I’ve decided today that Sarah Palin is sort of a genius.
Unless the real reason she’s stepping down is that the National Enquirer is about to publish a cover story revealing that she’s actually a man who became a woman to escape his history as a Sandinista guerilla fighter, her resignation is flat-out brilliant. It’s certainly possible that she’s leaving her post in advance of some big, ugly, serious scandal becoming public, but I suspect not. And if not, then she’s made the best political move I can imagine in her plan to run for president in 2012.
Whenever I make a big decision, or help someone else make a decision, I always ask this question first, “what’s the downside?” If we ask that question about Sarah Palin’s decision to resign, there really isn’t one of any consequence. Sure, some (not all) Alaskans will be irritated. And some Americans will consider her a quitter. But as Palin begins to build her national organization in earnest, the pissy Alaskans will be equivalent to a few political gnats, and the folks in the lower 48 who will express their disapproval of her resignation don’t like Palin anyway, no matter what she does.
So those are the negatives. If there is any other downside, I am not seeing it. And of course, we Americans have a short attention span, and the “quitter” label just won’t carry any weight within a year, particularly since Palin is now an iconic figure who transcends any single action she takes.. Given who she is, and the passions she stirs in people, the relatively dull, bureaucratic fact that she decided to leave office early really won’t factor in the grand scheme of the Palin narrative
So what are the benefits to Palin? They are huge. First of all, her resignation offers the very basic positive of immediately freeing her from the ethical and logistical constraints that come with her office; as givernor, she can’t leave Alaska too often. She can’t raise money as easily. She has to deal with day to day tasks of actually governing, and she has to face the press scrutiny that comes with being a high-profile, sitting public official.
So Palin resigns yesterday, pointing to the truly unprecedented way she continues to be trashed in the media. She frames it as “best for Alaskans,” saying that the press has essentially driven her from office, and noting that she’s doing the honorable thing by walking away so that Alaskan government can regain some sense of peace and normalcy. Plus, even as she claims that her family’s privacy continues to be violated, she explicitly reminds us that her toddler has Down Syndrome, and she gets Good Mother points by saying she needs to spend more time with him.
Both the suggestion that she’s basically been forced out of office by the liberal media, and her stated plan to be some version of the saintly stay-at-home mama galvanize her admittedly limited, but very enthusiastic and cohesive base: the rightest of right wing Republicans, plus Evangelical Christians. They love her already; now she becomes a crusading martyr with a story to tell, and a comeback to plan. While her base doesn’t actually have enough votes on their own to get her elected, she can spend the next 18 months wringing every last penny they have to give out of them, money she can then parlay into a more comprehensive and well-financed campaign organization that will do its job of turning that money into votes outside of her base. For the next year and a half, Palin will be on the road continuously, speaking, rallying and passing the hat at churches, pro-life meetings, and gun advocacy groups. And when she’s not out there rallying her activist footsoldiers, she reinforces her mainstream GOP street cred with occasional Fox News analysis gigs.
It’s brilliant, I tell you.
Don’t underestimate Sarah Palin. Any woman who can calmly stare down David Letterman, without blinking, forcing a humiliating public apology out of a man who routinely makes lesser mortals weep via his withering excoriation is a woman with a plan. A big plan.
You wait and see.
CLARIFICATION: Thanks for all the comments on this post (except the ones I had to delete – the ones threatening violence against other commenters. Sheesh people.) After writing the post yesterday, and seeing the dozens of “Right on, fellow Palin supporter!” comments since that time, I feel the need to clarify for those who are perhaps first time visitors to my blog that I am not a Sarah Palin supporter. (That would, in fact, be a radical understatement.) In saying that I believe Palin’s resignation was a brilliant move for her in terms of pure political strategy, I am not suggesting that I support her policy positions, or that I hope she succeeds in her quest to become president. But yes, I do think that she just checkmated her political enemies in a pretty clever way. And I also think she’s a seriously tough cookie with a Big Plan. But for those of you who read the post offering my recognition of these things, and then got the impression that my compliment for Palin’s political savvy equates to being a fan or supporter, sorry to disappoint. But I hope you’ll consider stopping by my blog again, now that you’ve discovered me. I may be one of “those people” you love to hate, but at least now you know I’m one who is willing to call ‘em like I see ‘em 
150 Responses to “UPDATED:The brilliant strategery of Sarah Palin”
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Lou writes:
>Kind of scares me that I was able to follow everything that he said. I am afraid to read any more of his postings, it may push me over the edge. . .
