President
Vice President
Any takers?
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 believe that for her, talking the way she does, and not going over to “statesman speak” is a choice, as I’m pretty sure you get. I think it was born out of that man’s canned, scripted, head-flippin, tennis-match watchin’, chin thrust up like Mussolini, double teleprompter speechifyin’ that she talks like that. I think she’s DETERMINED to speak off the cuff, and while it makes her sound a little halting at times, she’s pretty darned good at it.
He goes on threads that the rules says stay out, Does He?
Well, you are wrong about that.
It is completely lost on me how anyone could describe Pissant as a liberal RAT.
But what would make her less polarizing? It would be if she were less conservative. She’s the first conservative who is at least palatable. OK, well, she’s not really conservative enough for me. But I just think that polarizing isn’t all bad. Sometimes it’s nice to be offered a clear choice.
As for my support, I’m waiting to see. I know they all have supporters and attackers, but if Palin, Huck, Mr. Newt, or that one who’s name I probably shouldn’t mention lest I be banned got the nod, I’d be pretty happy with any of them. I’d love to see someone who’s willing to get in people’s faces and punch back hard like Christie, but he says he’s not interested. Donald Trump? I might be able to swoon for him. He’ll get in people’s faces and punch back hard.
Very nice, but Linda was stretching her acting chops to the limit to do that role, I think. Getting Sarah Connor would be very good.
Is your world a movie set? DO you judge politicians as if they are actors or genuine individuals?
Obama was judged by America as if he was on a movie set,but America is not a movie set, as those who voted for Obama are discovering.
When you go to your refrigerator is a few years and discover it empty, then please try calling the props department at 20th Century Fox. See how that helps. Then you can eat pretend plastic food.
AND MEANWHILE YOU CAN VOTE FOR PRETEND PLASTIC POLITICIANS!
Buahahahahahahahahaha!
Wow man, chill out, it was a bit of humor ...
That is great news!
I will look forward to your support of Palin when her numbers turn around (it's just a matter of time... Polls - especially of 'independents'- are very fickle things.)
Wow man, chill out, it was a bit of humor ...>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That’s your out, planned before you posted?
There is little humor in the way Governor Palin is being axed by the left and the MSM, as well as by those here who long ago have had their RINOplasty procedures, the better to fit up some politicos butt instead of exercising thought.
LOL.
That sort of attitude by political writers on the left got us the unvetted Obama for 4 long destructive years. If Sarah is harboring socialistic/marxist tendencies we need to hear about it before she's nominated. Are we sure she wasn't editor of the Harvard Law Review? Was she actually born in the US? Can she provide a long form birth certificate? Can we have access to her college records? Were all her mentors commies and 60's radicals? Has she ever been a 'community organiser"? You know, all those questions that didn't get asked before ....
I can't wait to see their first meeting. She would be standing tall, and offer him a firm handshake. Not just as an equal, but as a superior. Their heads would just explode. And I can't wait.
All I want is good numbers. Otherwise I am sold.
(Actually, I do disagree with Sarah on ONE thing: her kind words about Title IX. I believe the intent of Congress has been totally twisted by the courts and Clinton Justice Dept in a way that has made it a tool for outrageous discrimination against men. I have a feeling she is just not up to speed on all the bad stuff that has resulted.
Now, compare this to my long list of beefs with Mitt, Huck, McKook, and you can see that this is not about positions, just those numbers.
I agree with you on the pictures. Our society as a whole is so media saturated that reality seems no longer real. Although I get that the post was intended as humor.
Back to Sarah Palin. I freely admit that I am one of those aggravating independents. I choose this for spiritual reasons, preferring only to place my allegiance with God. I voted for McCain BECAUSE of Sarah Palin. I like what she stands for. I’m not sure what I would have done, if she had not been on the ticket.
AND YET, I am still having a hard time seeing her as President. I have tried to understand why I feel this way, and I think I may have figured it out. She is close to my age, shares the kind of spiritual fervor I have, is a passionate patriot as I am, and I know how this type of “fire” can trip you up when you are dealing with people whose sole intent is to deceive. Katy Couric is the perfect example. Sarah had true and honorable intentions of discussing issues and Couric wanted only to humiliate.
The integrity of journalism died that day, but Sarah showed her Achilles Heel in that interview. She will have to demonstrate,in a face to face way with either Couric, Walters, or Sawyer, that this type of thing will not happen again. Independent women do not want to think their President, who is also their peer in many ways, can be humiliated by the likes of these liberal snake women.
If she can’t anticipate the moves of a die-hard feminazi, how can she handle world affairs? That interview had lasting impressions and must be erased with a similar interview, like it or not. Sometimes truth is painful, but if she plans to run for Pres. this will have to be tackled. Period.
Oh, and the other thing is, she will most likely be running against Hillary and if Sarah hasn’t erased this lingering Couric image before Hillary gets in the ring, Sarah will have a tough campaign on her hands. If she handles the latent Couric image, and approaches her campaign from the standpoint of “let’s get ‘er done” type slogan of we’re all in this together and we can save America, she’ll make the elite/snobbish attitude of the left shine like a running nose.
We conservatives need to improve more on thinking ahead a few moves.
Anyway, my two cents, for what it’s not worth! :)
While I know it takes advisers and the Cabinet and the knowledge of each of these huge bureaucracy to voice concerns and present ideas for solutions, it remains for the President to make good decisions.
No one has knowledge of all these areas ... it takes advisers.
Seriously, I know it sounds campy, but if Sarah invited Couric, Walters, Sawyer, and maybe even lovable Joy B. up to her house in Alaska for a “tell all”, maybe even for the last episode of “Alaska” and then invited them to join her on the firing rang for some target practice, and gave them all guns to use, America would roar with laughter, and the Couric interview would be gone forevermore. If a person is to be successful in battle they must command the field.
Look at this. I have thought to myself that Sarah must have God on her side to have pulled off so many impossible feats. What are the odds that we would have someone named Palin stirring up so much interest at this time of uncertainty?
Palingenesis: from the Concise English Dictionary: “a new birth; reincarnation, a second creation, regeneration, unmodified inheritance of ancestral character, the new formation of a rock by re-fusion.” McCain wrought more than he realised. Look it up. I like the “unmodified inheritance of ancestral character.”
Very interesting! I will look that up! :) Thanks!
Oh, my...I did look it up...brought tears to my eyes. I love God, don’t you?
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