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David Corn: Palin, the GOP, and the Wimp Factor
Mother Jones ^ | December 2, 2010 | David Corn

Posted on 12/02/2010 4:05:00 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

One prominent Republican calls on his party to drum Palin out of the 2012 race. Here's why he'll be disappointed.

"Morning Joe" Scarborough earned a splash of attention within the politerati this week with a Politico column calling on the Republican Party to "man up" and denounce Sarah Palin. His main point is that Palin is poison for the Grand Old Party:

The most-talked-about figure in the GOP is a reality show star who cannot be elected. And yet the same leaders who fret that Sarah Palin could devastate their party in 2012 are too scared to say in public what they all complain about in private.

The GOP-congressman-turned-MSNBC-host urged his party comrades to speak out publicly against the former half-term Alaska governor. Scarborough, though, is likely to end up disappointed, because when it comes to Palin, GOPers have good cause for wimping out.

In his article, Scarborough viciously derided Palin's qualifications: "What man or mouse with a fully functioning human brain and a résumé as thin as Palin's would flirt with a presidential run?" And he challenged GOPers to call her out, noting, "If Republicans want to embrace Palin as a cultural icon whose anti-intellectualism fulfills a base political need, then have at it. I suppose it’s cheaper than therapy." But, he added, if the Republican Party "wants to return to the White House anytime soon, it's time that Republican leaders started standing up and speaking the truth to Palin."

But Scarborough left something out: Who does he expect to go mano-a-mano with Palin within Republican circles? There are no big grizzlies with the strength to knock her out of the presidential contest. And the party structure does not afford a group of insiders the mechanism to bar Palin from the presidential jamboree, if she wants in. Some prominent GOPers have taken swipes at her. Karl Rove dissed her as a reality-TV star. Barbara Bush said she hoped Palin would stay in Alaska.

But all this was the political equivalent of a few mosquitoes buzzing around Palin. She can easily swat away such quips, and these stings don't have much impact. In fact, though Jeb Bush said he had to side with his mother in the Babs-versus-Sarah feud "because she's my mother," he also praised Palin for having "an incredible skill to connect with people" and for possessing "fantastic political instincts." That is, he played nice. Not exactly what Scarborough is looking for.

A few nasty remarks from W.'s mom, Rove, or anyone else won't impede Palin. If she's going to be blocked from snatching the GOP 2012 presidential nomination, it will be by her competitors: Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Mike Pence, Tim Pawlenty, Haley Barbour, and other potential presidential wannabes. Yet none of these pols will take a poke at her at this stage, because Palin, whether she runs or not, could well end up a kingmaker in the race.

In a recent poll, Palin narrowly led the GOP presidential field with 21 percent of the vote. Gingirch had 19 percent; Romney, 18 percent. And she remains popular among many Republicans, whether they are inclined to vote for her in 2012 or not. If Palin chooses not to seek the presidency, surely she will be in a position to influence the race. She could do so by endorsing a candidate—or by issuing a series of tweets and Facebook messages about the contenders. The same could happen if she runs but fails to win early and drops out. Consequently, the other probable 2012 contestants don't want to alienate Palin and her flock. (One-fifth of the GOP voting pool is a large group to tick off.) And any Republican closely associated with any of these candidates also would not want to get on the wrong side of the woman from Wasilla. That could earn Palin's wrath for the candidate he or she supports.

Thus, it was hardly surprising that Romney rode to Palin's rescue, when a Politico story last month cited unnamed GOP players assailing Palin. When Palin's new book came out, Romney kindly tweeted, "Thanks @SarahPalinUSA for the kind words in your new book about the role of faith in public life. Hope it's a bestseller."

It's not in the interest of Romney and the rest of the pack to whack Palin—until it's absolutely necessary. If she does enter the fray and goes on to become the frontrunner, at some point, the other candidates will have no choice but to fire away. Of course, it could be too late then to stop her. But as long as she is merely a presidential tease or a second-tier candidate, it will be a risky (or dumb) move for any of the candidates to slam her and upset her supporters. No doubt, each of the 2012 GOP candidates will be eager to see someone else take the first poke at Palin. But there's a basic dynamic at play: Don't strike the queen, unless you can kill the queen. And it's hard to kill a queen with so many devoted followers.

From his comfortable perch in cable TV-land, Scarborough can try to foment an anti-Palin movement within the Republican Party. But given the political fundamentals—pols tend to be risk averse and refrain from taking bold steps that can hurt their career prospects—he's not going to find too many GOPers manly enough to heed his stop-Sarah call to arms. But his crusade should make for good TV.