Actually if there’s any edge I push anyone over, it’s one of embracing the common sense of the individual over the misconceived faith in technocrats. This Independence Day, I’m hopeful that more of us can regain confidence and faith in the common, well-rounded American individual.
I’m a risk manager for a global financial corporation and a debate coach in my “spare time” – both have helped me see these past years that we over-rely on the alleged wisdom of so-called experts. There’s actually some outstanding research (and a good approachable book that escapes my memory right now) about how consistently, a panel of a dozen well-rounded regular people made better decisions on complex issues than a panel of experts.
There’s some great philosophy underpinning this observation. Philosopher Martin Heidegger gave a series of lectures in 1930-31 (encapsulated in the book, “The Essence of Truth”) about how mankind, since Plato, has taken a very problematic path in totally screwing up the definition of truth. The fork in the road was being taken in Plato’s time, so Heidegger evaluates it there. Quickly put, there are two types of truth:
- truth as “correctness of statements”: e.g. an auditor coming in, running through a checklist, and indicating whether a statement was believed to be ‘true’ or not corresponding to observation, testimony, etc.
- truth as “unhiddenness of beings/entities”: this is the illumination of beings/things that allows us to understand them and reveal their truth, e.g. through analysis of models, processes, maps and instantiation of observed data as information and eventually knowledge
It appears to Heidegger that we lost knowledge of the second concept of truth and are stuck in a civilization that only recognizes the first. Think of the decrees of Mao that converted the farm to the commune or the executive orders of Obama to fire GM’s executive, discard bankruptcy law and create a worker’s paradise corporation. Both build upon truth that corresponds to statements, not the underlying truth of the unhidden entity.
I guess my point in this all is that we need to have much more faith in each other, throwing the technocrats overboard. Palin iconifies the common successful individual, to which the unsuccessful should aspire to. We have two systems in our society; one of parasite-technocrat interdependence (with the parasites empowering the technocrats to steal from the producers), and the producers who work with each other and don’t need technocrats and don’t want parasites. Kill off the technocrats and the parasites starve.
Best wishes to you all today! May you celebrate the nation’s heritage with your families and have a wonderful weekend.
-HH
I don’t know if I think this is a brilliant political move or not. I think I’m still too much in shock to tell. I know the conservatives out there think the media picks on her. I think that’s true. But, I would like to know what those on the right think about her syntax. The way she constructs sentences baffle me. They make George Bush look like an expert grammarian! And that’s just the beginning–following her train of thought is even more challenging. What’s even more incredible is that her bizarro syntax still fails to hide the fact that when it comes to foreign policy she is an absolute ignoramus. Really! Why does the media bother to pick on her poor kids when she provides so much rich material?
By the way, Mama Pundit, you should post more political opinions on this blog. I love reading what you write about mothering, but I also love reading what you write about politics and you do a lot less of that!
The question I have is how much money did her PAC raise yesterday? I sent in a boatload. Go ahead and keep doubting/attacking SP, she’s legit and exactly what mainstream America is looking for.
I hope Sarah uses her time and talents to unify the Tea Party movements.
Wouldn’t that piss you off!
I realize that it’s standard operating procedure for a politician to do whatever is in the short-term best interest for their political career, rather than to do what is in the best interest of the governed, but can anybody with even half a clue make an argument that what Palin did was NOT in the best interest of Alaskans?
If she hadn’t resigned, there would certainly be a valid argument come 2010 or 2012, that she unnecessarily subjected Alaskans to the expense of DNC-orchestrated ethics complaints while she spent her time and focus on running for national office. (Never mind that Obama started his Senate campaign the minute he was elected to state office, and started his POTUS campaign the minute he was elected to the Senate; of course those were totally ethical moves, solely in the interests of Illinois voters; yeah, right!)
So, resign vs. stay is a moot issue, damned if she does, damned if she doesn’t.
