Palin’s fine, but not for president
Here’s a new poll indicating that Palin’s support is strong among Republicans but not with the rest of the voters.
That’s why I hope she is not the nominee. Yes, she’s got name recognition, all right. But people have made up their minds about her, and her negatives are both high and seemingly set in stone.
The people being pushed as the front-runners—Gingrich, Huckabee, Romney, etc.—are mostly has-beens, in my opinion, in terms of appealing powerfully to the American public as Obama alternatives. The ones I’d like to see—Christie, Ryan, and Gregg, to name just a few—are not running, as far as I know. Jindal looks a lot better after the Gulf oil spill, but I cannot forget his disastrous showing when offering the television rebuttal to Obama at the outset of this administration.
I am hoping a fresh and strong Republican front runner will emerge closer to 2012, because one of my worst fears as that Obama wins as the default candidate because the Republicans shoot themselves in the foot by nominating someone too stale or too extreme or too easily destructible.
I’m afraid I have to agree with you. Despite the fact that Palin would have made a better President than Obama, I doubt she could ever overcome the image portrayed by the media. And those who have the mettle for the job are not in the running.
It’s fairly depressing to think Obama could get back in for the lack of a candidate worth of the principles most Americans still share.
I’m rooting for Tim Pawlenty or Mitch Daniels. Both are successful governors & both will have served longer than Christie (who is the real rock star on the horizon). I don’t think the Republic will survive eight years of Obama – I mean that – we’ll be doing good to get through four.
Mitch Daniels.
I would also say Gary Johnson, but I don’t think he could get nominated or elected by telling the truth about marijuana prohibition.
We conservatives need to take advantage of America’s newfound dumbassedness. Find an unknown who’s hip like Bono, looks like George Clooney, as comfortable in his skin as Tom Hanks and funnier than Billy Crystal. The kicker being he’s so covertly far right he’ll fly airforce one over Iran after his innauguration parade in route to retrieve that bust of Churchill.
This sounds like a job for Hit Girl!
I’d love to see a backlash against the trend of choosing the most cosmetically appealing candidate, but I don’t hold out much hope for it. Ryan made more sense in the Obama-Republican HCR “summit” than this administration or anyone else in Congress has made in over a year.
And despite his unfortunate failure to condemn slavery in promoting Confederate History Month in Virginia earlier this year (in other words, failing to suck up the the eternal victimhood crowd), I hope that Bob McDonnell’s name will come up more often in future discussions of possible candidates.
Christie/Ryan 2012.
Gingrich is still an outstanding thoughtful leader, if he could be rehabilitated…..
I like Ike. Wait, sorry. I mean Thune. He has some potential, replaced another despicable Democrat leader so some name recognition if a bit dated, and could have legs. I’ll check his record out more thoroughly… soon… I’m sure.
As for the most of your post, I think you hit it pretty good. All of them have a few too many warts, too dated, just wrong, or other issues. Before Gingrich went to the dark side on one to many issues, he had been a consideration. Might be good for middlen’s? Hoping for a real conservative, not a maleducated yuppie socialist look-alike. *sigh* Like Bush was. Liked the man, but he thought being too fair was, well, fair. Doh!
I like Palin and think the ongoing campaign to portray her as a laughingstock continues to be offensive on many levels.
But I fear the damage has been done. And sadly, the reality show that is her daughter’s (and soon-to-be son-in-law’s) life is not helping.
I’d LOVE to see Christie take on Obama. That guy is fearless and does not mince words!
Gingrich lost me when he appeared on the sofa next to Pelosi in a “going green” commercial. Wtf? Do these republicans ever notice that democrats are cleaning their clocks and they never have to reach across any aisle to do it?
Huckabee lost me….well…because he’s Mike Huckabee.
People had made up their minds about Reagan in 68 and 76. Reagan’s primary #’s were in the low 20’s in 68.
He was portrayed in the media as the “amiable dunce”, an actor with no real qualifications, whose stint as Governor was irrelevant in the 1980 election.
What changed people’s minds was actually listening to Reagan and most of all, Jimmy Carter.
Obama in 2012 is another Carter and his approval numbers by then are virtually certain to be in the commode.
With the exception of Christie and Ryan, none of the potential candidates mentioned above is viable, which also includes Romney, Huckebee and Gingrich.
But Ryan’s a policy wonk, little known outside conservative circles and Christie must wait till 2016 to be truly viable.
Most of all, Palin’s got the right stuff, an intangible of paramount importance in a leader.
If this country is ever going to be righted, sooner or later the MSM propaganda machine is going to have to be taken on and any Republican candidate ‘acceptable’ to the MSM will be a RINO and won’t fight for the changes that have to be made.
