Palin presidential run would create national spectacle (Another Doozie!)

Bowling Green State University News ^ | September 23, 2010 | Mike Thurau, Columnist

[2ndDivisionVet]

As the poll numbers roll in and the sound bytes accumulate, the possibility of a Sarah Palin presidential campaign seems more and more likely. Whether or not the Republican party will say okey-dokey to her candidacy in the primaries is even more uncertain than if she's going to run or not, but if you ask me, she plans on at least giving it a shot.

Sure, she hasn't actually come out and said "I will run for President in 2012," but she has promised us she would "give it a shot," assuming a few vague qualifiers be fulfilled.

The success of "Tea-bagger" candidates in the Republican primaries has served as a kind of litmus test for her chances in 2012, and so far they're coming up positive. What this means for American politics is a dumbing down of an already infantile discourse.

In 1964, Barry Goldwater (who by today's standards would probably be considered a moderate due to his tolerant stance on gays in the military) was rebuked by the electorate as a trigger happy corporate shill.

However, Goldwater didn't have the Tea Party on his side, and when he winked at the camera he looked more like a used car salesman than your best friend's mom. To be honest, I wish Goldwater was still alive. He might have been a corporate shill, but at least he wasn't a moron.

When at least a third of the Republican Party believes the president is a secret Muslim, I can't help but feel the possibility of honest and rational dialogue has been seriously compromised to the point where even Barry Goldwater starts to look good. The conservative campaign against the Muslim/Socialist "establishment" is geared toward very stupid people, but it is a politics that the movers and shakers of conservative America have learned to navigate with surprising sophistication.

However, Palin is by no means a shoo-in, and despite her extensive time in the limelight she has managed to maintain her status as an outsider. Part of this comes from expressing what the conservative base is feeling as uncompromising terms as possible, and part of it comes from not having any actual responsibility for the past few years.

If Palin is serious about a presidential bid, she's going to have to up her game. She's going to need to start hunting bigger animals like rhinoceroses and elephants, increase the size and sparkle of her flag lapel pins at least 85 percent and move from winking to full on batting of the eyes.

These goals are all achievable by 2012 and they take a lot less time than reading a history book or passing an intro law class.

In fact, it isn't entirely unreasonable to say that she's running for president right now. She certainly travels and makes appearances like a Presidential candidate, and if enough of her picks in the upcoming elections make it into office it'll go a long way towards giving her the insider support she needs but currently lacks.

Even more likely in my opinion is a ticket with Mitt Romney for president and Palin for vice. As a vice president she would probably reassume her 2008 role of looking good, shutting up, winking at the camera, and shutting up.

While she had some difficulty with the second and fourth portions of her job description at times, she managed to avoid the subject of politics and stick to kitsch and xenophobia enough to serve as a net positive for the McCain campaign.

Romney is the corporate oligarchs' wonder boy and while the moneyed interests tend to lean more libertarian than conservative, Palin as vice president would be an easy concession to the radical wing of the Republican party.

Romney is still the front runner, but his Mormonism and roles in Romney care and TARP are going to take a lot of explaining. Then again, perhaps they won't take much explaining at all.

If Palin can be convinced that TARP stands for Teenage Abstinence Reward Program and Romney was simply not involved at all with the new health care law, then it's a short leap to convincing the conservative base that Romney is their guy and the Book of Mormon is really just the King James Bible with an addendum.

The comedy and tragedy of all this is that ideology, legal knowledge, economics and foreign relations are becoming secondary considerations to Palin's and to a lesser extent Romney's political ambitions.

The culture war is going to weigh heavily on the political competitiveness of the candidates in both parties. And if the 2008 Republican campaigns seemed like a circus with its claims of "Obama is a secret Muslim/Socialist/Atheist/Black nationalist," or "condoms don't work" then that's because you haven't seen the main event.

At the same time, two years is a lifetime in politics and any number of dark horse candidates could come from behind to seize the nomination in 2012 like Ron Paul (just kidding) or Bobby Jindal. A lot of questions remain unanswered, but if you're asking "Will the 2012 Republican candidate appeal to White racial anxieties and nostalgia?" Then my answer is an unconditional you-betcha.

[hosepipe]

The Tea Party(caucus) is growing daily.. and Palins power is growing as well... By 2012 it will much stronger..

Palin / Condi Rice will trump the Obama/Clinton delusion..

[Rembrandt]

Mike,

You’re a columnist and, no doubt, a self-appointed smart person. Nonetheless, the “party” doesn’t have any control over who runs for President, so I think that Sarah will run, much to your chagrin. I’ll enjoy watching you twitch in anger.

[Interesting Times]

Aping the sneering tone of the leftist elites may impress the profs at Bowling Green, but it’s a poor substitute for knowing what you’re talking about.

[eclecticEel]

When at least a third of the Republican Party believes the president is a secret Muslim, I can't help but feel the possibility of honest and rational dialogue has been seriously compromised

Actually the surprising thing from this non-poll is that it seems that most of the 'rat party insists on believing that Obama is a Christian - no believing isn't the right word, "declaring" is the right term. They know it's false (and they prefer it to be false anyway), they don't care, they just keep declaring it.

It reminds me of last february when congressional democrats kept loudly declaring that Obamacare woud reduce the deficit. They knew it wasn't true, we knew it wasn't true, we knew that they knew, they knew that we knew that they knew. There was complete knowledge all around, and yet they just kept declaring it. How do you have a conversation with that? How can you be polite with someone who lies to your face - and doesn't even care whether they're fooling your or or not?