Next, the issue of her legal bills. As a governor, there are limits to what she can do in the realm of raising enough funds to survive a financial pissing match with Soros and the DNC.
While it might be gallant to keep turning the other cheek, it’s not very bright.
As for the lying morons who try to paint Palin as some sort of uber-bible-thumper, the record doesn’t support their fantasy. There are no documented (hearsay doesn’t count) instances of her injecting her religion into her elected office, or even being significantly vocal about her religion in public (remember, not having an abortion is a “choice”). Hell, next to her, John Kerry sounded like John the Baptist during his campaign.
Next, there’s a leaderless GOP standing idly by while some loser-@$$ McCainines who would have lost by 20 points if not for Palin, trying to blame their failure on the only person that kept them from being more of a laughingstock than AlGore or Ross Perot.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Palin become a leader of the growing number of TEA Party voters who keep getting screwed by the DNC and the GOP.
Think about it for a minute, she has more than enough ammo to paint both parties as the abject failures they are at serving the interest of the American people. She has a proven track record of cutting taxes, costs and waste in government, and didn’t need eight years to get it done. Can anybody else make that claim? Do most average American citizens place that high of a priority on an elected official’s ability to kiss UN or EuroTrash @$$? No!
For all of Obama’s affirmative action college degrees and ghost-written books, his promised intellectualism hasn’t borne much fruit, nor will it. And while Bush did keep the country safe and the economy relatively stable for seven years in the aftermath of Clinton’s tech bubble, earnings fraud and decimation of our national security, the support of his family’s political machine and the support of the extreme religious right didn’t help him accomplish much else.
If she’ll put up with the inevitable assault from the media/political/academic complex, Palin would be a great choice for a 2012 TEA Party candidate.
Palin’s stated position on small gov & limited spending would be shot to hell in light of the huge budget shortfall Alaska will face in 2010.
Palin’s resignation should come as no surprise when viewed in that context.
Obama can’t keep the North Koreans and Iranians at bay. He criticizes the democratic process in Honduras. He’s purposely destroying America.
Patriots have had enough.
Welcome to the next 18 months of ATTACK, ATTACK, and ATTACK. True patriots are backing Palin and we’re not backing off.
Hands, feet, money, whatever she needs. . . .We are there, advancing in whatever direction she takes us.
DEFEAT OBAMANATION TODAY.
Junk Science Skeptic writes:
>If that’s true, she shoulda been a senior executive of Lehman Brothers and accomplished as much for that outfit as she did for the State of Alaska.
It’s views like this that have come close to killing our nation. I work with senior executives from a much larger and more powerful corporation than Lehman was (with respect to impact on our economy, not impact on politics). The only thing remarkable about the graduates of the Ivy League puppy mill farms is that they are so damn good at getting risk wrong.
I’ll take a mutt any day to these disease-prone, perception-challenged elites. Yes, Palin’s a mutt, not a pure-bread elitist. Incidentally, Obama’s pedigree is half-mutt given his being a product of a piece of Marxist trash sowing his oats with the daughters of the elite. Unfortunately, being adopted by his mother’s family and sent to the upper class grooming schools ruined any potential he had to be a unique individual of any real value. Now he’s a useless puppet reading lines from a teleprompter.
Of course, your type seeks the comfort in the elites given they do have one thing: power to seize the product of the rest of us and redistribute crumbs to the parasitic ilk. The day of reckoning for the parasite is coming. Don’t fear or hate Palin; fear those of us she symbolizes.
The lot of you including myself have no idea what Governor Palin’s stategic intentions are.
What she has done in this environment of SANFORD SINS and JOCKOMANIA, is catch the MSM flat footed and knee-capped her political assasins. Was this a three minit round in a 15 round bout? Who knows? Advice for the News crowd and the DC insiders (they are not the same peaple), put some ice on that eye.
I think it was a good move; it’s pretty hard to be an effective Governor with a giant target on your back all the time. I believe her reasoning was sincere. But I don’t think it was a precursor to any 2012 national run.
Hatless: As mentioned by Wheatie above, the comment author’s ID is shown above their comment, not below. The horizontal line is misleading. The comment you cite wasn’t mine.
