If Sarah Palin doesn't run for president, the operatives in the media and Beltway establishment will have learned a fool-proof method of destroying any political opponent. The leftist media will have confirmed they can destroy any political opponent they choose with a vitriolic, obsessed campaign to destroy not only their career as a politician, but also as a person ("Palin is an idiot", "I can see Russia from my House", Trig is Bristol's, Trig's position as the only retarded baby in history who it is legally permissable to publicly insult, etc.)
If Palin doesn't run it will also be a disaster for the Republican Party and quite possibly the country.
One persons decision not to seek the presidency is not a disaster. Unfortunate, maybe, but not a disaster.
I think Sarah can do wonders for Republicans whether she runs or not. She would be a great fundraiser for instance. I think that if she didn't run she would still be a huge distraction to the Dem's. It would be like they were campaigning against two candidates.
Governor Palin can outlast the legacy media.
Indeed, given the "kingmaker" ability she displayed in the 2010 mid terms, she may opt to continue in that role, perhaps getting a cabinet level appointment out of the deal in 2012, and building her organization, reputation and political capital for 2020...
Governor Palin thinks and plans long term, not for the next 24hr news cycle...
Really now, Rob. I understand that the last sentence is a quote from the article linked at The American Thinker's website. But it simply isn't true that a decision on Palin's part not to run will be "a disaster for the Republican Party and quite possibly the country". Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, or several other announced or not-currently-announced candidates for President would be a huge improvement over Barack Emptysuit.
I'm a Sarah Palin fan, but I recognize that there are intellectually respectable reasons not to vote for her for President, and they don't all have to do with ideology. Her governmental experience consists of four years on the city council of a city of less than 8,000 people, followed by six years as mayor of that same city, a year as the Chairperson (not my term) of Alaska's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and, finally, two years as governor of Alaska. While I'd still vote for her for President, I don't think that somebody who wouldn't vote for her because her governmental experience isn't very impressive is being unreasonable.
One reason that some people have been quite effective in destroying Palin as a candidate is that she really hasn't handled their attacks very well. Yes, a conservative woman is going to be the target of vicious, unfair attacks, even more so than a conservative man. But Nikki Haley, Condoleezza Rice, and Michele Bachmann, to name three, have been far better at handling those attacks (watch a video of Condi's recent appearance on Lawrence O'Donnell's show).
It's funny, I was reading around in Alan Bennett's diary Writing Home, from 1997. I can't be bothered looking it up, but he gets extremely bitchy about an anecdote involving the hated Thatcher who (off the cuff) alludes to, but slightly inaccurately quotes, a poem of Philip Larkin's (specifically Deceptions: "All the unhurried day,
Your mind lay open like a drawer of knives...")
Bennett's lower-middle class Yorkshire, and he's very clever, and he's based his whole persona on that. He's a Limey "National Treasure". Gay, but not so'd it'd p*ss you off. Get it? He's a cultured, but suitably lower-class-origin lefty, and he loathes Thatcher, and calls her an imbecile. That philistine Delilah misquotes Larkin! But unlike that chillbilly Palin, the demon Thatcher won a scholarship to study Chemistry at Oxford - and yet she's a moron, because... because. Because?
I think the woman thing is a lot to do with it, but I won't cry "sexism" any more than Thatcher or Palin would or have. If you disgree with the left, you are not only evil (that's understood), you're stupid.
I still want Palin for VP, but I'd be more than happy if she made President and proved me wrong.
Nixon figured out how to beat these same media tactics.
Palin not running is not the end of the world. An Obama second term might be.
Yes Palin has been attacked unfairly but not even most of the criticisms leveled at her are unfair or even wrong. She abandoned her post as governor, which admittedly is for the best given that she was mediocre at best. Thatcher and Bachmann got attacked too and came out on top because there is some actual substance to those two. "Palin for president" is the fast track to the headline "Obama wins re-election" and her negatives are high in polls conducted on both GOP and Tea Party members. Granted, the GOP nom lineup is so bad right now Palin might actually improve it.
As governor she was mediocre at best? Cleaned up corruption and had an approval rating consistently over 80%.
Hardly the hallmarks of mediocrity.
No. Sorry, but no.
If Palin is truly the only hope of Republicans and even all Americans, then why is there a question as to whether or not she will run? Either Palin is content to watch America go down the tubes, or she disagrees with the whole premise of the article. I don't believe the former, so it must be the latter.
The idea that the left has chased her out of politics is ridiculous. She has shown no indication that she is afraid of the spotlight. Quite the opposite, we've seen with her bus tour that she is mastering the art of toying with the media, and has turned their fascination with her against them.
