... it must have killed her to write this piece:
Palin-mania easily surpassed Danica-mania at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday.While Patrick got all the headlines for the better part of two weeks, she had no stake in the Daytona 500. Palin did, and as a VIP guest for the race, she ate up all the attention.
When she arrived for the drivers meeting, Palin was immediately mobbed. She briefly chatted with Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, shook hands with supporters and smiled big.
She took a seat up front next to Harry Connick Jr., who sang the national anthem for the race. When NASCAR president Mike Helton acknowledged her as a special guest, she got the largest ovation from the room, packed from the front to the back with drivers, team members, support personnel and onlookers.
After sitting through the meeting, Palin could not get out the door. Fans mobbed her, asking for pictures and autographs. Her 12-person entourage, comprised of track security, a policeman, friends and spokespeople, tried to get her to the door and to her next appearance. But Palin could not help herself, and kept signing and posing for pictures.
A major PR coup.
I recall driving in the Carolinas on race day.
The super slab was almost deserted, the scales were shut.....NASCAR dominates the society of SE USA. You have to see it to really get it.
On race day, they even lose their grip on their bibles and firearms.
"This is awesome," said a slim Palin, wearing designer jeans, a smart charcoal coat and sky-high black stiletto heels. "It's an All-Americana event."
"This is awesome, said a big-eared Obama, wearing Levis, a smart charcoal coat,with matching tie, and low slung loafers".
Blatant sexism!
O would rather get a root canal than show up to an event like that....
Not sure about the tone of the headline.
A quick look at her blog (address at the bottom of the page) shows Andrea Adelson is a college sports writer.
Does this prove there is little difference in tactics between the extremists in both camps ... ie personal attacks designed to discredit?
It's great that Palin can energize a crowd and piss off the utopians, but I would never vote for her as a presidential candidate, if I could actually vote in a US election.
Sarah is awesome. Her power to rouse the base is enviable. She's a brilliant politician and a breath of fresh air. Leftists are frothing more than their lattes.
But she simply does not have the intellect, experience, charisma, or judgment to be a good president. If she runs against Obama he will win again.
I'm having trouble finding the Republican who can beat him. The fact is that he's already lost the 2012 election just like Clinton already lost the 1996 election. Republicans will likely snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
No matter. The Obama agenda is dead. But the social and political damage of a second term is enormous. He will enter the pantheon of two-term presidents. Re-election will be vindication for his first win. He may get another Supreme Court pick, the crown jewel of American politics today.
Palin, outside of her element (Alaska, fundraising, or energy) is just another empty skirt. The empty suit wins that battle.
Sheila Bair, General Petraeus, or Mitt Romney are the only hopes we've got right now and the first two may not even consider running.
POW:
Any thoughts on the polls that show Obama has a 2% lead over generic Repubican in the next election?
Run, Sarah, run.
POWinCA said: But she simply does not have the intellect, experience, charisma, or judgment to be a good president. If she runs against Obama he will win again.
Just note that all those intellectuals who are in the White House and are advising President Obama are running the US into the ground à la Carter.
Experience, take a look at Obama's experience and point to any one thing that he actually helped pass in any of his previous offices. Compare Palin's accomplishments as a town council member, as a mayor and as a governor--and Mr Obama would be wise to take her counsel.
Judgment, everything Gov Palin has done has thrown the "intellectual" Obama regime off its game: death panels, her stance on climate change, her stance on the treatment of terrorists, etc. She shows better judgment than all of Obama sycophants. Obama's stance against the Iraq surge was wrong.
Charisma, let's not even go there. Three or four words written on the palm of her hand and she is able to speak at length and in depth for almost an hour--and people listen. Try watching Obama speak on anything without his teleprompter or better yet when it malfunctions.
** snip ... rude comment
Run, Sarah, run.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lWY_KFYcZg&feature=player_embedded
phil:
Sarah's not going to run. She's just there as an example of a free-thinking individual who refuses to succumb to utopian totalitarians such as yourself.
In Europe, people are taking to the streets saying: ‘The government should do something about this."
In the US, people are taking to the streets and saying: ‘We're totally confident we can run our own lives. Get out of the way, control freaks."
Canadians, emerging from Trudeaupia with the most stable economy in the world, would be well advised to trim down their own cabal of control freaks.