Huh? What? Neo! Don’t let Krauthammer’s malaise get you down, and don’t let pollsters instill you with received wisdom – especially this far out from an election.
No one, I mean no one, is kicking Obama’s tail harder than Sarah Palin. No one is even coming close. And that is why those who are so invested in Obama are making such an effort to portray her in the most negative light.
Since she “quit” her job as governor (and don’t think for one second that in their heart of hearts the Obami wish that she hadn’t “quit”) her profile has steadily gone up, not down.
And you can file the trivia about Bristol in the same folder as Ron and Patty Reagan – they were a constant distraction for Ron and Nancy. Anyone remember Billy Carter?
These high profile progressives have run out of credence.
Don’t let them tell you how to feel about conservatives.
Go Sarah!
The problem with Palin isn’t her ability. It’s the inability of too many Americans nieve about pop culture media to even consider Ken Lay and Leonna Helmsley might actually have been decent and loving people.
We will see how Sarah wears over time. I think only two people know what she intends; and both have the name Palin. There can be no argument that she excites a large number of people like no one else. True, many dunces are excited in a negative way, but how much attention should we pay to dunces? Whether she runs or not, she will be a factor in politics for the foreseeable future.
The overlooked, but possibly the best potential President IMO, is Haley Barbour. He recently said that if he lost weight he was running for President, or was terminally ill (or something). Watch his waist line.
In my opinion we badly need a Governor–or someone who has actually managed a large organization. Senators, even experienced ones, just won’t do. Bob McDonnell recently announced a $220 million surplus, as opposed to a looming $1.8B deficit. Media is trying very hard to ignore it.
After Obama people will want a competent executive (means a Governor or outstanding mayor not a senator or congressman) but one that doesn’t simply promise an ideology free technocratic management. By 2012 national security independent of Afganistan and Iraq will be back on the front burner, also straight talk about debt. Trust will be important as well.
So what do we have to get? High personal integrity and consistency, strong commitment to the US as a nation, and a feeling that any sacrifices will be shared because the candidate is “one of us”.
Pretty much defines Palin more than Pawlenty, Romney, Gingrich. (Ryan may have a play).
The media is full of leftist, communist, progressive (thats redundant) shills. So anyone they see as a threat they will try to destroy.
Palin is the opposite of McCain-she does not try to be “nice” to our enemies within.
GO PALIN!
In a number of comments to last month’s tata post, I explained my opposition to Palin. The comments can be found via repeated searches for ‘gs Says:’.
The last two comments in that thread are my belated additions about Palin’s half-term as governor. IMO they are material to an assessment of her fitness for higher office.
*************
I hope the GOP turns to a so-called second-tier candidate who is a successful governor, ideally reelected to a second term.
One of my favorites is Judd Gregg. He’s really strong on spending and deficits at a time when that issue is hot.
Mr. Frank, here is Gregg’s statement after financial “reform” passed.
I like that he is a former governor.
But I must admit that the Bush presidency weakened the argument that performance as governor is an indicator of how a candidate will perform as President.
The Democrats basically picked Obama and rejected Hillary because her negatives were too high. Is that the way you want to roll? I’ll wait, we have 18 months.
Mitt-Sarah will be fine with me.
gs,
Thanks for the Gregg link. He strikes me as a straight talker who understands the seriousness of our economic situation.
I love Sarah, but we’re going to need someone who’s exceptionally sharp, physically attractive (lets face it, it’s true) and can be a real son-of-bitch when the occasion merits it. Whoever will have the unenviable task of running against a black President will need every trick in the book and lots of luck. Given this current administrations desperate and divise tactics, coupled with all the mouthpiece functionaries such as NAACP it’s going to be very difficult. I thought Scott Brown, but he’s beginning to really worry me. Republicans need to get it together though, the country can’t sustain much more from this guy.
Well, Neo, I disagree. In fact, I think Gov. Palin wouldn’t just beat Obama, she’d stomp him to a sniveling bloody pulp.
She’d kick his ass but good, Reagan-style. Because she’s got his number, and she’s itching to take him on and lay it all out there; she wanted to do it in 2008, but McCain wouldn’t let her.
That will not be the case in 2012, and that will be very, very bad news for Obama. And the left knows it. Obama knows it.
He doesn’t want this fight.
Consider his political victories: twice he used the courts to get his opponents tossed off the field, and then he faced John McCain, the gift that wouldn’t stop giving. Jeez Louise, McCain didn’t run to win, he ran to be a gracious loser — for him telling the truth about Obama was dirty politics, while for Obama lying, cheating, slandering and all the rest was, well, politics as usual.