As proof of that last sentence, watch this:

(VIDEO AT LINK)


TOPICS: Campaign News; Parties; Polls; State and Local
KEYWORDS: 2012; backstabberromney; benedictromney; freepressforpalin; palin; politico4mitt; politico4rinos; politico4romney; politicofauxnews; politicoservesromney; romney; romneyattackedpalin; romneyattackspalin; romneycoverup; romneydirtytricks; romneyflack; romneyhatespalin; romneylies; romneypropaganda; romneyprrep; romneythrewelection; saboteurromney; sarahpalin
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To: Matchett-PI

Why such condescension when one asks a legitimate question about a potential candidate? That’s not how you win someone over to your side, something you would need for the primary.


21 posted on 12/02/2010 4:59:03 AM PST by Dan Nunn (Support the NRA!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Joe Scarborough’s only comrades are fellow liberal America haters.


22 posted on 12/02/2010 5:06:08 AM PST by Carley (IT'S THREAT ANALYSIS, NOT RACIAL PROFILING)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
that's rich, a wimp talking about wimps...
23 posted on 12/02/2010 5:06:08 AM PST by Chode (American Hedonist - *DTOM* -ww- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“What man or mouse with a fully functioning human brain and a résumé as thin as Palin’s would flirt with a presidential run?”


You turds in the Democrat party elected a Kenyan mouse with a resume’ much thinner than Sarah Palins, you friggin idiot.

Where is your brain matter?


24 posted on 12/02/2010 5:07:14 AM PST by Venturer
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
One prominent Republican calls on his party to drum Palin

Really?? Which one? I didn't see one mentioned in the article.

25 posted on 12/02/2010 5:09:50 AM PST by Tanniker Smith (I didn't know she was a liberal when I married her.)
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To: Clarence

She quit for the good of her State.

She could not get anything done because of spurrolous charges and it was costing her State and herself money defencing herself instead of allowing her to get her work doen.

How hard is that to understand. If the idiots who kept making asses of themselves had left her alone she would now still be Governor. She did the right thing for her State and herself. It was a brave and brilliant move and anyone but a troll could see that and understand it.

The Democrats keep bringing it up like it was an essential issue, and it is not.If you are fooled by it then you are falling right into their hands.

I think there were something like 26 charges against her and she beat them all flat out.


26 posted on 12/02/2010 5:12:09 AM PST by Venturer
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To: Clarence
Well, Clarence...you seem to be one of those who either gets their news from MSNBC, or just reads headlines.

Sarah Palin sacrificed her job as Governor of Alaska - which she loved doing - because of the bevy of legal attacks from the left, filing one frivilous lawsuit after another, designed to throw her into bankruptcy.

As was required, the state of Alaska was having to foot the bill for a lot of the legal defense she needed, placing a burden on the state and totally consuming her time and energies as Governor. And in her wisdom, she called it right for the left was never going to stop harassing her and the state. You know the old saying, "When you're up to your ass in alligators, it's hard to remember you initial objective was to drain the swamp."

Any moron who has paid attention knows that Sarah Palin dearly loves Alaska, and I think it was not only courageous, but noble of her to step down and save the hassle and expense for the state.

Also, Clarence, the woman has five kids - one of them a special needs child - was she supposed to sit home on a diet of obama beans and franks when she needed the money for her family. Was she supposed to sign up for unemployment? She didn't "quit" the governorship to go to work for FOX news, FOX news offered her the consulting gig after she resigned.

Of course she took it, I would too, and so would you for the money they pay her. She walked her talk and went right out and found a way to be a productive citizen to feed her family and stay off the government dole.

To accept the liberal labels and talking points on people is really quite lazy and careless; the talking point about her being a "quitter" is just one of the many 100's the MSM are throwing around, and they are hoping that the headline readers out there will stake their entire judgement base on a single word or accusation. It's tantamount to saying "Bush's Fault" over and over.

Sarah Palin is about as busy and hard-working as a person can be getting out the word on conservatism and traveling all over the country (at her expense, not the state of Alaska...another savings), writing blogs, and endorsing conservatie candidates with 7 out of those 12 elected.

Now, having said all that, I would much rather know that someone is leading the country that actually cares about the country than another empty suit like Mitt Romney. He's a obamabot showboat whose main worry is if he is out of hairspray or not.

But there are a lot of people who just can't wrap their brains around a woman being President; it just galls a lot of guys out there, ya know. And the liberal women - well, you'd think Palin showed up for a party wearing the same dress as they had on. But up to this point, she has shown more courage and moxie and intelligence that most any of the field of "possibles" that are being paraded.

This board is peppered daily with anti-Palin propaganda and there are some on here that actually hate her...headline readers, no doubt.

Whether she runs for President or not, she has my admiration as a patriot to loves her country and doesn't back off from standing up and saying it...out loud and in yo' face. If she does run, she has my vote.

I'm really sorry that she doesn't suit you, and I find that people who don't like Palin have a penchant about posting it all over the place for the world to see. They are like members of a gay day parade who think people want to see their lovemaking in public. Chalk it up to exhibitionism, I guess.