No, if she doesn't run, it will be her own choice.
"Palin not running is not the end of the world."
But "An Obama second term might be."
Struck me that was the point of the article. Tough crowd.
Palin is doing a lot of good by not running.
Let the media obsess in whatever direction they'd like, Palin was only a vice-presidential candidate.
That does not qualify her to run for president.
Get over it.
I wonder where all the credentialists were when Senator Suit was in ascension?
Rob,
That was one of the points of the article, re the Obama second term.....but Palin as Obi Wan Kenobi is what might be getting the reaction. She isnt the only hope....
She generates lots of reaction, often intentionally. But like any candidate she isnt perfect, we all find our own particular compromise.
Personally, if she continues to play with the media and the Dems to make them think she is running and then chooses not to, all the better. It is a wonderful distraction and will make the demonization of whoever the GOP chooses to be more difficult because it isnt Palin.
Honestly, I think thats her plan, that and making a bundle of money, raising a huge war chest that she can spread around and influence races with. Power, wealth and influence without the th accountability of office, sounds good to me.
Sarah Palin makes more of a contribution being a target . It keeps the other ghouls off the trail of those who want to be President & are not Democrates.
I can see her as Vice President, than a run at the office.
Good. McCain had my support until he decided to team up with that twit. Last thing the republicans need is her running for president.
Ron Paul would make a much better President. Still I agree, she's been the target of a massive and obvious media effort to discredit her.
I think the MSM would be perfectly content to have Gov Palin as the 2012 Republican presidential candidate
that they could work at destroying 24/7. There is one big "IF". They must have some certainty that they can wedge
away the Washington power broker sleazebags and the east/west coast RINO moneybags. Because if she has the
winning poll numbers, even those mercenary social climbers will have to give her a pass and gobs of money despite
all the toes she stepped on while being making her mark as a very able and honest Governor of Alaska.
She is also very good friend of Canada which counts for nothing among our own scumbag marxists and their media choristers.
Palin is too polar maybe. You like her or you hate her. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground making her election unlikely.
Bachman has the TP creds but no one is calling her stupid. Bit more beltway, bit more electable.
Both would be good VP's but I don't think they would get the nod.
Palin drives the media nuts and can grass roots with the best. Don't think it will go in 2012 but maybe later.
Palin is much better qualified right now to be President than Obama, since Obama hasn't learned anything in almost three years.
The narrow-minded people who strain to believe she is somehow unqualified must also strain to completely ignore the fact that Obama's previous failures as a community organizer didn't exactly prepare him to be a successful President, obviously, as he is utterly incompetent.
Once Sarah Palin is elected President in 2012 America will make a comeback, beginning with dramatic economic improvements - it's too bad we have to wait out the goof that's in the office now!
Perhaps the Republican party should consider merging with the Democrats - that way they could present a united front against the American people.
or,
Sarah Palin will be bringing the Republican party to her, she's not going to them.
The narrow-minded people who strain to believe she is somehow unqualified must also strain to completely ignore the fact that Obama's previous failures as a community organizer didn't exactly prepare him to be a successful President, obviously, as he is utterly incompetent.
Many people said Ronald Reagan, actor, was unqualified and too stupid to be president too, so I don't buy it.
I don't know how anyone can look at Palin's record, short as it may be, and look at Obama's -- both pre- and post-election -- and decide Obama's more qualified than her.
He's not.
Good Lord, the man couldn't run a lemonade stand. A three-legged blind dog with mange could run this nation better.
Obama's an incompetent buffoon bolstered only by the socialists he surrounds himself with and his deep hatred of America. He presides over this nation with contempt and bases policy decisions in malice designed to punish the American people. Those who have Obama's ear use him as a mouthpiece because he's relatively good looking and can deliver a line...but even they know he's not that smart, or they wouldn't have him on the teleprompter for even the smallest of statements.
Palin could easily knock him for a loop in the debates. I've said it elsewhere, but it bears repeating: Obama is a hair's breadth away from having a complete and totally hissy fit meltdown in public. I guarantee it. One day, he's going to snap because he's such a disaster and can't stand that people are waking up to that reality.
Run, Sarah, run! If she wins, if any Republican wins, they'll be inaugurated the weekend of my 30th birthday. It'll be the Best. Birthday. Present. Ever.
Alex
"McCain had my support until he decided to team up with that twit."
McCain, a rino who believes in gorebullwarming, but probably better then the idiot in office now
Palin has the same drawback as Bush, their overly religious postion. Why is this such a negative??? I just read an article about a conservative GOP'r voting for Reid, because they are both Mormons, good demonstration of religious belief trumping reason!