McCain brought a gun to the gunfight, all right, in Gov. Sarah Palin — only then he locked the gun up in the safe and let Obama and the MSM run wild all over the place: they could commit election fraud, raise funds illegally, and lie with brazeness to make you blush, because McCain just didn’t get it.
But Gov. Palin got it. She knew who she was dealing with then, and she knows it even better now — and if she decides to run in 2012, she will not only have an army behind her, she will have an arsenal of precision weapons to smash Obama to bits.
And he won’t know how to handle it. Obama hasn’t been challenged much in his life, and he doesn’t like being put on the spot now — the last thing he wants to do is to have to defend.
Remember, his M.O. is to clear the playing field if he can, and if he can’t do that, to set up straw men and speak in terms vague no one can pin him down.
Lastly, Obama’s main advantage will not be there in 2012 like it was in ’08. More than any other Democrat candidate in history, he had the media hiding who he was, painting him as someone he wasn’t, and assaulting McCain and Gov. Palin 24/7.
Only now he has a record, and Gov. Palin would love nothing more than to whip out her own paintbrush, and paint exactly who he is and what he’s done for the American people.
And if that weren’t enough, trust in the MSM keeps on going down, down, down — day by day, fewer and fewer people believe what Obama’s cheerleaders tell them.
And that is, as a certain VP might say, a *big* f’ing deal. Without the MSM’s insane help, Obama never could have won.
Really, it’s the story of his life: people have cleared the way for him, made things easier.
On the other hand, how about Gov. Palin? Anyone clear the way for her? Nope.
She’s the most self-made politician to come along in years. She’s a scrapper and a doer.
And she’s a winner. Her life is a record of success against the odds, time and again; and her few defeats have only made her stronger.
But she’s so polarizing! you say.
Oh is she?
On the contrary, Gov. Palin isn’t polarizing — she *was polarized* by the MSM.
And that isn’t a permanent state — for another politician it might well be, but not for her.
Because she’s not only got Obama’s number, she’s got the MSM’s.
In reality, Gov. Palin is *appealing*. More than that — she is *magnetic*. Dynamic. Quick-witted. Shrewd. Tough. Sensible. Genuine. Optimistic. Patriotic.
You know who *is* polarizing? Obama. His poltical views are hard-left and his friends and associates are bizarre. Without the MSM’s full-on sugar coating, the American electorate chokes on Obama.
In contrast, the more people listen to Gov. Palin, the more they like her and realize how logical, how commonsense — how *normal* — her views are. And the governor has scarcely begun to reintroduce herself to America.
And now the Mama Grizzlies factor. The country was eager to pay for its past sins against blacks by electing a black president, and they are — yes, right now, just under the surface — every bit as eager to shake things up again by putting a woman in the Oval Office.
Luckily for our country, she won’t just be an affirmative-action hire of some mystery fool/knave. We will know exactly where our new president stands on the issues, because her words will match her actions.
Lastly, now is the time for bold colors, not pastels. We don’t only need competency — which Gov. Palin has in spades — we need *vision* from our next Commander-in-Chief. Quoth Doctor Zero: http://www.doczero.org/2010/07/serious-human-beings/
I thinkPalin will be the next President.
The reason is simple: She is clearly the best person out there for the job right now.
Polls scmolls. Her negatives will go to positives in a heartbeat. They went negative on zero facts in record time. Those will change and when we get really desperate, the one true loud voice that has been consistently preaching the good word about America will be the one people turn to.
I have rarely seen a public figure whose negatives were to such an extent manufactured by enemies and accepted as truth by the enemies’ supporters.
Or, promoted as truth by the enemies’ supporters even though known to be lies.
America needs Sarah Palin, or someone very much like her; close enough to be a clone.
She is an unapologetic patriot, a believer in American Exceptionalism, and, yes, a religious believer who wants to do God’s will*.
We need an inspirational, positive-thinking leader who genuinely loves America to counteract Obama, who seems to hate everything America stands for and is constantly apologizing and debasing himself before foreign leaders, while systematically demolishing the private sector of the economy, which has traditionally been our engine of growth and progress.
I still don’t see anyone on the political scene who comes close to Sarah as an inspirational leader. She also seems to be a morally upright and fundamentally decent person. But the media succeeded in demonizing her, while simultaneously uplifting the devious, un-American, and frankly evil Barack Hussein Obama. The media have an awful lot to answer for. They put him in power. I can’t see them as anything other than an enemy of America.
Another factor in her favor is that Obama seems to have a visceral dislike for her. Remember his “lipstick on a pig” comment in 2008? Maybe it’s just his Muslim disdain for women, or maybe it’s something deeper and more supernatural, like evil having a revulsion for the good.
Either way, I’d love to see debates between the two of them. She has his number, and I would expect to see him lose his cool and get nasty. I’ll be sure to have plenty of popcorn handy.