The Palin-haters can't seem to just say, "Well, she's not my choice so I just won't vote for her.". No...it's got to be all the petty bitching about her voice tone, her accent, her delivery, her this and her that...nothing of substance, just lefty hate speech.

She had a stellar record as Governor of Alaska, and resigned to protect the state and her family from monumental expense from the left doing what they always do when they can't win on merit - politics of personal destruction.

I - on the other hand - listen to WHAT she says and not HOW she says it...at least she doesn't have to read a teleprompTer.

I also listen to a lot of other people besides Katie Couric and all the other lefty harpies out there who didn't make the cheerleader squad in high school and are still filled with hate.

So, Clarance, you do what you will, but I endeavored to tell you why I think that blind headline-hatred without the facts is not my cup of TEA.



Palin Reagan


27 posted on 12/02/2010 5:13:16 AM PST by FrankR (Don't let the bastards wear you down!)
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To: Clarence
Can someone explain to me (serious question) why she would be a good president given that she quit her job as governor of Alaska?

Serious Question

Where have you been?

She has answered this and it has been posted here over and over
28 posted on 12/02/2010 5:15:08 AM PST by uncbob
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To: Clarence

Oh how cute.You know the deal about Palins resigning as governor dont you? You have been here since 1999 you ought to know.


29 posted on 12/02/2010 5:15:56 AM PST by HANG THE EXPENSE (Life is tough.It's tougher when you're stupid.)
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To: FrankR

You are right. It is a fairy tale.


30 posted on 12/02/2010 5:17:40 AM PST by wtc911 ("How you gonna get down that hill?")
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To: John Valentine

Scarborough has rounded the bend....he must really need this job.


31 posted on 12/02/2010 5:18:31 AM PST by wtc911 ("How you gonna get down that hill?")
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To: Clarence
Despite what her fan club here says, her quitting as governor is a deal killer with all but her most ardent admirerers. It will be played out over and over in the form of...

"Mrs. Palin, we know what it took to get you to quit as governor...what would it take to get you to quit as president?"

There is no good answer for that. This is why I consider her to be unelectable and why I do not support her for the nomination.

I think that she herself fully understands this and will not run.

32 posted on 12/02/2010 5:23:22 AM PST by wtc911 ("How you gonna get down that hill?")
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To: Clarence

She would be good because Liberals hate her. Anything Liberals hate is good.


33 posted on 12/02/2010 5:23:22 AM PST by screaminsunshine (Americanism vs Communism)
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To: Clarence

The fact is that she did not walk away from her constituents, she did what was best for them. While the charges against her were costing her personally they were costing the state much more. Every one of the charges required massive amounts of paperwork, research and documentation, since she was the Governor we the residents were paying for that. State employees spending most of their on the clock time doing this.
She did the right thing in stepping back, looking at the whole picture, and making a very difficult decision. Sean is a good guy, she knew that the state would be in good hands with him and that the people who were trying to bring her down would be stopped in their tracks.
How would she know for sure that she would have a gig at Fox or that her book would be a huge best seller? It is just as possible that after she “quit” she went home and lived on Todds income and vanished into obscurity.
Bottom line is that she did what was right for the state and the people in it, and not for the first time either.


34 posted on 12/02/2010 5:23:58 AM PST by momto6
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To: HANG THE EXPENSE

Nothing cute about it, no ulterior motive, no agenda on my part- and I get my news at a lot of places, including here. Much of what I consider to be news is not politics at all

Just never have been all that interested in SP until recently, until I see how all of the Elites on both sides of the aisle hate her so much. If they hate her, then I want to know why and probably will support her. I’m really not that much into the minutia of Palin, at this point.

She represents the middle class, IMO, and that’s a good thing, I think.

Interesting to me how polarizing my question was. Truly did not mean to ruffle feathers around here.

Thanks for all the responses!


35 posted on 12/02/2010 5:30:31 AM PST by Clarence
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To: Clarence

I’m really surprised you do not know the reason Palin gave for leaving the governorship.

Alaska has unique system wherein any gadfly with an ax to grind can file an “ethics” complaint. I’m not sure if it’s against any elected official, but obviously against the governor.

As the left has made it their mission to destroy Sarah Palin, because they fear her more than the average geek fears zombies, the ethics charges came thick and fast after the ‘08 election.

All of these must be treated seriously, no matter how bogus, and so the legal bills, time & effort, etc. mount up.

As another poster has pointed out every single charge filed proved to be baseless.

She felt it was bad for Alaska, bad for the tax payers, and quite obviously a waste of her own time.


