in 2012.

[opaque soul]

Yea, people don't like her the same way they didn't like Ronald Reagan. She scares the crap out of them cause they know she'll clean their collective clocks. I want daring and bold conservatives, not wimpy, TV Evangelist style politicians telling us we need them to run our lives... FU!

[9YearLurker]

So we know the Mittster has donated to the National Review’s foundation. Anyone want to venture a guess as to how much he’s donated to the ACU the last few years? Of course, the good news is that just because he doesn’t like Palin—she doesn’t have to pay any attention to or respond to him!

Of course, she’s got way more political experience than Mitt, whose extra 16 months supposed serving as governor while he was really traveling the country and whose signature political act while there was instituting a Democrat Party-model mandated/government healthcare plan. But Mitt is held up as an example of a politician who somehow earned the right to run for president.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

No WONDER I don't give any money to CPAC or the RNC anymore.

[theknuckler_33]

Wow, you mean, I’m not the only one?

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Rather than creating the impression she is a quitter, Palin should have remained as governor and “carved out some time to run her operation nationally so she could get out of the state to do a few speeches,” Keene says. “She should have taken this time to establish that she’s a heavyweight — not just a political heavyweight but substantively heavy.”

This guy is absolutely clueless as to what was going on in Alaska with the Death from a Thousand FOIAs scenario playing out, or exactly how difficult his suggestion would be for her to carry out geographically.

A Map-Based Answer to the Palin Question

[MadIsh32]

Look at this thread.

A conservative gives Governor Palin some constructive criticism. Which we as conservatives should do.

And everyone in this thread explodes. Its laughable, and quite frankly sad, what has happened to our movement if we are unable to provide constructive criticism to our own

[johncocktoasten]

My guess is that Dave is just performing an experiment to find out how quickly the donations to ACU can dry up, while SarahPAC rises by a similar total.

[SoConPubbie]

Keane is correct. Governor Palin needs to toughen up and worry about what she is doing, not what others say about her.

No, Keene is not correct.

What Keene, and the rest of the middle-of-the-road non-fighting "conservatives" have either purposefully or ignorantly done is confuse fighting back with whining.

The general public and most all regular voters out there get this. Only the DNC, the Media, RINOS, and the disaffected supporters of moderate and non-fighting GOP presidential candidates don't get it.

Furthermore, Freepers who take this line are mostly disengenuous supporters of some other potential candidate.

[Hawthorn]

>> I expect results, not whining from conservatives <<

Don't you realize that whining is a lot easier?

And maybe more fun too!

[Antoninus]

The ACU just jumped the shark.

[FourPeas]

LOL. That was my first thought, too.

[steve-b]

Indeed. It’s like watching a DU thread where somebody dares to criticize His Obamatude.

[jessduntno]

I live in reality. Reality is Governor Palin, while the victim of vicious attacks, has a lot of work to do.

You live in DUmmie land.