"McCain, a rino who believes in gorebullwarming, but probably better then the idiot in office now"
Yep, he's an intelligent, experienced individual who generally makes decisions based on a rational analysis of the data instead of blind partisan politics. That's why I loved him as a presidential candidate, and why I was so disappointed when he chose to team up with Wonder-Bimbo. I understand why he did it - it was a pragmatic decision meant to placate his more 'base' base - but it was disappointing nonetheless.
"Palin has the same drawback as Bush, their overly religious postion. Why is this such a negative???"
While Bush may have been "overly religious", he didn't push any policies based purely on religious doctrine. I really had no serious issues with him; I think his biggest problem as a president was not seeming to care about the public perception of himself and his policies, though that quality endeared him to me even more. If Palin were anything like him, I'd have no problem with her, either.
Anyway, in the current political climate, being overly religious seems to be a bonus rather than a drawback - even the democrats can't seem to give a speech without mentioning god or thumpin' the ol' bible. Just about the worst thing an American politician can do is appear to be non-religious.
McCain is a populist, very few of his decisions are rational, well reasoned or based on any sort of strong conviction.
That said, I like the guy and probably would have voted for him.
Palin could easily knock him for a loop in the debates.
You tell yourself that. Just keep ignoring that the debate with Biden ever happened.
@Alex: McCain is a political survivor and that's about it. He was for immigration before he was against it and he stuck it to free speech in McCain-Feignold wich only recently has been gutted by Citizens United.
Stop talking about Palin. She is only very good at driving the media to distraction. Chris Cristie is far more worthy of mention.
What Thucydides said.
Sarah Palin at this point (despite what the very few detractors she has here say) is a kingmaker/game-changer. She can re-build the Republican ranks and pad her own resume.
Whether she decides to run or not, I think Obama is finished. It's not a matter of Sarah Palin or X candidate wiping the floor with Obama. It's anyone BUT Obama.
Just my thoughts.
"Whether she decides to run or not, I think Obama is finished"
If she decides to run, Obama will definitely be re-elected. His approval figures at this point are about the same as Bush had during his second election. Just as with the Bush election, it could go either way - the deciding factor will be which candidate the Republicans run. If they put forward someone as divisive as Palin, they'll be assuring an Obama victory. I'm sure Obama would be thrilled to see her run against him.
Sarah Palin demonstrated her independence when she exposed the corruption present in the Republican establishment in Alaska. It is her willingness to act strictly in the interests of the citizens, and not the clownish Rep/Dem ruling class that has earned her the hatred of the ruling class, both left and right.
Alex, if Palin ran against Obama, he's definitely through.
Philanthropist; it is not that Obama never learned anything in three years, au contraier, he learned all he needed to know years ago, he learned to do what Ayers Alinsky Soros etal instructed him to do, and he has not failed his communist/socialist mentors. That, is his big joke on the good American people, they were suckered big time, welcome to Russia/China 2.0. And Alex, light the fireplace for mommy tonight and savor that Eatapuss Rex moment.
If Palin runs, she will win the Republican primaries, and will then win the White House. There's only one reason why the Dems demonize her and the Republican establishment is desperately trying to keep her out: because they know this is the truth. She has run the gauntlet and survived. If this was an old-west gunfight, she's the survivor who evaded all six of her opponents' bullets, and stands tall 10 feet away as the cloud of dust disperses, aiming straight with a full cartridge.
So will she run? Please. Why are people still asking this question, when she's so obviously already been in the race for nearly two years?
"Alex, if Palin ran against Obama, he's definitely through."
That's hilarious :)
Who exactly, do you imagine would vote for her? Liberals? Nope. Centrists? Nope. Libertarians? Maybe one or two. Republicans? Possibly half of them. Where, exactly, are these votes going to come from? You think the second coming of Jesus will occur during the election, and dead republicans will arise from their graves in order to vote for Sarah?
Alex, you're clearly not plugged in to what's happening Stateside. The polls are bull and the news reports are biased. The vast majority of Americans are not looking left/right, Dem/Rep, woman/man, black/white. They're looking establishment/non-establishment. Palin is the only non-establishment figure in the race and she will be embraced like nothing you've ever seen. You can mock this if you like. But you're just spouting opinion, as am I. We can sit back and see what happens. So mock away, and revel in your confidence, while you still have it.
Alex by his comments has never even been to the States.
Why do you guys keep feeding this troll?