36 posted on 12/02/2010 5:31:02 AM PST by jocon307
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To: Clarence
Have you lived in a sensory deprivation chamber for the past three years?

http://us4palin.com/accomplishments/master-list-of-governor-palins-2009-accomplishments/

Plug (copy and paste) the above url into your taskbar and hit "Enter."

It'll take you a couple days to hit and read all the links provided for articles on Palin's earth-shaking accomplishments as Governor of Alaska and beyond.

To synopsize the high points:

1) After beating Frank Murkowski to win the Alaska governorship, she hunted down, prosecuted, amd jailed those of her predecessors who had run afoul of the Law, regardless of Party affiliation. Many of them still languish in prison today. Unheard of in modern politics, despite being the right thing to do given The Oath all elected officials take.

2) As Governor, she negotiated with the largest corporation on planet earth (Exxon-Mobil) to return a fair share of the windfall profits from Alaska's oil resources to the owners of that resource; the Alaskan people. Tried before a number of times, never accomplished. Exxon-Mobil threatened Palin that, if she persisited in this, they would pack up and leave the North Slope. Palin told them, "Don't let the door whack you in the ass on the way out." Exxon-Mobil caved.

3) She successfully negotiated the single-largest construction project in history, sealing the deal for the pipeline to bring Natural Gas to the "Lower 48." Four major oil companies and three countries had to be brought to the table and into consensus; tried by two prior Governors, Palin succeeded where they failed.

She does what needs to be done, and does it without fanfare or grandstanding. These are a few of the vast array of her remarkable accomplishments; things others had attempted and failed at. That she accomplished all the things listed on the site I posted the url to is, frankly, superhuman. That she did it all in half a term as Governor is ridiculous. That she also, during that same timeframe, had a baby and ran for Vice Persident with John McCain transcends the ridiculous into the sublime.

Never in American political history has such a dynamo of human productivity been recorded in Statewide elected office as an Executive Administrator.

America is at a dire corssroads right now. We need someone with a demostrated ability to make executive decisions on the fly, and get things done quickly, if we are to avert the End of The American Dream.

There is no other possible candidate out there who brings to the table her resumé, her dedication or miles-long shopping list of brilliant Executive prowess.

When the Left started launching dozens of frivolous lawsuits against her, claiming bogus "Ethics" breaches (which have since been thrown from court), tying up her time and ability to do her job as Governor, she made the extrememly selfless decision, for the good of the Alaskan people, to step down as Governor and turn the reins over to her Lieutenant Governor, Sean Parnell.

Because she has been very successful since then with her book "Going Rogue," the Left (and many GOP sour grapes imbeciles) have claimed that she left office to "cash in." For that to be true, she would have needed a crystal ball to predict that her first book would ship 2 million copies in 6 months. Despite that no initial offering from a first-time author had ever even come close Sarah supposedly knew that this was going to take place.

These kinds of spurious, half-baked allegations stand pale, wan and limp next to the improbable litany of Palin's proven, on-the-record successes, both as Governor, and as an author, and as a "King-maker" for the GOP.

We need someone really, really special in 2012. There is only one. Sarah Palin puts the "L" in "pain," and she's coming for a whole new crop of scumbags in '12.

;-/

37 posted on 12/02/2010 5:31:25 AM PST by Gargantua (Palin puts the "L" in pain... and she's coming for the scumbags!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
His main point is that Palin is poison for the Grand Old Party:

You say poison, I say desperately needed chemotherapy.

The GOP-congressman-turned-MSNBC-host urged his party comrades to speak out publicly against the former half-term Alaska governor. Scarborough, though, is likely to end up disappointed, because when it comes to Palin, GOPers have good cause for wimping out.

Then don't just drive her out. Put in someone better. Find someone at least as conservative with more experience and who speaks more forcefully for the cause. Far, far too many potential candidates have succumbed to Potomac fever (or its equally nasty cousin Charles River fever).

In his article, Scarborough viciously derided Palin's qualifications: "What man or mouse with a fully functioning human brain and a résumé as thin as Palin's would flirt with a presidential run?"

Well, we have President Squeaky with absolutely zero executive experience.

38 posted on 12/02/2010 5:33:41 AM PST by KarlInOhio (All monopolies are detestable, but the worst of all is the monopoly of education. -Frederic Bastiat)
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To: FrankR

That is priceless!


39 posted on 12/02/2010 5:38:06 AM PST by webstersII
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To: Clarence
"Interesting to me how polarizing my question was. Truly did not mean to ruffle feathers around here."

You've been here since 1999, and this "surprises" you? I think you're probably as full of crap as a Christmas goose. You haven't ruffled feathers here; you've just proven how very vapid, and venal, and ignorant one can come across as when they try to be "controversial."

IMHO.

;-\

40 posted on 12/02/2010 5:42:42 AM PST by Gargantua (Palin puts the "L" in pain... and she's coming for the scumbags!)
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