Posted on 09/06/2011 7:56:28 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
It’s been three years since former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made her splash onto the national stage as Sen. John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential election. And since then she has acquired a very loyal following. But is that helping or hurting her?
On Tuesday’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” conservative columnist and author of “Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America,” Ann Coulter expressed her concern over the Palin phenomenon. She was asked by substitute host Laura Ingraham if Palin can maintain her status as a tea party favorite by stringing people along about her potential 2012 candidacy.
“Maybe not,” Coulter said. “Newt Gingrich carried it on for 15 years and I kind of think that might be what we’re getting here, largely because of the polls. I mean, you just showed the Fox News poll, Gallup took a poll, I don’t know – five, six months ago, showing that not quite as high as 74 percent, but 65 percent said they would never definitely, positively, ever vote for Sarah Palin… I might add, that oh, it’s the media’s fault and they attacked her and saw her as a threat, all of which I believe is true.”
Coulter pointed out that conservatives are reluctant to criticize Palin for fear of a backlash and spoke about her own experiences.
“Most Americans don’t want Sarah Palin for president,” Coulter continued. “But she’s become sort of the Obama of the tea party. She’s just the one to a certain segment of right-wingers and the tiniest criticism of her, I think many of your viewers may not know this – no conservative on TV will criticize Palin because they don’t want to deal with the hate mail. You say her voice is a few octaves too high or perhaps Michele Bachman’s speaking voice is more modulated and you will be inundated with enraged emails.”
But Coulter said that the loyal following Palin has could be a liability in the long run.
“No, I agree and I think she’s terrific at what she does, but I tend to agree with you,” Coulter said. “I got sick of it with Newt Gingrich – too, fish or cut bait because you are ginning up this group of Americans who will not even consider anyone else. You know, we used to all love Sarah Palin – conservatives like me for her enemies. I’m starting to dislike her because of her fans… I think she’s bright, but her good points do not seem to be in the direction of running for president. I sort of wish just like Newt Gingrich, just run so we can get this over with.”
You are nothing if not consistently amusing.
Have a nice day.
*cleans up*
Oh no....its that disturbing image again....*runs off and leaves TOL to clean up*
Herein lies the problem. There is no 'your side'. Palin's not running. If she was, we could all shrug and say, 'May the best candidate win'. Lots of folks, myself included, would be thrilled to have Palin run and jump ship to her side.
As someone who could support either Palin or Perry, it's clear that 80% of the problem is caused by about 20% of very vocal Palin fans. Are there Perry posters that go to far? Sure, and it's no nevermind to me if they ride the lightning out. If you can't be civil, you should be shown the door.
But this is apples and oranges. Perry's in the race, right now, serving a means to a very important end of challenging Barack Obama. Even if Palin jumps in, the strategy of defeating Obama with a very electable, reasonably conservative candidate, vice going for a longshot with a better conservative with much lower odds of winning, is a fair thing to debate. But it should be debated, not suppressed. No one is running to the mods to get people banned over calling Perry names. As far as I'm concerned, if Perry can't hack FR, he can't hack the general. A candidate should have to absorb and explain any insults people can generate, because the general will be worse. Palin fans don't agree. They think she's suffered enough and refuse to hear any further criticism. If Palin jumps in, there's going to be a huge push to ban any dissenting posters, opinions or discussion of her weaknesses as a topic. How does that help?
There's already a push now, against the front-running GOP candidate, by supporters of a GOP figure who's not running. So, even if it was a 50/50 split as far as trouble making went, then logically the favor should be show to the candidate who's actually in the race. Right? We can always reevaluate later if things change, but as they are, Perry's our best chance.
Anyway, I hope you don't find this too incendiary. It's not meant to be. I think we would all be better off by turning down the sniping on each other and putting it back on Obama. Give the olive branch another try. There's room enough for everyone's opinion here. ;-)
Yes it is!! Just ask President Thompson and Vice President Hunter.
* * *
You sound shocked and dismayed. You shouldn't be. It's only the fact that you're out of touch with how most conservatives feel about Palin, that it comes as any surprise to you that most of us are offended by Coulter's remarks.
Get used to the fact that Palin has been admitted to the pantheon of beloved patriotic figures. It will help you understand the reactions of conservatives when Palin is slighted or slandered.
RE: t-shirts
I’m going to browse CafePress.com tonight and see what they’ve got.
I bought my flag pin (just like Sarah’s) recently from the Freeper Stuff guy who used to sell from the FR homepage.
I hope she swings through my part of the country again soon. Iowa was a 3 hour drive. I should have went anyway. Rain or no rain.
Purge the non-believers! All hail the church of the God-Queen.
Om mani palin hum...
:-P
Good natured fluff, huh? Unbelievable.
Damning with such faint praise is nothing more than a thinly veiled ad hominem attack on Palin. You out yourself as a snarling enemy with a silver tongue.
A grouchy one at that. Says he's enjoying the circus though. LOL See?
Not bad.
They both lost me as a fan, when they didn't need to do so. As smart as those two women are, they're apparently not smart enough to realize that you're going to permanently alienate a good portion of your audience when you start ripping down a figure as popular as Palin is.
Lighten up, Francis.
That's what Ann seems to do, so that's why I only say she has a point to a certain extent.
Huffington Syndrome includes connections to the "gay community". Arianna was supposedly a "Republican" who was married to a "Republican" who is a self-avowed "LGBT Activist". (also known as gender confused, or in some circles, DRKWTTG - don't really know where this thing goes)
Who's suggesting that?
Oh? What do you call statements like these?
"Gallup took a poll, I don’t know – five, six months ago, showing that not quite as high as 74 percent, but 65 percent said they would never definitely, positively, ever vote for Sarah Palin…
"“Most Americans don’t want Sarah Palin for president,” Coulter continued. “But she’s become sort of the Obama of the tea party."
"You know, we used to all love Sarah Palin –"
The venom is just oozing out of those statements. Don't kid yourself. Coulter is sitting there savoring every drop of blood she's drawing.
That's basically Coulter's message here. Because Palin has been so damaged by the MSM, she shouldn't run.
Which would just further encourage the MSM to do the same to other conservative politicians.
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