Posted on 04/07/2010 1:32:58 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
Conflicting loyalties seem to have resulted in some surprising political decisions by Sarah Palin.
On Monday here at NewsReal Blog I argued that Govenor Sarah Palin’s active support of John McCain’s Senate reelection campaign makes no sense. Palin, after all, doesn’t owe McCain anything. Whatever debt she might have owed McCain she paid off during the 2008 presidential campaign.
In fact, if anything, it seems to me that McCain is indebted to Palin. This because his ‘08 campaign really did her a disservice, and also because McCain staffers have since betrayed the former Alaska governor with malicious and disparaging leaks to the media.
Many of the commenters to my post don’t disagree. However, they write, there is one laudable reason why Palin is actively supporting McCain: loyalty.
Fair enough. Loyalty is important. But it seems to me that Palin has competing loyalty obligations; and that she chose to be loyal to McCain when she just as easily could have chosen to be loyal to other people and other principles instead.
For example, Palin knows that some of her most steadfast supporters in the conservative and Tea Party movements have very profound and important differences with McCain.
These Palin supporters believe that on too many critical issues — including free speech (aka “campaign finance reform”), military modernization, and illegal immigration – McCain is a liberal wolf in a conservative sheep’s clothing.
What about loyalty to these people? What about loyalty to their issues and concerns? Why does loyalty to one man, one politician, outweigh loyalty to millions of dedicated conservative and Tea Party activists?
And why does personal loyalty to a man (McCain) outweigh loyalty to a set of conservative political principles?
No one’s saying that Palin had to actively oppose McCain. That might, indeed, have been awkward and ill-advised given that she was his vice presidential running mate.
But why did Palin have to go out of her way to actively support and campaign for McCain? Why couldn’t she have praised both McCain and his challenger, Rep. J.D. Hayworth, while remaining neutral in the Arizona Senate race?
I can think of two possible explanations offered up, respectively, by journalists Conor Friedersdorf and Matthew Continetti.
Friedersdorf says that Palin simply may not be the conservative her steadfast supporters think she is. She may, in fact, be a John McCain Republican. This would mean that she is liberal on some issues, moderate on others, and conservative about a few things.
Continetti notes that since being thrust into the national limelight, Palin has “become incredibly rich.” It may be — and this is me speaking, not Continetti — that because of her newfound riches, Palin feels an understandable debt, literally and figuratively, to Sen. McCain.
If true, that’s fine. Making money to support one’s family is honorable. But that’s a different type of loyalty, I think, than many of the governor’s defenders have in mind.
John R. Guardiano is a writer and analyst in Arlington, Virginia. You can follow him on Twitter: @Guardian0.
I thought for sure someone would post a LIVE thread. :(
I was talking with eldest son on the phone. Priorites, ya know.
Facts at their fingertips, articulate, quick witted, and RIGHT.
Wouldn't you love to see a debate between Sarah and Michelle and Barack and Joe?
Humiliation for the bad guys! It would be ssswwweeeeet!
everyone knows what JD Hayworth is like; except Joe Arpaio because he is just like him.
Perception and your family's experience is nice but in the 1950s, about 26% of married women with kids worked, including my mother, probably non of us had stay at home dads though.
I wonder how far you will go to stop your wife from being President of the United States and leader of the conservative movement if it ever becomes a real possibility.
So Sheriff Joe is a bad guy because he enforces the law?
Link please.
I shouldn’t have included my mother along with the marrieds, she was divorced.
That’s what I’m afraid: of the tens of thousands of nervous nellies in AZ will reject Hayworth and stick with their painful McPain.
He enforces laws which don’t exist.
Yep, that's why he never got out there and campaigned against it until the very last minute when it was sure to pass. He's supposed to be fighting Obama, standing up for us, yet he spends all his time in Arizona fighting JD. He always has been useless.
LOL. Oh.
You may not realize this, because you seem pretty oblivious to just about everything in Arizona, but Joe is just about the most popular politician in the state. He is the ONLY one out there doing the job we hired him to do. He's the ONLY one enforcing the law as it was written. So great, if JD is like Sherrif Joe, then that's one more reason to vote for him.
Google the legal problems Arpaio has.
You’re from out of state.
Sarah Palin is not a Congresswoman. What planet are you on?
Something is wrong when someone wants to bring Sarah's family situation into criticism. What is your problem?
That begs the question: Is Bachmann a) a "RINO" or b) stupid? Either way, by your definition, Bachmann is not qualified to hold office.
You seem very naive, how old are you, 15? 17? You couldn't possibly be an adult and be that oblivious to just about everything that is going on. You mean to tell me that you can't see a witch hunt when you see one?
Including the federal grand jury who have subpoenaed witnesses cuz Sheriff Joe sent deputies to Maricopa County employees homes to harass them?
Oh please! A prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich if he tells the grand jury to do it. Everyone knows that. He went after corruption, but I guess you don’t want corruption stopped. They are really going after Joe because he’s going after illegals. Too many people like having those under the table employees. Hire them for a job, promise them $14.00 an hour and when it comes time to pay them give them $100.00 and tell them if they don’t like it you’ll turn them in. Those are the people who are pushing this.
Yeah, So? I got a brother who lives in Phoenix.
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