I'm sure we will see some of that in next month's budget.
favill:
Try to stay away from name-calling.
I'm sure you're smart enough to frame an argument without stooping to such intellectual shallowness.
What POWinCA said @12:02 seems to be the new "cool conservative" consensus. For example, Five Feet of Fury linked to Michael Savage (talk-radio guy) saying the same thing yesterday.
Maybe. I remember Ben Stein (the "Beuller!? Bueller!?" guy; also a Nixon speechwriter) on Glenn Beck's old CNN show a while back suggesting that all Palin really needs to do is read five national newspapers a day for a year to get up to speed as a viable "smart" candidate. I'd like to believe that.
I'm darn sure she's smarter than Joe Biden. Better-lookin' too.
I put my confidence in Palin in 2008 and she let me down. Too much folksy style and not enough intellectual substance. She's an anchor that needs to be cut loose.
toxic:
So, you voted for Palin?
I'm not sure what 'intellect' is required to be president. I can't think of the last time there was an intellectual who occupied the oval office. Were I an American I would be much more interested in the likely outcome of putting this or that person in office. With Palin's record in Alaska she may well be what Washington needs. They certainly didn't get it with Owebambam, or Bush or Clinton or the Bush before that. To my mind the most important thing in Washington is cleaning up the corruption. Clearer morals help with a clearer vision. So long as the mushy morality of trying to be nice to everyone prevails the US will continue to decrease as an agent for good. Much like Canada under the Liberals where because we as a nation stood for nothing we had no influence in the world. Now that PM Harper has actually dragged Canada to taking moral stances our opinion counts far above our nations standing in the world.
"not enough intellectual substance"
Like not having a Saul Alinsky and Cloward & Plivin intellectual background to wreck a country?
Or not having a Harvard Law style of intellectual background?
Anyone here who wants to believe She's stupid, go for it. She's still standing.
The Presidential race of 2012 isn't going to be won by a moderate Rino. The Dem's lynching machine will be in full gear by then and will just chew them up.
Independents in the US aren't looking for a moderate.
Scott Brown showed that.
If she was such a dark horse for the GOP, Daily Kos,CNN, NBC and ABC would have been throwing nothing but accolades at her for the past year. That's how they work.
Is she presidential material? Obama's cronies think so. Otherwise she'd be left alone.
I'm not certain that we have enough information to determine if SP is intelligent enough or not for the POTUS. First, we don’t know what the bar is; or should I say, how intelligent is intelligent enough with respect to who the public will vote for. That’s yet to be seen. Second, many like SYF are just amplifying the narrative that has been played based on their assumptions of her intelligence. Sniping within the GOP and by the media(right-wing) is to be expected. There are competitive aspirations involved, and the bimbo narrative is the low hanging fruit. I suspect if SP wins the GOP nomination people like SYF will fall in line. At this time I’d like to see a Giuliani/Palin ticket.
Personally, since SP has been successful when confronted with important decisions in her past work experience, I'm of the mind to grant her my all-mighty-full-of-myself-because-I-grant-these-sorts-of-things label of “intelligent”. That said, I am willing to discuss her past experience, and if it is sufficient to prepare someone like SP for POTUS, or simply get her elected; but I'm not going to judge her qualifications on simply what could and appear to be missteps on a few interviews.
If you ask me, SP did a phenomenal job during the election looking at the big picture. Within hours she became the focus of the country, and within a day became the personification of everything the established media and liberalism loathed. She withstood an overwhelming onslaught of vitriol and disproportionate scrutiny. She struggled with some tough questions, but all things considered, pushed through when many weaker and less dedicated people would have buckled. THAT… in my opinion is a sign of intelligence.JMO
"Intellectual substance"...what exactly does that mean? Thomas Sowell sheds light on the reason intellectuals should never be trusted with determining a country's policies. He also contends that intellectuals are more often wrong than they are right. What is needed in any leader is not necessarily the smartest person in the group, but the person who can make a decision based on the facts, inspire his/her group to work to the results of that decision and be smart enough to know when to listen to his/her advisors and when not to. It also helps if the leader is guided by a set of moral principles to ensure that he/she does not choose to do anything morally repugnant. But in the end, a leader is judged by his/her accomplishments--hence, he/she must be a "doer" and not just a "thinker".