It is my first time here. Good to see the place is not completely infested with idiots. I did notice a few. If you could not “get” what Palin had to say yesterday, or think it was rambling or not purposeful, I suggest a crash course in remedial english. Maybe it was the delivery. No looking this way and that (where ever the teleprompers are located), no uummms or awwws, just a staight forward heartfelt speech. I think Sarah just cast off the limitations her current position imposed upon her for the fight she sees comming. She laid out very well, what she saw as issues she feels are important in this fight and the tools she will use. She must have been a point guard at some time and knows what she intends to do. I just wonder as a private citizen will the attacks on her be actionable. A lawsuit against those who libel or slander her could go into campaign coffers.
SB, Are we just supposed to believe your claim, or can you point to any significant growth of Alaskan government or spending? Actual, not hearsay, please.
If, on the other hand, you’re actually talking about a budget shortfall due to a major drop in oil revenue, it’s kinda hard to blame the Obama/Pelosi/Reid effect on the global economy on Alaskan fiscal policy.
Save your ammo for the likes of Joe Heathen. Seems he is the person who needs the refresher course in english. Then needs to study American history from the perspective of reality not bent left by those who think America was and is wrong. If you don’t like it here, move.
You’re right, but her supporters don’t care and her detractors don’t get it. If the IRS or anyone else had anything on the family or her, the VF piece would have alluded to it (he had months and lots of $$ to write the story) as would her speech. People believe what they want to believe.
This way, she can sell lots of books, hit the lecture circuit, ala Clinton, go on a “listening tour” of the US, and make money, win friends, etc.
And Alaska will be forced to take the stimulus money, she can claim it didn’t happen on her watch.
Curious that constructive engagement of thought results in death threats on the forum from Junk Science Skeptic. This is the ugly reality of the parasite: when threatened, they overtly seek the death of their host.
I’ll contact our blog’s administrator to obtain source IP information regarding this individual. We work closely with Federal law enforcement in our group so this individual may have reason to spend this weekend in fear.
Care to clarify your comments, “Skeptic” or would you prefer to clarify them with the authorities?
Please note that the guy who made the loony comments about commiting violence was using the moniker “Joe Heathen”, not Junk Science Skeptic.
I hope there is a moderator who is able to permanently remove the rantings of Joe Heathen. I seriously doubt he is actually a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, who I greatly respect and appreciate for their courage and sacrifice in defending our freedoms.
Personally, I have enjoyed reading today’s postings by the HatlessHessian, which are well-written, entertaining, and provide substantive food for thought.
Hatless IDIOT:
Since you can’t read very well, look at the bottom post on the thread to figure out that the poster’s name is above their comment, NOT BELOW DUMB@$$! Or maybe look at your own posts to figure that out?
Maybe somebody has hijacked your handle, because you actually managed to make a few coherent posts before you got stuck on stupid.
You’re starting to give trolls a bad name.
If you had any real involvement in this blog, other than your fantasy “we/our” claim, you might be able to figure out who is posting what.
Now turn off the computer and go get your diapers changed, your mommy wants you out of the basement.
Is that clear enough for you, troll?
Hey Katie,
Since many posters seem to be confused, and some refuse to catch a clue, can you get a programmer to modify your blog template so that the horizontal rule in the signature line is above the poster’s name rather than below?
Thanks
The threatening poster had their opportunity to clarify their death threats. That they chose not to is sufficient for purposes in forwarding this matter onward. Thanks all – may the rest of you have a wonderful weekend. I can assure you that this individual will have an opportunity to explain their threats to law enforcement.
Also, my apologies to the real Junk Science Skeptic per the confusion on the post.
I didn’t take time to read all the comments, but wanted to mention one big thing that’s not being mentioned much: the mid-term elections.
Palin’s not running for anything. At the same time, we’re seeing this groundswell of dissatisfaction with our current Congress. I can imagine Palin out there campaigning and raising money for quality candidates that share her vision – whatever party. If successful, she’s built the foundations for a supportive political organization for her own aspirations.
Hatless:
“the real” ???
