Can we agree to disagree on many points? We are both here at FR, so somehow we are on the same side, no matter what. I don’t appreciate being called gay in this debate by you and others, totally off topic and distracting...
If Palin is the frontrunner, I will support her, you have my word, I will press the button in 2012 for her if that is what I am presented with. I was hoping to see a more diverse field, and you are correct, I have no names to offer, I am an observer, I think this has to do with the GOP’s fascination with Palin since 2007.
Cheney should have had the next shot after GWB (like Al Gore had after Clintoon), not McCain, I didn’t care that Cheney had/has a heart problem, so far he has survived, and he was a great VP for GWB and would have made a great President... Cheney/Palin would have been strong back in 2007... Rumsfeld, Schwarzcopf...
I will say it again, I like Palin myself, I think she is great, but I also see that many more do not, for whatever reason. We have an election coming up, and Palin will not turn one voter, maybe the opposite.
There exists a “Palin Bubble” and Palin suporters do not see it, I am hoping to point that out before it is to late... 53% of voters do not and will not support her. Maybe fieldmarshaldj can change that, let’s hope.
GWB got relected for a second term in 2004, thank god. Ever since, we have approached each election cycle beleiving our own hype, only to be trounced at the polls. We lost the seats in the house and congress in 2006, lost the Presidency to Obama in 2008, and faired evenly in 2010, at least where I am located in NC, surrounded by liberal democrats, even though I thought we were going to take over...
Somehow, we are disconnected from reality and the voters. We need to change that before 2012. Obama must be defeated.
The thing is that you (and the other anti-Palin people) have become broken records, and your complaints have all the marks of a “concern troll” (”Oh, I want to beat Obama, I really do, but we just can’t do it with Palin !”). It is simply nonsense. I don’t buy the polls because those pushing them are the haters. No, they are the ones who are terrified of her candidacy at the top of the ticket, because nobody equals her motivating drive in the party... nobody. In fact, I’ll go one better and say she’s more powerful at this point than Reagan was in 1978.
You acknowledge yourself you cannot even come up with any other names, and that is quite telling. We’re essentially 18 months away from having our definitive nominee for 2012, and at this point, if you can’t even come up with some viable names, what can I say ? I knew in 1996 that George W. Bush was probably going to be the nominee in 2000 because almost nobody else on our side was going to be able to likely match him (not to say I was “on fire” for him — I wasn’t — only that he looked to be the most viable and likeliest nominee).
Cheney wasn’t going to be Dubya’s successor simply because of the health issues. Would I have liked to have seen him as President ? Sure, but it wasn’t going to happen, and he made that plain well before 2008. I knew in 2000 that when he was chosen, it was a bit of a mistake on Dubya’s part because that would leave him with no clear successor for ‘08. It was a similar situation when Truman picked KY Sen. Alben Barkley in 1948. Barkley was never going to succeed Truman and it left the Dem party in a bad spot for 1952.
As I said, if you are that “deeply concerned” about one of the most popular and motivating members of our party, I’d submit you’re the one that has the blinders up. As for me, I don’t blindly support anyone, I support her because she is the BEST we have now. If there is anyone better and with as much star power, you need to cite names, or it’s going to continue to reflect badly on you. I will also add that if the concern trolling and the like persists amongst some members of FR where Palin is concerned, especially as we approach the election season in 2011, the owner here will not hesistate to start mass zottings, and I can tell you that this website will be (barring some calamity) firmly behind Palin.