Palin is the Latest Implosion from 2012 GOP Hopefulls
BY: WC WINDBAG
It seems that Sarah Palin, even in “retirement,” still polarizes her friends and her political enemies. From the Bill Kristol spin-a-thon at the Weekly Standard blog and on Fox News Sunday to Huffington Post’s Erik Sean Nelson titling his entry as “Palin Will Run in ‘12 On More Retardation Platform”, everyone has an opinion on Sarah.
Here at TGI, I think it’s safe to say that we all like Palin to certain degrees. I personally thought she was an exciting VP candidate, but probably the wrong selection for McCain. Not because, as my liberal friends like to say, “she is an idiot“, which she is not… but because she is young and inexperienced, which pulled that card right out of our deck against the One.
In September, the GOP had the chance to run the “grown up” ticket. While the the young and inexperienced Obama picked Joe the Mouth, proving that he was green and unwise, McCain could have selected someone with gravitas, and a resume… someone besides Palin. Alas, he did not, and the rest is history.
Palin, for her own reasons, has decided to step down as Governor of Alaska after only 30 months in office. As mentioned before, Bill Kristol thinks this decision might be crazy like a fox, but the general consensus is that Palin screwed up. I agree with the latter position.
First, the GOP tends to nominate someone with a track record. With the exception of George W. Bush, you would need to go back quite a long way to find a party nominee without an impressive resume. Palin’s state and national experience is pretty thin, and although it is comparable to President Obama’s back in 2006, the GOP does not generally go with new for the sake of new.
Second, Palin will find it more difficult to rehabilitate her stature in the national media (unfairly defiled in 2008) if she is an unemployed speaker-for-hire rather than a chief executive of a state.
Third, as the AP’s Jennifer Loven stated, Palin’s sudden resignation seems a bit unpredictable, and I would add reckless, and that is less attractive to the Right who prefers experienced politicians who stick it out and fight the good fight.
On the other hand, I could be all wrong, but with the recent announcements of Ensign, Sanford, and Palin, Mike Huckabee’s signing a three-year deal to continue his Fox News show, and Sir Charles’ influential opinion, it appears that there is a GOP front runner developing for 2012.
The only question left is: who is the next GOP casualty?
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Don’t forget that W was a successful two-term governor (well, one and a half) of the second largest state in the union, while of course being a dumb chimp who can’t pronounce nuclear.
I was actually leaning toward Bob Barr before Palin joined the McCain ticket. I would have never voted for McCain if it were not for Palin regardless of the “lesser of two evils”. I’d rather have no evil to vote for (I know, pie in the sky).
She was thrust onto the scene and did pretty well considering the bright lights. McCain would have probably lost either way, although he was much closer statistically that he should have been near the end. He was a lukewarm candidate running against a very good politician with all of the MSM and the money machines on his side. Hard to beat that.
Who will be next? Who knows. I’ll bet any scandal that happens on the left side of the aisle will receive much less airplay on MSNBC than any Republican candidate. Just an educated prediction.
Viking, although I agree that Bush 43 was qualified as a chief executive of a baseball team, and 6 years as Governor, there is no doubt that his resume is less impressive than other GOP nominees: Dole – Long time Senator, former VP candidate, war hero; Bush 41 – war hero, Congressman, CIA chief, 8 year veep, etc.; Reagan – 2 term governor, president of screen actors guild, long time advocate; Ford – Long time Congressman, minority leader, vice president, President; Nixon – military leader, congressman, senator, vice president. The list goes on and on. Worst rub on W, he couldn’t use big words, and reminded me of Will Ferrell. Strategery!
Madman- Bob Barr? That is like the lefties who continue to vote for Nader. Love it or not, we are a two party system. McCain and Obama were not the same, even if McCain was not ideal. Politics is about compromise, and although McCain was my last choice for President, he was the only choice when the general rolled around.
I made my mistakes in the 1990’s with Perot. Never again!