*There is a crucial difference in her attitude, which is humbly asking God, “What do You want me to do?”, not “I know what God wants, and I’m going to do it whether the rest of you people like it or not.” (That’s where the Muslim suicide bombers are coming from.)
The really hilarious part is that I’m an atheist (or an agnostic in my moments of doubt), so by all rights I should be one of those people who are constantly shrieking about a Christian theocracy. Yet for some reason I don’t feel the least bit threatened by her devout religious beliefs. On the contrary, I’m encouraged by them.
Richard,
I agree with you. I am continually astonished at the way her negatives are accepted as real and factual by otherwise conservative voices.
There is no figure more unfairly and unreasonably attacked and looked down on than Palin ever in my lifetime. No close second. She is unique in that sense and I think there are mega subconscious woman things going on there.
But she is the real deal. She is so ever=loving “normal”. She is America and the best of all of us.
She is going to win, and all her foes and friendly con-descenders will be proved wrong.
There is a rule similar to the Dowd Rule: Anyone who criticizes Palin for experience, ability or accomplishement has less experience, ability and accomplishment than Palin.
There are exactly zero, none, nada known exceptions to that rule. If anyone has one, Obama included, let’s hear it.
rickl,
You are 100% correct.
Logic dictates that what is really needed, when it is really needed, if it is REALLY needed, we will get. Why? Because it’s needed.
Example: We could not have lost Iraq? Why? The results were unthinkable.
America cannot not have a Palin figure come to the rescue. Why? If one doesn’t, America is dead.
We don’t need a Palin-like figure. We’ve got Palin.
The talking heads and mood-manufacturers and brainless and spineless and uninteresting and unimportant.
Palin is loved by zillions of people who say they hate her because they think that makes them chic.
When the life of America is on the line, and it is, chic takes 150th place in things people care about.
Palin will win.
Whoever runs against Obama should make a commercial that shows his acceptance speech “…this is the day the oceans stopped rising….blah blah…” Then say “This ad brought to you by (fill in blank)”
Going from one minority to another seems like one of the stupidest plays in history. Then again, look who Americans picked the last few times for the WH, Senate, and the House of Reps. There is no accounting for taste when wisdom and it’s source is not the basis for decisions.
Bon Appetit. May those who elected Obama, and Palin if that happens, live forever.
If Sarah gets the nomination i’m behind her 100%. I just hope i’m not relegated by a relentless press smear campaign to only 47% thats behind her 100%.
If Palin can get the elite eastern Republicans (Kathleen Parker, George Will, David Brooks, Krauthammer, etc.) on board she can win. Those voices affect a lot of independent votes and that is where elections are won and lost. She would be my first choice, but I also like Mitch Daniels, Gregg Judd, Christie, and Pawlenty. Ryan is a genius who would be better as a cabinet member because, as mentioned previously, he is a policy wonk with a wonderful grasp of the financial issues.
One thing I always try to remind people is that the President’s primary job is as C-in-C. That means someone wise enough to know that war is the most serious issue facing any President. Committing soldiers to go in harms way and keep them there until the mission is accomplished requires a spine of stainless steel. (Bush had it!) Palin is a woman who impresses me as having that also. (Another Maggie Thatcher!) I am not as sure of that quality in the other candidates I mentioned. But I do not know any of them as well as Palin and they may well have the right stuff. Lotsa time to see who rises to the top.
Doom,
May those who elected Palin if that happens…?
You are a fine example of the Palin Rule. See above.
Someday, if you could manage a thought…
If the economy was strong and the country was not facing mounting debt, you would have a point. But Obama is the wrong person at the wrong time. The public knows it. Whoever wins the Republican nomination will win.
Mikey,
I can manage a thought today, just not your thought. I know who pulls my strings… you?
rickl,
re “Another factor in her favor is that Obama seems to have a visceral dislike for her. Remember his “lipstick on a pig” comment in 2008? Maybe it’s just his Muslim disdain for women, or maybe it’s something deeper and more supernatural, like evil having a revulsion for the good.
Either way, I’d love to see debates between the two of them. She has his number, and I would expect to see him lose his cool and get nasty.”
Exactly. Facing Gov. Palin, Obama *will* get nasty; he won’t be able to help himself, not even if his handlers warn him against it: his misogyny and snobbishness will bleed through his pores, and the more she confronts him on the facts, corrects him on the facts, and puts *him* on the defensive in regard to issue after issue, the more the mask will slip.
In fact, it won’t be just Obama — his entire administration, the whole Democrat complex, will sink into vileness, because that is who they really are.
