Posted on 12/03/2010 6:21:37 AM PST by Uncledave
When I see the fervor of Sarah Palin’s fans — and by no means just those who swell the adoring crowds who go to her public appearances — I am convinced that the question is not, “How can she win the GOP nomination?” but “How can she not win it?” When you have anywhere between five and fifteen GOP candidates, all expressing basically the same conservative views, how can anyone other than the only one with the passionate fan base possibly win? And yet: Reading between the lines of what conservative-movement people are saying and writing, there is a great deal of worry about the prospect of a Palin nomination. I would summarize the GOP political writers’ consensus as follows: She must never be criticized, and she must never be nominated.
The most basic underpinning for this view is the notion that she can’t beat Obama, and I think this is a profoundly mistaken assumption. It is based on a too-abstract understanding of the qualifications for the presidency: It holds Palin up against an ideal presidential résumé, and finds her inadequate — which is true enough, but neither fair nor quite relevant. It’s important to remember that in a 2012 general election, she would be confronting not an ideal presidential profile, but an all-too-human flesh-and-blood opponent. The choice between Palin and Obama, phrased in the least flattering (to Palin) possible way, is a choice between a woman who may turn out to be seriously inadequate to the job and, therefore, become a failed president; and a man who has already convincingly demonstrated that he is seriously inadequate to the job and, therefore, already is a failed president. This rather changes the “electability” issue, doesn’t it?
I talked to a savvy GOP politico early this evening, who told me that he believed the Palinmania of her backers — which, as I said above, I consider the gamebreaker for the primaries — will peter out once she goes to Iowa or New Hampshire for the umpteenth time. At that point, he said, she will be seen as just another candidate, and therefore judged on a more even playing field. This commentator knows politics much better than I do, but I remain unconvinced. So far, every gaffe Palin has made and every attack she has endured have only soldered her supporters more securely to her cause. At this point, I think the only way this bond could be broken is through something politically nuclear — the equivalent of Lonesome Rhodes’s famous meltdown at the end of the great 1957 movie, A Face in the Crowd. And anybody who is seriously hoping that, right before the New Hampshire primary, a tape will be released on which Palin is heard referring to Granite State voters as “idiots, morons, and guinea pigs” — well, let me just say that such a person would be letting his hatred of Palin eclipse his common sense.
No, I think the only way Palin will not be the GOP nominee is if she finds a safe, face-saving way to exit the race before the primaries. Some of her supporters may well be working on it: Here is an op-ed, non-ironically titled “Is Sarah Palin Too Good to Be President?” The author says:
Simply, the confines of the presidency may prove too narrow for a name that scales new heights (or, to some, plumbs new depths) in ubiquity and provocation. . . . The iconic images of Sarah the moose-hunter and fisher-woman (many courtesy of her hit TLC show Sarah Palin’s Alaska) and Sarah the tireless, principled and so gosh-darned unpolished campaigner and pundit do not mesh with the duties of the policy wonk in chief, navigating the political terrain, working within the constraints of a one-industry town and facing retirement and decline after a four or eight year apex of public service. Likewise, Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican president with progressive leanings, is as beloved today for his bluster, manliness and war record as he is for his presidential term from 1901-1909.
So she may decide to settle for being a beloved, world-historical figure like TR, and leave the presidency to lesser men (or women!). But there was another politician who faced a similar choice, four years ago: I could be content with the adoring crowds, the bestselling books, the ideological media applauding my every move — or I could go for the presidency. We all know the choice Barack Obama made; and I somehow don’t think — all “quitter” gibes to the contrary — that Sarah Palin has any less fight in her than her fellow basketball player in the Oval Office.
There’s going to be some more split lips before this one’s over.
I’m glad you are looking it up. I’ve posted it on every Sarah thread I can find. I want the world to know that there is going to be a Palingenesis.
BTTT
To ignore the Couric factor would be a grave tactical error. For you to suggest this shows a lack of cultural understanding.
The same railing you were doing earlier about the pictures is the same factor involved in the Couric thing. We may not like that images impact our society, nevertheless, it is the basket of goodies we’ve been given to work with. To ignore this fact will be detrimental.
Intelligence triumphs over trend, but it takes effort.
Thank you for the articles. I take “informed voter” seriously.
Me, too. As He wills....
If you are suggesting I don't support Governor Palin because she is a woman, you surely don't know me, and you surely are wrong. I would be proud to vote for the first female President. I am just not yet convinced that Governor Palin is that woman.
Remember -- we are having a dialogue, not a diatribe.
It has gotten to the point that I as soon as I see those words, my mind immediately shuts down and doesn't see anything else written by that poster.
I have to just keep the faith but it does get tiring sometimes.
Yeah, that's the ticket! Wait to give your support until others do it first. If they are thinking the same way as you are, the nominee who you "like a lot" doesn't get the support necessary to defeat the RAT candidate. That way, you end up being "right" which just feels so good, doesn't it? It probably tops the feeling you get each time Obama says "I won" or "I'm the President" and knowing your "wait-and-see" attitude could get him a second term.