All said and done, I probably would have pulled the R, but I would not have liked it. I didn’t like it when I pulled it anyway! McCain was the favorite in the primary system with Independent and many democratic voters, but when the election rolled around those fence sitters went for the young vibrant candidate – no matter what his ideals were.
This is a major problem with the two party system. No real choice for the “best” person. The primary system is fixed by putting all the pressure on a couple of early primaries. No offense to all those great people in Iowa and New Hampshire – but a couple of the least populated states should not have so much control. How about having all the primaries on the same day – all eggs in one huge basket. Or maybe a whole bunch early on? There has to be a better way to choose the leader of the free world.
Perot was a loon, can’t believe you voted for him. You were not alone though. You helped elect BC!
WCW, a conservative pundit opined that Palin stepped down to avoid false accusations of ethics violations. Allegedly, anyone in Alaska can file a complaint with the Alaska Public Offices Commission (at no cost, other than a postage stamp). She has supposedly spent many thousands of dollars in legal fees defending herself against these allegations (which may have been filed by liberal activists or sympathizers just to punish her).
This play may be to avoid legal battles with the A.P.O.C. so that she can focus on her campaign. She is betting that she can stay in the limelight long enough to make it to the primaries.
I am not a huge fan of hers (she’s too controversial and divisive for my taste), but, I would certainly support the Republican ticket if she was on it.
Madman, I agree that the primary system screwed us and we have non-Republicans voting in moderates, only to have them vote for Dems in the fall. I would never have voted McCain in, except that he was the best option in the fall.
I have to disagree with you on the two party system. I would much rather have our system than a parliamentary system where coalitions are formed, but the net affect is a squishy center-left party or a squishy center-right party. Either way, there is no benefit in voting for a purity candidate if that candidate gets 10% of the vote, joins the coalition and gets some goofy post like foreign minister, but still follows the orders of the squishy left party. At least with the GOP in power, we have one leader (or a Congressional caucus) which sets the tone and direction. Voting for a fringe candidate is wasting a vote, as I learned in 1992 and 1996. On the other hand, BC was a moderate democrat with belt and ethics problems. BO is a leftist with power grabbing issues. I think voting for a Bob Barr in 2008 was much more dangerous than Perot in 1992.
By the way, I voted for him because I was young and stupid, and I hope both issues are now rectified. On the other hand, he received 19% of the vote, and not 1.5%.
Buzzkill, I agree that I would vote for Palin if she was on the ticket — I would vote for any GOP candidate over the Democrat (with some minor exceptions), but she has damaged herself pretty well with this move. She has shown that when the heat is turned up, she will run away. She has limited experience, and no way to rehabilitate herself.
Time will tell on the Palin thing. To speculate on whether this will harm her in the long run is just that, speculation. The talking heads on FoxNews and other places have thrown in their two cents, but I don’t give them too much credence. After all, Palin was outdrawing everyone on the right during the election cycle and is hugely popular with the people of Alaska.
I will admit that this move seemed rather strange, but I don’t we still have the whole story – and we might not get it for a while. Either way, it’s a long way until the elections in 2012 and anything can happen. Heck – I thought it would be Hillary and Guiliani running in 2008.
What is really needed is a conservative to run – not a lukewarm republican or a moderate – a conservative. If Mccain would have shown some backbone and actually run a campaign correctly – he would have been President (expect for the whole economic meltdown). No one wants milk toast for their leader – that was McCain (and still is).
The primary difference between the Democratic and Republican Parties is that the Democrats will unite blindly behind their candidate – no matter what – and Republicans will vote on principle. If any group is in lockstep devotion it’s the democrats and liberal voters. That’s the main problem in the Republican party – too many people think for themselves. I really don’t think that’s a bad thing but it does split the vote.
Is it better to vote on principle or for the lesser of two evils. Tough choice, but my conscience is clear. I think that a revolution needs to occur to totally start from scratch – but I’m not holding my breath.
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