[Enchante]

I don’t believe that Obama’s a secret Muslim -— he’s really a “Wiccan”

[bicyclerepair]

Liberals are kind of like Stepford wives in the way that they’re programmed illogically and are stuck on stupid.

[freebilly]

Wake me when Mike Thurau’s testicles finally descend....

[Rummyfan]

I can’t believe they let this idiot write for the paper... even if it’s only a university rag.

[Allegra]

The success of "Tea-bagger" candidates...

If anyone had any questions about this idiot's leanings, that cleared it up right there.

Resentful, spiteful, nasty, clueless liberal. Check.

[The Wizard]

stopped reading here: “Tea-bagger”

[Diogenesis]

Romney -inventor of RomneyCARE (and more bad fascism)
is not eligible, is not qualified, and was not even able to
work with his dog, without backstabbing Seamus.

"But the details of the event are more than unseemly — they may, in fact, be illegal.
Massachusetts's animal cruelty laws specifically prohibit anyone
from carrying an animal "in or upon a vehicle, or otherwise, in an unnecessarily cruel
or inhuman manner or in a way and manner which might endanger the
animal carried thereon." An officer for the Massachusetts Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals responded to a description of the situation
saying "it's definitely something I'd want to check out." The officer,
Nadia Branca, declined to give a definitive opinion on whether Romney broke the law
but did note that it's against state law to have a dog in an open bed of a pick-up truck,
and "if the dog was being carried in a way that endangers it, that would be illegal."

---

"Dog on Roof? What Was It Like for Romney's Pooch?
Scientists Say Dog Likely Experienced Wind-Whipped, Uncomfortable Trip
"Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family's hulking Irish setter,
in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon's roof rack.
e'd built a windshield for the carrier, to make the ride more comfortable for the dog," read the article.
Jordan Kaplan, the owner of Petaholics, a dog walking service in New York City,
and a lifelong dog owner and dog lover, said Romney's actions were uncalled for.
....What Happens to a Dog on a Roof Traveling 50 MPH?"

---

"Romney's dog - This is a distinction Mitt Romney probably could do without, but he is surely
the first presidential candidate to be attacked for putting a dog with diarrhea
in a carrier and tying it to the top of a station wagon.
Romney's defense: Seamus liked it. "He scrambled up there every time we went on trips,"
the Republican said during a campaign stop in Pittsburgh. "He got in all by himself and enjoyed it."

---

"As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon,
keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble.
''Dad!'' he yelled. ''Gross!'' A brown liquid was dripping down the back window,
payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours.
As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust,
Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station.
There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car,
then hopped back onto the highway."

---

"Story about dog on car roof comes back to bite Romney
Critics, jokesters make issue of tale
TIME.com's Swampland blog has been flooded with more than 200 comments
from readers complaining of animal cruelty"

---

Romney's bad behavior Exposed by Seamus

"Romney Loses Nomination Over Dog Abuse?
Romney was traveling that summer with his wife, five sons, and Seamus to his parent's cottage on Lake Huron.
But hours into the ride, Seamus apparently suffered diarrhea,
which ran down the back window of the car. Romney's sons, all under 13, howled in disgust.
Romney pulled off the road into a service station.
There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, and they drove on to Ontario.
.....David Kravitz wrote on BlueMassGroup, a liberal blog.
"It also strikes me as classic Romney: it solves a problem efficiently,
in a business-like manner, and with no regard whatsoever
for the suffering that the solution may cause."

---

[Diogenesis]

"If Palin can be convinced that ...Romney was simply not involved at all with the new health care law"

ROTFLOL

Romney created RomneyCARE just as the Bishop Romney
IMPOSED RomneyMarriage without a single vote (except his).

"One of the traditional methods of imposing statism
or socialism on people has been by way of medicine..."
President Ronald Reagan

Death Panels imposed by Mitt Romney (ObamaCARE=RomneyCARE).

[jersey117]

Worse than Hillary running around the country in an orange pantsuit lying about taking enemy fire?

[CAluvdubya]

I'm baffled....Why'd this end up in the Smokey Back room?

I thought I was going to read to rousing thread to get my blood circulating this morning but it's a tame thread.

Will wonders never cease?

[McGruff]

The success of “Tea-bagger” candidates...

Tells me all I need to know about the author. Didn't bother reading any farther.

Palin presidential run would create national spectacle

I think it would be more like,

and they know it's coming.

[headsonpikes]

“I’m baffled....Why’d this end up in the Smokey Back room?”

Blame it on Seamus, the diarrheic red setter, or RomneyCare - either or both of these is guaranteed to give you a sh*tty outlook!

So, smoked it is.

[Lakeshark]

ArE you suggesting this is a tame thread?

How dare you.

:-)

[SuziQ]

The success of "Tea-bagger" candidates in the Republican primaries has served as a kind of litmus test for her chances in 2012, and so far they're coming up positive. What this means for American politics is a dumbing down of an already infantile discourse.

His use of that pejorative makes anything else he says irrelevant.

[Still Thinking]

The conservative campaign against the Muslim/Socialist "establishment" is geared toward very stupid people

Then it's not surprising that a towering intellect such as yourself hasn't bought in, Mike. (not you, 2DV)

[Still Thinking]

Even more likely in my opinion is a ticket with Mitt Romney for president and Palin for vice.

Ewww! Gag me. Would that sort of average out the ticket to a normal ho-hum level of tyranny?