Posted on 09/09/2019 2:54:33 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Monitoring Governor Palin’s pre-ascent to the national political scene was one of the stories that prompted my joining FR while in college. I remember Free Republic being one of the few places online (along with Glenn Beck’s show, to his credit) to profile the rising star governor: her successes navigating Alaska’s international corporate oil scene, her carrying a Down Syndrome baby to term, and before anybody in the media or even GOP establishment knew who she was — her qualifications as a viable for runningmate for John McCain. I stayed up all night before the day of the announcement, praying she would be the one.
Fast forward a few years and I attended a special screening of a film entitled “The Undefeated” - a documentary breaking down the media and establishment elite’s (including GOP) unhinged distortion and takedown of Sarah Palin and their continued onslaught against her legacy. It was directed by none other than the little known...Steve Bannon.
The ultimate thesis of the film being that as a working class American, as a Christian, a woman and mother, as a highly charismatic and skilled politician with a formidable record of executive accomplishment — Palin embodied a volatile convergence of the very forces in our country, which pose not only a political threat to the entrenched power structures of our society, but existential and cultural.
And it was with this insight and understanding by which Steve Bannon helped guide our current President to electoral victory in 2016.
I see a lot of posts at the moment trying to rationalize away the divorce and speculate on the Palins’ personal lives...Some observations may be valid — but these discussions miss the point — which is, that her fate (and that of her family) is what awaits *anybody* who dares challenge the establishment especially on that scale. (At least in term of what the establishment intends!) - We are not even told about the extent to which the media and other facets from both political parties worked night and day to drive her out of office, stoke fear in her family and her community (like the Wasilla church burning), how frivolous lawsuits bankrupted her financially, etc...
If you watch video footage of the sprightly, shrewd, and calmly eloquent Palin in the early 2000s at things like the AK gubernatorial debates and things, one can see just how much of a spiritual and psychological toll all that’s unfolded since had had on her.
This is what the media wants for Trump and his family too...but luckily our president has the financial and other buffers by which to withstand the attacks, which will likely come even after he leaves office...And in the meantime of course they will do everything in their power to drive him out even during a second term.
In the meantime the wolves will attack the emerging leaders of the conservative movement and NOTHING is off limits: families (children!) , homes, jobs, etc...And it’s incumbent on everyone to just...be aware. And to view all this in proper context.
-PJ
“I don’t see him as weak; but time will tell, and what he does next.”
I don’t see him as weak either, agreed, AW.
Their marriage is none of your business.
I never begrudged her foray into reality television like a lot of activists did.
I think both of them realized that while four of the Palin kids were going to be self-sufficient, Trig was going to need special needs help at least until he was able to take care of himself in some fashion. I think that one major reason that Palin got into television partly because she understood that there would come a time that there would come a time that a Trust Account would have to be set up for Trig. I don’t think that her critics in the GOP ever thought this out.
And yes, there was the opportunity to get out of the struggling middle class reality of small time Republican politics. Sarah and Todd got to make real money for the first time in their lives.
Her Democratic enemies saw Trig as a point of vulnerability all the way back in 2008. It was one of the reasons they attacked her the way they did in the last year of her Governorship. Her Bushie opponents in the GOP knew this as well, so they simply stood aside rather than pitch in to help.
All that said, some of the reality show pitches were awful (”Judge Sarah”, etc.). I think Palin got out of TV because she figured that she had pushed her 15 minutes to the breaking point. However<If you think Todd Palin had a problem with all that extra money lying around, I suspect that you are mistaken. Just a hunch.
No it didn’t, which is why I said she was a quitter and PJ agrees.
Who did that?
He definitely is the weaker of the two, agreed.
“I realize that you, nopardons, can sometimes be prickliy to deal with; but come on—easily 90% of the other posters objected to her/his behavior. Ruined what could have been a very good thread.
This was a good thread. Just because I defended myself from several insulters is why you take offense?
“And as far as my being “prickly”, stupidity sticks in my craw, as do TROLLS and liars! So upon seeing such posts, my hackles rise.I do fight back and am blunt!”
At least you admit it. You’ve been nothing but insulting and not welcoming and rude to me.
“A week-old n00b apparently has a Free Republic moderator in his or her pocket.”
What?
“No doubt. I voted for Palin, not the old guy.”
I voted for her too, but the old guy came with her. Doesn’t make her any less of a quitter. 4 years of governorship is not that hard.
“Without Palin on the ticket the 2008 election could have been a complete disaster. She was drawing the crowds...not mcstain.”
It was a complete disaster - we ran McCain as president. It was a terrible choice.
“Yes, though going the reality TV route probably didn’t help her children either. She could have made plenty just working on policy at a think tank, with the fame to flog books in that direction instead. She is IMO done in politics at either the state or federal level, since she is apparently so politically unpopular in Alaska, hasn’t established herself in another state, and isn’t viable on either the presidential or veep level.
It’s a sorry story.”
Agreed, especially your last sentence.
Go away, troll.
-PJ
Lets just send him to Coventry and if you don’t understand the meaning of that term, FRmail me; please.
There we go - see, we can agree. Her cashing in on TV deals did burnish her reputation, including the way she quit her governorship. I smell something funky going on.
She’s a hottie, I agree.
“Go away, troll.”
I’m not a troll and you continue to insult me. I said we agree.
So nothing? And you keep insulting me. You’re the troll here.
Dude - sometimes it’s best to quit while you’re ahead. You just don’t know when to shaddap. So here - allow me. And in the meantime - take the kick-me sign off your back.
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