I'm not sure "intelligence" is exactly the thing here - more like "cleverness". Really, noone can seriously believe S.P. is "Duuhhhh!" stoopid. (Well, some people do, but those guys were never ever going to vote Republican anyway.)
The question is, does she come off as a national political figure, or just a nice small-town girl: Dolly Parton (as Michael Savage would have it) crossed with Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith goes to Washington?
I think she can do it if she can manage to project worldliness and savvy without compromising what she's already got going for her.
And Indy, sorry, but Giuliani? Great great mayor, but the White house, never. Nuh-uh.
Sarah was a guest at Daytona, Danica raced there. Both of them had crowds following them around and both are charming and pretty females but I fail to see what the comparison is. Maybe if you compared the crowd reaction to Palin and Obama, then we'd be talking apples to apples. Maybe it was Andrea's way of eating humble pie.
Indy:
There's no question Palin has street smarts.
Whether or not that will translate into success in the primaries remains to be seen.
One interesting thing I've from Obama's apologists is that the opposition are ‘anti-intellectual,' as if possessing a PhD makes somebody superior.
It's one of those language tricks used by the utopian totalitarians who believe they can shift reality through silver-tongued oratory.
Yet, the more Obama and his supporters try to slag Palin, the more the people support her. The more they speak, the more the average American understands these tricksters are not like them.
What the political class, including Republicans, fail to appreciate is that the US populace dislikes them both.
Democrats are totally clueless about this. Just listen to them on any televised panel. They're still living in a Democrats vs Republican world, when the independent voter is shouting ‘a pox on both your houses.'
Palin has tapped into this frustration and does not really represent mainstream Republican thought either, yet most of the slagging is coming from the Democratic Party.
All I know is
Palin is a smart strong woman, albeit a conservative one. That's why the leftist hate her, she's a realist.
Not some doe-eyed bleach blond set of tits,bred for prime time soundbites of drivel.
Can't have someone of substance to debate now can we?
She'll go far, after BO is done with Amerika.
I don't get the headline. Adelson wrote a fair puff-piece that gushed about how popular Palin was with both the NASCAR folks and the fans.
Is there some back-story here that I'm missing?
SYF...right on!
and what else do you know?...lol...
If she runs in 2012 or not, is irrelevant at this point. What counts is what she is doing NOW. The Americans needed a wakeup call to remind them what freedom and liberty mean to them. She is doing that.
Intelligence? Puhleeze...Gomer Clinton made it to the Whitehouse. As Obama has proven, it's about who pulls the strings.
Palin was Governor of the largest state. She took on big oil and the 'old boys club' in the GOP.(Read the book). When she wanted to discuss Obama's connection to terrorists and Marxists during the last campaign, she was shut down. Needless to say she doesn't have the backing of the GOP.
If she can fire up Americans now, they will be ready in 2012.
Sarah, Danica????
decisions decisions
Sarah is short on experience, tho she may be able to catch up on knowledge, and if she knows how to lead she could possibly do a reasonable job of it as POTUS, which would put her well above the Zero, and as good or better than GWB. I hope that a very good prospect steps forward, and maybe Sarah can again be the VEEP candidate on the ticket, and gain the necessary experience. But she should also learn to hide the bible, religion is a personal thing and is best exemplified by one's living style!!
GYM...'short on experience'..?
Just wondering if you read her book?
Hey GYM if religion is a personal thing why do you keep dragging yours into the discussion? I haven't listened to everything Sarah has to say but I don't recall her referencing her faith beyond what would would be expected of any candidate.
Hmmm
I have reflected upon the criticisms of Palin....
OOOOO---she goes to church (hidden agenda)
OOOOO---she is not inteligent (not Ivy League beltway elite)
OOOOO----she is a bimbo (lefties think only homely/uglies are intelligent)
OOOO----she could get elected (a threat to their rice bowl)
Did I overlook something?
RESIST THE NEW WORLD ORDER
I get nervous when people support a Palin run, because I don't like to lose.
It's wayyyy too easy to land punches on Palin. Not only her past media, but now she's a proven loser and she quit her term as governor. You see a lot of other lame duck governors quitting?
She'd divide the conservative voters and the Dems would win.