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Our misplaced obsession with Sarah Palin: Calm down, she’s a celebrity, not a future president
The Christian Science Monitor ^ | February 3, 2011 | Walter Rodgers

Posted on 02/03/2011 12:57:26 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

Sarah Palin is like a good movie that you don’t want to end. To tea party supporters and millions of Republicans, she epitomizes Frank Capra’s drama “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” – in which the Washington elite shun the hero, whose straight talk and rogue style win the hearts of ordinary Americans. To others, she calls to mind the 1963 comedy “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” – in which a pack of comedians pursue an elusive treasure that makes fools of them all.

Not presidential material

The mere mention of her name can trigger hysteria in polite company. Perhaps now is a good time for supporters and detractors alike to calm down and rethink Ms. Palin. She has been unfairly maligned at times, but so was Hillary Rodham Clinton. Politics is as brutal as professional boxing. If you get in the ring, you have to learn to take a hard punch, and lots of them. Palin is certainly a resilient political figure, and a genius for promoting her brand, but she isn’t presidential material – and the GOP knows it. Her staying power is that she has risen above the stature of mere conservative politician, subject to the rules of the game. Rather she’s become a true entertainer who happens to be wildly popular among some conservative voters.

Part of Palin’s success lies in her uncanny ability to always look good on camera. Her natural beauty and charm help, but only someone with her magnetic confidence could pose with a half-dozen men clad in fur vests and Viking helmets and still have a thriving public career. Former Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis can attest to how quickly bad photographs can ruin a candidate’s presidential hopes. Remember Mr. Dukakis in 1988 grinning atop a tank while wearing a helmet....

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Alaska; Issues; Parties; State and Local
KEYWORDS: 2012; freepressforpalin; obama; palin; sarahpalin
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As Hosni Mubarek recently learned, denial is not just a river in Egypt. Saying she has no chance isn't the same thing as it being true. When (and if) she declares her candidacy, you'll see a groundswell of support not seen in recent memory.
1 posted on 02/03/2011 12:57:33 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The other angles haven't worked so here is another for the MSM to chew on.
2 posted on 02/03/2011 12:59:08 PM PST by frogjerk (I believe in unicorns, fairies and pro-life Democrats.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Any commentator who thinks that Obama is “presidential material” but that Sarah Palin isn’t, has thereby automatically disqualified himself from being taken seriously ever again.


3 posted on 02/03/2011 12:59:37 PM PST by Argus
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Mr. Walter Rodgers used to be a White House reporter for AP Radio.


4 posted on 02/03/2011 1:00:54 PM PST by RexBeach (I used to be indecisive. But now I'm not so sure.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Ronald Reagan had another job before he became president.


5 posted on 02/03/2011 1:01:12 PM PST by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

That’s right the lefists are obsessed, but- she will be President.


6 posted on 02/03/2011 1:01:38 PM PST by Freddd (CNN is down to Three Hundred Thousand viewers. But they worked for it.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Walter Rodgers, a former senior international correspondent for CNN, writes a biweekly column.


7 posted on 02/03/2011 1:02:12 PM PST by onyx (If you truly support Sarah Palin and want to be on her busy ping list, let me know!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

That article is absolute crap.

Am I to take it that the CSM is now supporting a secular, progressive candidate???


8 posted on 02/03/2011 1:03:31 PM PST by Rational Thought
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I just don’t see her being able to win. We have suffered thru one really bad decision for President in Obama I would hate to see it again with Palin.

There is no comparison between her and Reagan either, I don’t know where people are getting that from.


9 posted on 02/03/2011 1:04:41 PM PST by blarney
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To: blarney
Welcome Back, Dad

I've been trying to convince my fellow conservatives that they have been wasting their time in a fruitless quest for a new Ronald Reagan to emerge and lead our party and our nation. I insisted that we'd never see his like again because he was one of a kind. I was wrong! Wednesday night I watched the Republican National Convention on television and there, before my very eyes, I saw my Dad reborn; only this time he's a she. And what a she! This was Ronald Reagan at his best -- the same Ronald Reagan who made the address known now solely as "The Speech," which during the Goldwater campaign set the tone and the agenda for the rebirth of the traditional conservative movement that later sent him to the White House for eight years and revived the moribund GOP. Welcome back, Dad, even if you're wearing a dress and bearing children this time around.

~Michael Reagan, Chairman, Reagan Foundation, syndicated talk show host and son of President Ronald Reagan

10 posted on 02/03/2011 1:06:57 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. ~Lincoln)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Anti Palin dribble, the more the better. It keeps her in the forefront.


11 posted on 02/03/2011 1:07:06 PM PST by Bringbackthedraft (The candidate they smear the most is the one they fear the most!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“O” was (remains) a celebrity. BUT he has ZERO credentials.


12 posted on 02/03/2011 1:07:21 PM PST by SMARTY (Conforming to non-conformity is conforming just the same.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Liberals, RINOs and media:

Resistance is futile. Prepare to be liberated!


13 posted on 02/03/2011 1:07:55 PM PST by TheConservativeParty (President Sarah Louise Palin....Resistance is futile! Prepare to be liberated!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The CSM used to actually be something worth reading.

Now they are written as if addressed to a not very bright ten year old, and as if written by a not very bright teenager.

But then again the entire fallacy of Christian Science is based upon ignorant delusion, so it is not unexpected.

14 posted on 02/03/2011 1:08:09 PM PST by allmendream (Tea Party did not send the GOP to D.C. to negotiate the terms of our surrender to socialism.)
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To: cripplecreek
Ronald Reagan had another job before he became president.

Obama was a disbarred lawyer and to quote Bill Clinton “A Chicago thug”. Sarah has my vote.

15 posted on 02/03/2011 1:13:29 PM PST by mountainlion (The government is not my god no matter how much they preach.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Keep posting ‘em, Vet. The hyperventilation and PDS is amusing.
16 posted on 02/03/2011 1:23:00 PM PST by JPG (Work for conservative change like your country depended on it.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
“I found myself explaining the medieval, anti-Semitic roots of “blood libel” to a conservative Republican friend”

What an idiot this writer is.

Would he please explain why an anti-Semite would call it “libel”? Does this CSM mental midget even know what “libel” means?

Is he stupid enough to think the term “blood libel” is an anti-semitic phrase, or convinced that anybody stupid enough to read the CSM is stupid enough to believe his clumsy lies?

17 posted on 02/03/2011 1:24:17 PM PST by allmendream (Tea Party did not send the GOP to D.C. to negotiate the terms of our surrender to socialism.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

WoW, what a bandwagon to jump on. Dems will have the White House for another term if she runs.


18 posted on 02/03/2011 1:27:02 PM PST by blarney
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To: blarney
There is no comparison between her and Reagan either, I don’t know where people are getting that from.

If you truly "don't know", then you haven't made the same observations that most conservatives have.

You need to look beneath the superficial surface attributes of Reagan and Palin to see the great similarities between them. There are many.

19 posted on 02/03/2011 1:29:32 PM PST by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Old Walter should have a talk with Rush Limbaugh. But he'd probably get pwned.
20 posted on 02/03/2011 1:29:58 PM PST by McGruff (If you are catching alot of flak, you must be on target!)
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