Nice try now that you’ve made a complete fool of yourself. You’ve mis-attributed quotes you’ve made throughout this post, ignored a polite call back to reality (2:23 PM), and then taken off on a delusional “law enforcement” fantasy.
Anybody who has been in a WordPress blog for more than a few minutes understands that the little geometric avatars in each reply are unique to the poster’s address, not to the poster’s handle, so a faked handle would be completely obvious.
All of my posts have the purple square in the center avatar, and yours have the avatar with 16 pink dots in the center.
Pretending that there was another Junk Science Skeptic that you were abusing other than “the real” Junk Science Skeptic makes your apology Kerry-esque at best.
“Whenever I make a big decision, or help someone else make a decision, I always ask this question first, “what’s the downside?””
That compared to McCain she looked great and added things to the ticket (re: a lot
of her popularity was a result of conservatives not being excited by McCain).
Compared to future candidate X, will it still work? I’m not sure.
“… her admittedly limited, but very enthusiastic and cohesive base: the rightest of right wing Republicans,…”
This doesn’t jibe with what little recent polling I’ve found, which refers to her base as “conservative republicans”, which is pretty much all of ‘em.
Zelfsdorf,
Here are some of the sentences that I find odd, all of which were taken directly from her speech yesterday:
1)”Even those debt-ridden stimulus dollars that would force the heavy hand of federal government into our communities with an “all-knowing attitude” – I have taken the slings and arrows with that unpopular move to veto because I know being right is better than being popular.”
2)”So I choose, for my State and my family, more “freedom” to progress, all the way around… so that Alaska may progress… I will not seek re-election as Governor.”
3)”I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you TRUST me with this decision – but it’s no more ‘politics as usual.’”
“she’s actually a man who became a woman to escape his history as a Sandinista guerilla fighter”
So thats why she likes Reagan ,i’ll report back to Axelrod.
Yeah. Brilliant. She quit a few different colleges. She quit an appointed position. Now she quit being governor. Because? The media was MEAN to her? And some of you people think this is a SMART decision???
Good God Almighty!
Leaving aside for the moment the long-term political ramifications of Gov. Palin’s decision, I think it’s more than a little snide to dismiss any voter who actually expected her complete the job for which she was elected as “pissy Alaskans.”
If there is a compelling personal reason for her to step down, I think most will understand that. But voters in general, and Alaskans in particular, don’t take kindly to politicians who quit one gig because it’s too hard and then try to convince us they’ll definitely, totally, unquestionably stay the course no matter what obstacles they face in a more powerful role (as, not eight months ago, she pledged to do in a position considerably more high-profile than the one she currently holds).
I just don’t know how she will be able to look our troops, including her son, in the eye after using them as an EXCUSE for quitting – if they can’t walk away, then why can she? Does she really believe the annoyance of partisan ethics complaints outweigh the sacrifices our boys on the ground make every single day? I will respect her choice if she truly made this decision out of a desire to be with and protect her family, but if she’s resigning to run for another position, she’s cooked.
“mamapundit” – and I shudder as I call you that because it is so close to the handle of a decietful liar who has done more to help The Terrorists in the last two years than anyone except Dick Durbin:
YOU are the first person who has fully grasped the brilliance of Sarah’s decision. I feel giddy waiting for the leeches and the sucker-fish in the “media” who have just lost their “wipping girl” that they threw up time and time again to “steer traffic” to thier worthless websites, or try to swell “ratings” by publically sticking pins into her like a reusable voodoo doll.
THEIR meal ticket just got taken away from them!!
God Bless you!
I listened to the press conference.
Sarah speaks–consistently so–very eloquently, very coherently and very EXTRANEOUSLY, unlike our current president.
She had no notes, no teleprompter, and I heard not a single ahhhh, ummmm or stutter. She speaks from the heart, and very much the way the rest of us yokels in the heartland speak.
Record a conversation between any two ordinary American citizens, and, (I can’t resist) “you betcha,” you’re going to find fragmented sentances, run on ones as well…a non-sequitor or two, and the occasional mixed metaphor and a smattering of colloquialisms.
IMHO, as I listened to the press conference (LIVE), what she said made perfect sense to me, and more importantly, I believed her, because it seemed to come from the heart.