It’s important to remember: Obama and his cohorts are not nice people. They’re Alinskyites. They have no problem lying, race-baiting, and cheating in every imaginable way to advance their statist goals — they do because they know they could *never* get elected if they told the truth about their real goals for our country.
But there’s an additional point that I believe a lot of good people are missing: The political culture in the United States is very much a *creation* of the MSM. To wit, the MSM created a sort of fictional universe in which the truth didn’t matter, thus they not only created the Democrat Party, *but the GOP as well*.
Think about all the issues that got defined in a certain way that just stuck: Social Security and Medicare are *broke*; we *can’t* afford these programs as they are currently set up. In fact, they’re so in the red that when they collapse, they may bankrupt the entire country at the same time — nevertheless, to even *hint* at dealing with the problem is to flirt with electoral suicide.
Or take illegal immigration. Upwards of *70%* of Americans want secure borders, oppose amnesty for illegals, and want companies that hire illegals fined, etc. — yet nothing ever gets done.
How is this possible? The MSM define the debate by creating the facts: “Hispanics” (a b.s. word, btw) overwhelmingly support what 70% of America doesn’t want. Hispanics, who come from many different countries, want the border with Mexico de facto dissolved. Although many of them are in the trades, food service and similar occupations, they support an endless flow of Mexican illegal aliens who will do these jobs for next to nothing, and overcrowd the schools and hospitals in their neighborhoods, etc., while paying no taxes whatsoever — they want all this wonderful stuff simply because, well, Mexicans speak Spanish.
Call me crazy, but I’m skeptical. The narrative doesn’t make any sense.
In the past, my skepticism didn’t matter, because the MSM defined reality, and to succeed politically in that fictional world, the GOP had to play ball: in effect, to praise the emperor’s wonderful clothes, even though it was plain he was stark naked.
This system was, moreover, self-perpetuating: successful Republicans adjusted to living per the MSM’s rules. Like with global warming: the “vast majority” of scientists agree AGW is real and a threat, and anyone who says different’s a far-right extremist.
Just like Rush Limbaugh is an extremist, but Bill Moyers is a respected political commentator. Mark Levin is a right-wing zealot, but Peter Jennings was a venerable journalist.
Indeed, Barack Obama attended Rev. Wright’s “church” for 20 years, had his political career launched in Bill Ayres and Bernadine Dohrn’s living room, and was an agitator and attorney for ACORN — but *he’s* not polarizing.
Gov. Sarah Palin is polarizing. She’s *right-wing* and that’s *bad*!
Um, no, she’s *not* polarizing. Her beliefs are in line with those of the overwhelming majority of Americans. She’s someone to be admired — we would be *lucky* to have someone like her leading our country.
And we know she can do it, too, because she’s run a town and then a state; we know she can, because she brokered a deal that nobody else had been able to, to get Alaskan natural gas down to the lower 48.
Gov. Palin is neither polarizing nor extreme. She is a hard-working mother of five whose life and professional record are well-known. At her church they sing hymns, they don’t call for God to damn America or rage against non-whites.
Unlike our current president, Gov. Palin’s attitude toward our country is straightforward: she’s for it.
So dig it, people: when the left calls Gov. Palin “polarizing”, all they’re doing is telling us who they fear most; they’re practially yelling it from the rooftops.
And when supposed “conservatives” echo this nonsense, it’s because they’ve gotten so used to praising the emperor’s wardrobe, it’s just second-nature to them to pick up the talking points of the left.
If Gov. Palin runs in 2012, she won’t just beat Obama, she’ll beat him baaad.
It will be a nightmare for Obama, because she’ll make him do what he’s never had to do before: face an opponent he can’t Alinsky, and stand behind his record.
And she’ll smile as she’s doing it.
I am a little worried about arguing over the next presidential candidate right now. It divides us and diverts attention from the failed thinking of Obama and the Dems. I would much rather that Republicans emphasized the strength, competence, and accomplishments of the team. We have to counter the party-of-no label with something positive. How’s this for an approach:
Obama ran on Yes We Can. We are running on Yes We Have and Yes We Did.
Control spending–look at the record of….
Improve education–Look at the record of….
Reign in bankrupting entitlements–Look at the proposals of…
The Republican team is strong and each member has special strengths. We will talk about many issues in the primaries, and the voters will decide who best represents their priorities and who can best lead the team. But rest assured, there will be no Republican losers. Our team is full of people who have shown they can get the job done. Get to know our team and be confident that our next president’s team will show competence and common sense and will draw on the experiences of people from across America. We don’t aim to stop the rising of the seas, but we will stop the sinking of America.
The pundits love a headline gotcha war. We have to find our John Buford and stake out the high ground.
expat,
Re: “We don’t aim to stop the rising of the seas, but we will stop the sinking of America.”