"One persons decision not to seek the presidency is not a disaster. Unfortunate, maybe, but not a disaster."
~Gord Tulk
Totally right.
I like Sarah Palin and I think she would make a fine U.S. President but let's not get into the personality cult of "She's the only one who can save us."
Personality cults are a Leftish fetish and it we on the right start buying into that kind of thinking we are losing our soul and a major distinction between us and the Left in the perception of independent voters.
Individual people come and go, but the fact based ideas and principles we on the right represent as a better way to achieve a life of liberty and prosperity will continue to be the issues of political importance regardless of who we choose to be the champion of those ideas today or tomorrow.
Let us put those ideas first and choose the champions who can best help us realize them.
And if the champion we choose should be unfit to represent those ideas because they put themselves before the best interests of their constituents and office, as any narcissistic cult leader will, then let them be cast aside and let us be true to those principles and ideas first.
(but let us not engage in the Leftist fallacy of making the perfect the enemy of the good)
That said, if the Republicans ran a turnip for president against Obama and I were a voting American, I would vote for the turnip.
Now THAT is the funniest thing I've read so far this month! Sarah Palin - Anarchist :D I'm sure she'll get ALL of the College vote! :p
When Sarah Palin was on the McCain ticket in 2008 she was acused of being an Alaskan seperatist by the MSM.
It ain't anarchy but it's just as sexy.
Liberty baby, LIB-ER-TEE!
(oh and anti-establishment? Yep-errs!)
Alex, you realize you're on a Canadian blog here, right? You're not influencing any voters here. Although I'm guessing you're one of the angry and aggressive atheists I run into around here from time to time. Calling Palin's base the "religious right" is the tell here. Well let me explain something else to your blinded mind: the Tea Party, and therefore Palin's base, has nothing to do with religion outside of the fact that they are more likely to be religiously observant people than the rest of America. And the Tea Party movement (and therefore Palin's base) is far broader than the "religious right", and far broader than the Dems, the media, or the Republican establishment dare to admit. And on the subject of polls, there's only one poll taken so far that is fully reliable for its truth. It was taken on November 2, 2010, and it was a landslide.
Anyway, if you're not an angry/aggressive atheist, and your angle is something else, sorry for missing it because I can't figure it out.
There is nothing - no. thing. that could galvanize the Left and get out their vote more than Palin running.
Meanwhile, it'd cleave the middle (the ones who are deciding the election) and fracture the Right.
Palin's a great fundraiser, a great mascot, but a proven loser who QUIT her job as governor. She's perfect right where she is.
I think it is clear that Palin would more than likely fall short of securing the nomination. I like her. I think it is a shame she was thrown into the VP spotlight. It, to me, was like using a knife to pry open a paint can. Sure it might work, but why eff up a perfectly good knife when you have screw drivers?
When it comes to the debates, I think there is only one candidate who can instantaneously dissect and rebut the rhetoric and linguistics of the socialist democrat party; Newt Gingrich, co-author and successful implementer of the Contract With America. Newt is absolutely sharp, incisive, and won’t back down. Unfortunately the total annihilation of the socialist agenda in debate may do little to swing an election for a character the press has already vilified.
We must win. We must guarantee a swing vote. I think (so far) Herman Cane is a good solution. Newt should be secretary of state. As for the VP????
"If Sarah Palin doesn't run for president, the operatives in the media and Beltway establishment will have learned a fool-proof method of destroying any political opponent."
~Rob
I think you give these people too much credit.
Sarah Palin doesn't have to run in 2012 and she will still be a Kingmaker, a potent private citizen political opponent.
Additionally, people are individuals.
There is no "super secret formula" for neutering a political opponent other than digging up dirt on them and Sarah Palin is the most examined, vetted, potential political candidate in American history.
(maybe in the history of the world)
Being as squeaky clean as Sarah is combined with having a history that is openly publically known(the opposite of Obama) is a major political characteristic as well as an asset that could pay dividends in this election cycle.
Palin can win because she has beaten those that buy ink by the barrel. That is she has defeated the collective known as the MSM. This has never happened before and no other candidate is capable of doing it.
Every attack they launch at her turns back on them with increased impact. They can intimidate every other Republican challenger but they can do nothing to harm her. The media cannot extort her and she is free from their inquisitional tribunals of hate, mockery and derision. She, alone among the potential candidates, does not have to pander to the inflated egos of second rate pundits. She does not have to submit or bow in deference to the Lords and Ladies of the media as do all other candidates.
The recent bus tour was a demonstration of her leadership. The media followed like sled dogs behind the pack leader. That was a demonstration of her power.