Zelfsedorf seemed entirely too, too, “Henry Higgins” about her syntax…so let me tell you what most of us heard when Sarah spoke the words he so cleverly puncuated for her:
QUOTING NOW:(Zelfsdorf)
Here are some of the sentences that I find odd, all of which were taken directly from her speech yesterday:
1)”Even those debt-ridden stimulus dollars that would force the heavy hand of federal government into our communities with an “all-knowing attitude” – I have taken the slings and arrows with that unpopular move to veto because I know being right is better than being popular.”
(You know the phrase NIMBY? Those stimulous dollars become entitlements folks, take them away at a future date and all hell is going to break loose with the states footing the bill. Jindel didn’t want the money, Stanford didn’t want the money, Barber didn’t want the money and all for the reason stated above. However, they ended up taking it, knowing that when it comes time to pay the piper, they will be long, long out of office.
Oldly enough, the only Republican governor with the cahones NOT to knuckle under to the dems in her state was the slutty little governor from Alaska!.
2)”So I choose, for my State and my family, more “freedom” to progress, all the way around… so that Alaska may progress… I will not seek re-election as Governor.”
(Translation:I’m sick and tired of you calling my children morons, sluts, and pre-teen sluts. I don’t need this crap, and neither do the people of Alaska, so kiss my Salmon!”)
3)”I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you TRUST me with this decision – but it’s no more ‘politics as usual.’”end quote.
(Translation: “I am forming a new party with a lot more libertarian tenets at it’s base. The republican party as it exists is toast, and conservatives–from both the democratic and republican side of the aisle–will find a new home in this new movement. And at the core of this party will be a promise that when we see a bear taking a crap in the woods we will say just that instead of dubbing said bear, “An Ursine member of our planetary community who is presently excreting recycled plant and animal tissue in our prestine wilderness areas.”
You want hope and change?????? You ain’t seen nothing yet!”
Sarah Palin is going to run for president in 2012? Maybe she’s resigning to get a brain transplant. She’ll need it.
I listened to the press conference.
Sarah speaks–consistently so–very eloquently, very coherently and very EXTRANEOUSLY, unlike our current president.
She had no notes, no teleprompter, and I heard not a single ahhhh, ummmm or stutter. She speaks from the heart, and very much the way the rest of us yokels in the heartland speak.
Record a conversation between any two ordinary American citizens, and, (I can’t resist) “you betcha,” you’re going to find fragmented sentances, run on ones as well…a non-sequitor or two, and the occasional mixed metaphor and a smattering of colloquialisms.
IMHO, as I listened to the press conference (LIVE), what she said made perfect sense to me, and more importantly, I believed her, because it seemed to come from the heart.
Zelfsedorf seemed entirely too, too, “Henry Higgins” about her syntax…so let me tell you what most of us heard when Sarah spoke the words he so cleverly puntuated for her:
QUOTING NOW:(Zelfsdorf)
Here are some of the sentences that I find odd, all of which were taken directly from her speech yesterday:
1)”Even those debt-ridden stimulus dollars that would force the heavy hand of federal government into our communities with an “all-knowing attitude” – I have taken the slings and arrows with that unpopular move to veto because I know being right is better than being popular.”
(You know the phrase NIMBY? Those stimulous dollars become entitlements folks, take them away at a future date and all hell is going to break loose with the states footing the bill. Jindel didn’t want the money, Stanford didn’t want the money, Barber didn’t want the money and all for the reason stated above. However, they ended up taking it, knowing that when it comes time to pay the piper, they will be long, long out of office.
Oldly enough, the only Republican governor with the cahones NOT to knuckle under to the dems in her state was the slutty little governor from Alaska!.
2)”So I choose, for my State and my family, more “freedom” to progress, all the way around… so that Alaska may progress… I will not seek re-election as Governor.”
(Translation:I’m sick and tired of you calling my children morons, sluts, and pre-teen sluts. I don’t need this crap, and neither do the people of Alaska, so kiss my Salmon!”)
3)”I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you TRUST me with this decision – but it’s no more ‘politics as usual.’”end quote.