Well said. As is the rest of your comment. You’re right: we must focus on the present. And I think Gov. Palin’s made it clear that she agrees with that sentiment.
For me, it’s just that so many people seem to buy into the “she’s polarizing” crap the Dems peddle about her. *Obama* is polarizing. *Pelosi* is polarizing. Gov. Palin’s views are right in line with those of the vast majority of Americans, and the left and the MSM know it, which is why they attack her with such fury.
Palin’s high negatives are due to:
1. Media attack. But after 2 years the are trending better not worse. She has thus been ” vetted” unlike some other GOP candidate.
2. Among indies she has a net positive. When time comes and indies look into her, they will choose her.
3. Her highest negatives are from deems who would not vote for her regardless, or most GOP candidate regardless of their positives among da.
4. Her positives among the GOP is way high, as well as her level of enthusiasm from the GOP. Her GOTV will be higher than the other candidates, deem or rep.
Paling wil be our next president.
This website is one that I’ve followed silently for quite some time for its distinctive perspicacity, but this perplexing post leads me to comment — though I hope that the position it takes is not your own but rather an unfortunately common one that you’re merely rehearsing. And if Palin is fine but for some “unfavorables” that may suggest that people’s minds are made up regarding her, then she’s in great shape as a possible candidate, especially against the catastrophe after catastrophe that is the Obama Administration.
But to believe that she’s unelectable mainly because of some statistics, so easy to manipulate, that are supposed to reflect what anonymous public opinion holds to be the case — and this so long in advance — is to participate on a small scale in something akin to a self-fulfilling prophecy. If a sufficient proportion of the population does so, obviously, this prophecy will be fulfilled, all the more so if Palin herself somehow lets herself be dissuaded from running because of it; but if the idea fails to take hold of that sufficient number of people, and thus never comes to fruition, we will look back on it and ask ourselves in bewilderment how anyone could ever had entertained it or found it to be credible. Surely it behooves us to look ahead so as to avoid having one day to face that sort of perplexity?
What I find disturbing about this post — if it does reflect your own thinking and is not a rehearsal of a commonplace — is the absence of any remarks concerning the phantom solidity of this sort of registration of public opinion: all the more so if it is not taken as one factor to be considered among many others in reaching a judgment, but is accorded a uniquely determinative role.
JR Dogman: good to see you again. We’ve been missing you over at Hill Buzz!
No kidding — thanks, much appreciated. I’ve been missing the Boyz and you-all myself.
Anyhow, you know I’m with you on Gov. Palin. I’ve thought for a long time, and I’m as sure as ever now, if she runs in 2012 she’ll smash Obama.
I’ll drop by HillBuzz soon, and thanks again for the kind words. 🙂
Mike Mc, you shouldn’t be astonished that (many) Republican voices oppose Sarah Palin. Put simply she is a threat to the political establishment, and all of their fellow travelers. That is her charm, and that is her problem. She must deliver her message through the filters of the Peggy Noonans and other establishment Republicans, in addition to all of the Dimocrats. Although she has an uncanny ability to connect to those of us of the “lower classes”, the elites do control the biggest megaphones.
(As I was debating whether to use the term “lower classes”, I was reminded of the time I was boarding a Virgin Atlantic flight in London. The announcement was actually made for “lower classes” to board through such and such door, and “upper classes” through the other. You had to love the people formerly known as British. PS, I boarded with the LCs)
Old.
I agree. Didn’t she jail some republican operatives over oil corruption? Or at least get them fired from their corrupt positions?
Loyalty to ethics trumped loyalty to party.
Can’t have that.
I like Sarah Palin very much and despite some negatives among independents in polling data I believe she could be a viable candidate for 2012.
Whatever else might be said about Obama the fact is that Obama has charisma and charisma matters in politics, especially at the Presidential level. Everything else being equal, charisma always wins. The only way to fight charisma is with charisma, and I see no other GOP politician other than Palin who possesses any charisma.
A pretty face or a handsome face is not charisma. Romney is good looking but not charismatic. Ditto Bob McDonnell. Charisma is indefinable. It is either there or not there. The Kennedys had it in varying degrees. First, Jack, then Robert and finally Edward, in that order.
Some folks will assert that better ideas are the key to victory, but better principles, even the tried and true principles such as limited government, a free market economy and a strong national defense, must be delivered by someone who can generate some excitement about those ideas.
It’s the reason that some classes taught by some professors are packed to overflowing, while other classes covering the same subjects but that are taught by different professors are reluctantly attended.
It’s the reason Reagan won two Presidential elections.
It’s the reason I give Obama a better than even chance of winning a second term.