I have a good idea. If you like her a lot, think about the reasons why and then tell those over-pondering independents they need to follow you onto the bandwagon. ;-)
Why would either party put forth an actual or potentially “seriously inadequate” candidate when that reality can be easily avoided by electing someone who doesn’t fit that description?
So you're taking what some guy named Mike Potemra at NRO says as the ultimate truth? He said she may turn out to be seriously inadequate, so that must mean she is? If you accept that as fact (instead of simply his opinion) you buy into the entire flawed "choice" he offers in his editorial.
Its like measuring someone's entire career on the sole basis that they once farted ( and everyone does.).
Well, I guess some people are just fascinated with gas.
Governor Palin has subseqently filmed thousands of hours of video, quite successfully along with hundreds of interviews. Yet the only image you have is of the day she farted?Very interesting view you have there.Especially since there were virtually no negative consequences for any third party.
Obama on the other hand makes gaff after gaff. He cannot even speak in public without a teleprompter, and he will not do interviews unless all the questions are pre -approved. Palin never does that.And very rarely there is a glitch. That is the true context. She speaks freely while cowards like Obama refuse the risk.
So I do not think your fixation is warranted to be of such serious gravitas.Governor Palin has already gone up from there, many levels in expertise and experience.And she is very brave in her approach, and free. For that I will gladly laud the fact that she is human and occasionally passes gas.
People have to remember that Reagan was considered to be something of a perpetual presidential candidate before he finally caught fire and took the brass ring.
I just meant that the reason she is polarizing is because she is clear about her pro-American values and conservative principles, although I’m not sure she is quite as conservative as I’d like her to be. The only thing that would make her less polarizing would be to move to the squishy middle, i.e. LESS conservative, and I don’t think any of us would like that.
Personally, I’d like to see some steel. She just seems too “nice” somehow.
The word “ palingenesis “ or rather “ palingenesia “ may be traced back to the Stoics, who used the term for the continual re-creation of the universe by the Demiurgus (Creator) after its absorption into himself. Similarly Philo speaks of Noah and his sons as leaders of a “ renovation “ or “ re-birth “ of the earth. Josephus uses the term of the national restoration of the Jews, Plutarch of the transmigration of souls, and Cicero of his own return from exile. In the New Testament the properly theological sense of spiritual regeneration is found, though the word itself occurs only twice; and it is used by the church fathers, e.g. for the rite of baptism or for the state of repentance. In modern biology (e.g. Ilaeckel and Fritz Muller) palingenesis “ has been used for the exact reproduction of ancestral features by inheritance, as opposed to “ kenogenesis “ (Gr. icatvos new), in which the inherited characteristics are modified by environment.
http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Palingenesis
Thank you for the added information. I had not gone any further than the dictionary but I’m sure that I must have studied the term in some of my seminary courses. Of course that was so long ago I didn’t remember it. I don’t remember a lot of things, LOL. There is enough in the definition of the word to make it interesting, especially knowing how important words are to the creator. The Scriptures stress the importance of names. All I know is that our country sure does need a rebirth, and Sarah Palin certainly carries the persona of our ancestors.
I totally agree with you.
That is, by far, the most ridiculous comparison I have heard lately. But, okay, if that is the way you wish to represent your abilities...
Thank you once again for taking time to share your opinions with me. I will give reasoned thought to those points you have made which have merit.
Well its the country club versus a populist conservative movement. But that is not on your particular horizon at the moment.
I agree. That is Sarahs weak point, she does not demonstrate that steel she has.
It is there though.She usually keeps it wrapped. But you can see it here:
It is clear you are a firm Sarah Palin supporter. I appreciate your loyalty and dedication. Since you continue to make assumptive and insulting statements regarding who you think I am in an attempt to control the dialog, I will follow with this observation.
If you intend to continue to promote Sarah Palin publicly and you use these tactics on others that you have used on me, you are going to cause your hearers to have two thoughts. 1) you aren’t very smart because you have to fall back on insults rather than work the conversation with reason, 2) if all of Sarah Palin’s supporters are like you, what does that say about her?
Now, UNDERSTAND ME, I do NOT, REPEAT DO NOT, think you are lacking in intelligence, and I admire your dedication, so whatever is driving you to take this tactic with me is making your argument in support of Sarah Palin weak, and needs to be examined.
I am TRYING to help you. I am also trying to help the Sarah Palin cause. People do not give their honest views about things to hurt...well, I don’t any way.
I, among others, still see this as a weakness for her. I love her as a person! She is a beautiful human being, inside and out. But that doesn’t mean I think she should be president. Someone up thread said “I wonder if she is too nice.” Well, put. That’s what I wonder, too.
I hope I have clarified myself for you. I also hope that you get that any further attempts to beat me over the head in order to put me in my place for having an opinion that differs from you, will be unwelcome.
May God bring blessings to your day and peace to your life.
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