(Translation: “I am forming a new party with a lot more libertarian tenets at it’s base. The republican party as it exists is toast, and conservatives–from both the democratic and republican side of the aisle–will find a new home in this new movement. And at the core of this party will be a promise that when we see a bear taking a crap in the woods we will say just that instead of dubbing said bear, “An Ursine member of our planetary community who is presently excreting recycled plant and animal tissue in our prestine wilderness areas.”
You want hope and change?????? You ain’t seen nothing yet!”
Great article. I think she will take a short term hit from this but a couple things will clear that up.
1) She gets out and does an interview this week to get in front of the media on this issue. Lets face it, many of the Republican pundits on TV are as useless as the Republicans in office have been over the last few years. She needs to make the case herself
2) And most importantly. If the SarahPac numbers are as big as I think they are going to be, every Republican up for election is going to be kissing her as$
Hi. My first time to this site. Rush was away from his radio show for three days last week. He returned on Tues., June 30, I think. Either that day or the next he made a comment that has come back to me. Does anyone else remember him saying something like: “I’ve been working on something important (or in secret) and I hope I can share it with you one day.”? Wouldn’t it be incredible to find that he is going to back Palin in a run for president in 2012, in a manner similar to the way Oprah backed Obama. Rush views Palin most favorably, that’s for sure. Just a thought, but a very appealing one to me!
The Vanity Fair article about Palin is nothing but a silly, misogynistic hit piece. The lefties fear Palin—that’s why they spend so much time trashing her, eight months after the election.
An article like that would never be written about a Democrat.
For heaven’s sake, Joe Biden’s daughter is on video snorting coke, and David Letterman, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, and Maureen Dowd won’t even touch it.
I find it so strange that the people that can’t stand this woman takes the time to post on a web site that support her, why? You sound really pathetic and lonely. Who would do that if they weren’t? Most people congregate with like minds to be inspired and supported. Are you being paid to bash her, that would be the only reason I would hang out on an Obama site. In fact you couldn’t pay me enough to do that scummy job.
Chewythelab:
Giving a speech used to be an art form. People would study rhetoric. I still believe that a political speech is not meant to sound like an exchange in a supermarket. Obama’s speeches are carefully crafted and, yes, they sound more like an essay than a livejournal entry.
Being president is a tough job. I don’t know that I want the average joe (or Joe the Plumber, for that matter) running my country.
I’m sorry, but Palin did not fearlessly stare down David Letterman. She simply took a lame joke and exploited it. That’s all. Basically she played the “pedophile card,” which can be thought of as the equivalent of calling someone a Jew-lover in Nazi Germany.
Letterman, a confirmed leftist, saw the chance at an easy yuck, but didn’t do his research: I.E., it was Palin’s younger daughter, not her older one.
It was a shrewd move by SP, but not fearless. She simply exploited a very sensitive topic in our culture, and in the process painted all older men a leering creepers.
Great article Mamapundit.
FIRST off, ANYONE that describes Palin’s speech as ‘rambling’ or ‘bizarre’ is simply clueless. I don’t have a degree in speech, or in political analysis, but I understood EXACTLY what Palin was saying.
If anyone wants rambling, listen to Chris Matthews blabber about his man-crush on Obama. Or listen to Biden. Better yet, listen to Obama without his teleprompter (stutterer-in-chief).
Palin’s resignation is SIMPLE, and let me explain it to you second graders that find it ‘bizarre’. Ever since she became McCain’s running mate, the DNC declared it open season on Palin. Frivolous ethics charges (all of which ruled in Palin’s favor) are costing her money, and costing Alaskan tax dollars. Resigning puts those dollars to work where they’re supposed to. She does her state a BETTER service by letting someone else govern who won’t be subject to this unprecendented, Chicago-style bullying.
Secondly, she’s not ‘whining about the media’. She’s RESPONDING and she’s fed up with their bias. You want whining? Listen to Obama talk about Fox News. Listen to McCain’s campaign whine about Palin. If Palin didn’t respond to the media attacks, what would her critics say? They’d say she can’t stand up for herself.
Understand this: Palin critics will hate her NO matter what she does. And they’ll love Obama EVEN as he makes their paychecks smaller and raises their utility bills. THEREFORE, their opinion on Palin is WORTHLESS (or worth ignoring).