It’s the reason that otherwise level-headed thinkers like Ann Althouse and Megan McArdle voted for Obama and later felt the need to rationalize their vote with bogus excuses, a vote that I strongly suspect was actually based on Obama’s personal appeal. It’s the reason I believe they both may vote for Obama again. They crave charisma from their Presidential candidates and will validate that craving with their vote, although neither would ever admit it, even to themselves.
The McArdles and Althouses will never vote for Palin. Their own self images will not allow that. Such sophisticates demand at least a superficial veneer of sophistication from the recipient of their vote. Palin is charismatic but NOT apparently sophisticated. Thankfully, the sophisticates and their self-deceptive opinions affect an ever decreasing segment of the public. Palin realizes the futility of trying to cater to them and has written them off as worth worrying about and this disdain by Palin of the sophisticates is one of the reasons they hate her so much. They hate to be ignored, hate being shown how little they matter to her.
I hope Sarah Palin decides to run for President in 2012. I don’t see any other candidate that has a chance in hell of beating Obama. In today’s celebrity-besotted, reality-show jaded, charismatic addicted nation only another charismatic has a chance to beat Obama.
It is very, very encouraging to see the support for Sarah.
One thing concerns me. Sarah isn’t the answer; she’s only part of the answer. A large part of the answer is much more doable: for one, local control of school boards to reacquire educational standards and control. We pawns need to move in tandem and set up the game.
The “war for American” is first and foremost educational and cultural, and of course, by extension, political, but if we think we can elect a politician who will take care of it for us and the truth is we really want all of this to go away because we rather do other than our role as citizens involved in education, media, entertainment and politicking, then we’ve lost.
We need a long term strategy, and Sarah has proven most effective as a fund raiser and king or queen maker.
Plus, she is only 46 years old. Pardon me, but I prefer my top leaders to have the wisdom that comes from much experience. Sarah is still very young as a politician. Her instincts are superb; her political ability at genius level; her values American. She is our queen at this chess game. You don’t use your queen on the first move.
Curtis, I agree with almost all you say. But if Obama wins another term all of that will not matter.
Neo: You may not “like” Sarah Palin, but do you deny that the country would be in better shape if somehow, she had been President instead of Obama? And/or do your “moderate” friends deny it?
It’s hard to know what any politician will do before they’re elected, but right now Sarah Palin looks terrific.
“Some say” that she doesn’t have enough foreign policy experience, but this is nonsense. The key to being a good President is to listen to good advisers and then be willing to make tough decisions.
Very few Presidents had much foreign policy experience. In fact, Eisenhower was probably the only recent President who had any real knowledge of people and places outside the U.S.
Going on field trips doesn’t count as “experience.” If that were the criterion, I would be far more experienced than Hillary Clinton. In fact, I probably am far more qualified than she is for Sec. of State.
grackle: Do you really think so? Is “America” finished if Obama gets another four years?
I really don’t thinks so. But I don’t want to have to find out. If Palin is the candidate with the best chance of winning, yeah, she should definitely run and I would be very happy.
BTW, if one watches “Dirty Jobs,” the “Deadliest Catch,” and similar shows, one soon learns that Sarah Palin’s accent is far more common in the northern/midwestern states than the phony tones of the NPR set. And most TV announcers in Chicago don’t even know how to pronounce the name of our fine city. How stupid is that?!?!
(For those of you who are embarrassed to admit that you don’t know how to pronounce “Chicago,” it’s Chi caw’go. The first syllable is really a schwa, but I’m too lazy to find out how to show that symbol–an upside-down e.)
grackle: Do you really think so? Is “America” finished if Obama gets another four years?
Perhaps not “finished”(the commentor’s word, not mine) but surely severely damaged. A “long term strategy” is fine and recapturing the American educational and cultural spheres, which have been deteriorating for perhaps a hundred years, is certainly an admirable long term strategy but the problem we have now is comparatively short term: how to defeat Obama in 2012. One of my favorite pundits, Charles Krauthammer, in a recent article:
Act One is over. The stimulus, Obamacare, financial reform have exhausted his[Obama’s] first-term mandate. It will bear no more heavy lifting. And the Democrats will pay the price for ideological overreaching by losing one or both houses, whether de facto or de jure. The rest of the first term will be spent consolidating these gains (writing the regulations, for example) and preparing for Act Two.
The next burst of ideological energy — massive regulation of the energy economy, federalizing higher education and “comprehensive” immigration reform (i.e., amnesty) — will require a second mandate, meaning reelection in 2012.
The entire article is well worth reading: http://tinyurl.com/279ovs
If higher education is federalized, taking over some local school boards is not going to matter all that much. If amnesty for several million new Democrat voters is accomplished the school boards will be the least of our worries.
Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I was raised with the Bible prophecy milieu of David Wilkinson and Hal Lindsay. Your account coincides with theirs in that America, if Obama gets re-elected, is not represented, it seems, in the last days.
Perhaps I am being motivated more than I know by a wish that “it” is not here, an “it” I have instinctively believed in far more than most. I cannot find a good argument against it.
Curtis, I want to be clear that I believe your idea of a long term strategy to try to correct the skewed national culture and education system is definitely something that will need to be done.
But it’s taken a long time for the Progressives to become dominant in those spheres and a correction toward more positive directions will be a long fight — the Progressive themes and addle-headed assumptions are embedded so deeply that they have become the conventional wisdom of our time.
Hey, rickl. I owe you email.
Yep. Having Palin as the Presidential cadidate is worth it for the debates alone. She’d clean his commie clock. He has no command of facts and figures at hand, or, if he does, they are manufactured in his mind (one of the few sectors of manufacturing left here in the US). He cannot handle criticism or being called out on his interpretation of events, like how the stimulus worked (or how his work with ACORN and suing a bank to force more risky minority loans, and the Dems overall love of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and their obstinate refusal to enact oversight, helped bring about the timely housing bubble crash of ’08, which actually helped Obama, a crisis which most certainly did not go to waste). Instead, they both are given more free reign to help debase and ruin our economy further. And, gosh, what would an Obama appearance be without The Obama Finger. He’s gotten away with that trick so many times now it’s not even funny.
Yeah, I want Palin just for those debates. Definitely worth the price of admission. Palin is somebody unafraid to call him out, to make him shrill, to show him to be the unknowledgeable @ss he is, even about the bills he signs into law. During his campaign, McCain being a wuss and not going after Obama pissed me off. I said it then that McCain could not see that Obama believed in the very ideology that those who tortured him all those years ago in Hanoi believed. Obama is no socialist. Palin understands this. Watching Palin dismantle Obama in public would be must-see tv.
I’d rather go down with Palin than win with a wimp. The victory wouldn’t hold. She will campaign on the right things. She will do it forcefully. There will be a great deal of clarity with respect to the choice America is offered. Then it is win or lose.
If she loses on the issues I know she will campaign on, then America is already over and it wouldn’t matter if one of the pretty guys got in. Huckabee? Romney? Pawlenty? Someone else? Who are they? Nothing is what. They’ve been practicing their cool and focus grouping while Palin has been actually out in the field fighting.
If she wins, she’ll govern on what she campaigned on. That’s a given. Also a given is that she will pick good people. Also a given is that she will sign repeals of all the Obama/Progressive Tyranny. Also a given is that she will know who our friends are, and who our enemies are, and act accordingly. Another is that she will allow American business and creativity and entrepreneurship to do what it does and begin to make jobs by the millions.
In short, she will almost certainly make America a better place after her Presidency.
Obama is the great destroyer.
IF, a big if, Sarah Palin runs in 2012, I’m fairly sure she’ll win the Rep. nomination.
And then the election, unless unemployment is down “enough” (under 7%? 6%?).
The big-gov’t is OK establishment Reps don’t like her.
The elite Reps don’t like her.
The working class Reps mostly DO like her — a LOT.
On the other hand, she might well throw he support behind some good governor, with the goal of being VP, and get most of the positives while avoiding the negatives.
In any case, she’s helping to build, more than lead, a Tea Party movement of Conservatives, and that is what will help save the USA.
There is even an argument to be made that she runs, and loses, in 2012, which results in more Reps winning in Congress.
The media focus on the Prez has been hiding the real power of the active Dem Big Gov’t solving all problems, with the passive Reps wanting better, more market friendly Big Gov’t to solve those problems — but neither really wanting the voters to have individual responsibility for their own problems.
I’d much rather have a majority Conservative, small-gov’t Congress, with Obama, than another big-gov’t Rep Congress with a Rep Prez.
Neo, I suggest you laugh at and mock your friends about their opposition to Palin, in using Palin’s words to criticize Obama. Then, when they defend Obama, make the issue Obama’s policies … which are failures. Only when your friends admit that the policies have failed can you finish, again, with a note that Palin nailed the failure. … too much work.
(I have no friends like this, any more; well, they don’t talk politics, anyway.)
I agree. She wasn’t ready for prime time in 2008, and since then she hasn’t done much to bulk up her gravitas. It pains me to say it, but she hasn’t successfully fought the left’s smear campaign against her. True believers on th right will support her, but not the general electorate.
Who might it be? Bob Dole is too old to renominate, John McCain might not even be a Senator. The Republicans have some dynamite governors, young and dynamic, also good public speakers, a must in 2112. One expects the worst from the Establishment. Here’s hoping the Tea Parties have captured the grass roots from the ideologues.