Combine the shield of media invincibility with the ability to raise large sums of money from a lot of small donors and you have an unbeatable opponent.
My question:
Is the author correct that a Palin candidacy will defeat the leftist media strategy used on Palin?
I know I'm not looking forward to the media jumping on Michele Bachman's adoptees flaws, or two week 24/7 breathless news reports that Pawlenty ended a sentence with a preposition.
The biggest obstacle to Palin being POTUS is the growing likelihood of assassination by a lone imbicile....or a partisan conspiracy.
Really, when there is an unscrupulous clique in power, who would callously resort to the "Gun-walker" plot just to advance gun control....nothing is off the table for that crowd...it's the Chicago way.
This current administration closely resembles a banana republic hunta....where they resort to bullets rather than ballots.
Well Alex, you don't answer questions, and you don't state your own political position or hopes for the future or even why you even need to come here and grace us with your presence.
Mostly from reading your comments, all you are is a poo flingin' monkey here to disrupt and add nothing of note.
It seems that the only reason you come here it to cry out for attention, which you crave like someone who has never known love or even any kind'o notice by normal folks.
Here is a song for you, Alex:
http://tinyurl.com/62j76k5
Jesus loves you Alex.
May the Lord forgive me, 'cause I don't.
Then ag'in, that's why I need Him, 'cause I'm so poor at scratchin' up charity for the likes o'you.
Stop talking about Palin. She is only very good at driving the media to distraction. Chris Cristie is far more worthy of mention.
~libertariansaresmarter
Yes, Chris Christie is worthy of mention.
The most mentionable thing about him is that he is adamant about saving New Jersey from the coming economic tsunami which is threatening us all.
Chris Christie has done some remarkable things to save the state of New Jersey.
(regardless of any of the other penny ante issues that Republican voters may be concerned with that don't mean squat if a financial debacle engulfs us all)
It may be that Chris Christie has decided that he has done all he can do at the state level in the short term and that economic straits are so dire that the only way he can further save his beloved New Jersey is to run for POTUS.
(if that is so, we are all of us facing some very bad prospects from Chris Christie's perspective)
JMO
She would mop the floor, wipe the cove base, vacuum and dust.
Little long winded and ox slaying dramatic
I've seen horrors... horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that... but you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror... Horror has a face... and you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies! I remember when I was with Special Forces... seems a thousand centuries ago. We went into a camp to inoculate some children. We left the camp after we had inoculated the children for polio, and this old man came running after us and he was crying. He couldn't see. We went back there, and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm. There they were in a pile. A pile of little arms. And I remember... I... I... I cried, I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out; I didn't know what I wanted to do! And I want to remember it. I never want to forget it... I never want to forget. And then I realized... like I was shot... like I was shot with a diamond... a diamond bullet right through my forehead. And I thought, my God... the genius of that! The genius! The will to do that! Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were stronger than we, because they could stand that these were not monsters, these were men... trained cadres. These men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with love... but they had the strength... the strength... to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men, our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral... and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling... without passion... without judgment... without judgment! Because it's judgment that defeats us.
richfisher, Apocalypse Now was the reason I stopped going to theatres.
They wanted $14 in '79?
That was twice as much as every other film at the time was asking.
Totally pretentious.
To this day, although I have a DVD collection that exceeds 700 vids I won't buy that movie just on principle.
(that and I despise Martin Sheen and have none of his films)
First 2 sentences in your post, richfisher?
Kind of sexist if you're referring to Sarah Palin.
I've read about SP mowing the lawn in a tank top with Trig strapped to her back on a hot day...
Too bad I'm married or I'd say how appealing that image is...
guess I just did,...if my wife reads this, unlikely because she doesn't blog and doesn't like Kate, she knows that the appealing part is because I'm allergic to grass clippings.
8^D
Would you guys for God's sake stop feeding this troll? He's -never- added anything edifying to any discussion he's taken part in, ever. Including this one.
Y'all rise like trout to the bait. Jeeze.
The left is scared to death of her.
They'd ignore her otherwise.
Run Sarah! Run!
Oz
We musta plowed somewhat the ground....
I will admit to watching AN at an associate's home on cable. Those about me were somewhat confused about whether it was celebrating or deploring the Viet Nam experience.
Buddy's wife (had taken some psychology)commented that I was exhibiting signs of brutalisation. To that I responded...."We are all products of our experience---whether it is on a battlefield or a university lecture hall."
About Palin, I long ago concluded that the lefties went ballistic because they are more affected by carnal/lewd impulses than others and assume everybody else is like them.