Palin SYMBOLIZES the Conservatives that are FED UP with the media, and with the socialization of our country. She stands for something we can ALL rally behind.
I don’t believe this is necessarily about a run for President in 2012. I believe one possibility is that she will work to become the glue that pulls the Tea Party movement together into a cohesive national force prior to the 2010 and 2012 elections. This is the kind of grass roots environment in which she thrives. Whether that evolves into a true third party movement or run for President remains to be seen. Being relieved of her duties as Governor, she can focus full time on this endeavor.She will earn plenty of money for herself and Republican candidates she supports. She attracts big crowds wherever she shows up and has many conservative supporters and will gain the respect of more Independents who will have had enough of Obama’s disastrous policies. Democrats in swing or traditionally Republican districts will have to be looking over their shoulders. I believe the possibility of her presence on the campaign trail could actually effect their willingness to support the Obama/Pelosi radical, far left agenda.
It was a terrible strategy, and it kills her presidential chances for the immediate future. First of all, she hasn’t even served a single term. She has no record and no experience to run on. Just words.
Her stepping down proves to her critics that they have control over her and they can intimidate her. After they got her to step down, they know that if they keep attacking her she will crumble just like she crumbled now.
Intimidate her? Har har. This is the woman who backed Lettermen into an apology and has sponsors embarrassed witht their association with the show.
Palin does what she wishes, including not listening to the inane rantings by trolls. While you’re at it, ask the people of New York if they feel betrayed by Hillary Clinton bailing on them to take the Secretary of State job. No.. wait…. I think they’re thrilled with that move.
Sarah Palin announced as one of the reasons that she stepped down the ethics complaints and the attacks on her family.
A third party/tea party idea is a sure way to guarantee four more years of Obama/Pelosi/Reid. It splits the GOP–the conservatives will go to Palin, the country clubbers will back whoever else.
What the GOP needs is a revolution within the party that takes in the tea party and the independents. People that are fed up with the Obama economic disaster have to realize that pulling a Perot ain’t gonna do it. The DNC, the libs, they’re all solidly behind Obama for better or for worse. But the GOP, independents, disgruntled democrats, tea party people–all share something and need to come together on that: saving the country from economic ruin, from bigger more intrusive government.
The GOP’s not perfect, but it’s the only practical vehicle that stands a fighting chance in 2010 and 2012.
What Palin can do is go around the country endorsing GOP candidates that RESONATE with the independents and the tea party crowd.
It would be a terrific coup if your suppositions were true. It would catch the news media like that salmon upside the head, because they’ve never given her credit for that kind of smarts.
Personally, I don’t give her credit for that kind of dishonesty. We have become accustomed to people in politics denying their real intent so much that we start examining the strategy behind every statement. Maybe in this case the truth is the most logical, Alaskan politics is a sewer and national politics is a bigger one if the media decide you threaten their preferences, and she decided she owes her family better than this.
blah blah blah on all you people who keep talking about Sarah Palin and the Presidency. She is going to spend the next several months and maybe years doing her best to knock some sense into the American people who have clearly lost their way. We are being suckered into becoming a nation of “gimme gimme” entitleists. She is not thinking about money, or Presidential runs. She is seeing our pathetic and shallow natures and it breaks her heart to see Alaska and America, the land of the free and the home of the brave, become the land of the dependent and the home of the wishy washy. It is clear to me that she has heard her calling. Her gifts are clearly evident. She is wise to heed the call.
So we are gnats? Perhaps Sarah can just step on us. I wouldn’t call incomprehensibility brilliant.
People, people. I know you are passionate, but you
have teensy, tiny uneducated minds, which is why you
gravitate toward the similarly challenged Ms. Palin.
She’s so stupid, it brings tears to my eyes and
makes me gasp for breath.
D—d—-d—-d–DUMB. It’s quite shocking. What’s
even more shocking is that even in a dumbed-down
age, most Americans see that she has the intellectual
heft of a (pardon the pun) Down Syndrome baby…..
Wow Katie!! You sure got everyone all stirred up.
Did you write this piece EXTRANEOUSLY? LOL!!