Posted on 06/01/2011 12:23:18 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Will she run or won’t she? That is the question.
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, could it be a duck? If it looks like a campaign bus and a campaign tour, could it be that Sarah Palin is out campaigning to run for president?
Sarah Palin insists that her campaign-style bus and tour are not a campaign buses and tour, and that the Palin road trip is an educational family tour of historical America; but to most of us, it looks like a dry run for a potential presidential bid for the GOP ticket. She doesn’t carry a teleprompter with her, and true to her history, she is very comfortable answering questions without a speechwriter at her side.
At the start of the tour, there was no campaign bus, just “campaign” motorcycles. But no matter how much she denies it, this looks to most of us, left or right, as a possible precursor to an announcement to run for president.
So if it is, and if she runs, how will this play out with the other GOP presidential hopefuls?
Michele Bachmann will be hurt, whether struggling to survive in the shadow of Sarah Palin or struggling for Tea Party support, as much of a great raiser of funds that she is. Newt Gingrich will lose the conservative Christians who he has asked forgiveness from for his former “sins,” regarding infidelity, divorce, and how those divorce papers were delivered. Those in the Tea Party who call themselves civil libertarians will have to decide if they’re a Palin Tea Party supporter, or the die hard libertarian Ron Paul supporter. Mitt Romney will have a buddy when it comes to the elephant in the room that can’t be ignored: for him, establishing mandatory healthcare reform in the state of Massachusetts when he was governor, and for Palin, the abdicating of the Alaska gubernatorial throne. And Tim Pawlenty? Being that the number one reason people vote is based on name recognition, so folks will be saying, Tim who? And what’s a Pawlenty? And of course, the big question for the GOP is, can she win? And I do not believe so. As much as I would love to see a woman running this country (it’s about time, by the way), I do not feel Palin is the right (no pun intended) woman for the job. She’s likable, but not electable. That is what the polls show. America loves her, but most, even in her own party, would not vote for her and do not feel she has the experience to lead this nation. Many in the GOP feel that she divides the GOP further between the old school GOP and the Tea Party GOP members, who I affectionately refer to as “Teapublicans.”
As for the Democrats like myself, we want former Governor Palin to run. It would make the race more exciting—as Palin said, if she waged a campaign it “would definitely be unconventional and nontraditional.” It would split the Tea Party loyalty and funds, divide the GOP even further, and certainly give talk hosts like me material for days on end, not to mention less time for prep work. Cool. Just look at Palin’s answer alone to Mr. Folden, a black Republican who asked her what she would do to attract more African-Americans to the Republican Party. Her answer was that “skin tone doesn’t matter; we all need jobs, we need the economy roaring.” Her answer is wrong. Skin tone does matter in America. It is why both parties are courting the Hispanic vote, and if you look at unemployment numbers, crime, job opportunities, housing prices, etc., people of color are affected much worse than white folks like Palin and me. So let the race begin
I’m willing to buy that this is a family vacation, but how many of us travel with a prominent television host (Greta Van Susteren)? I’m a Fox News contributor, I wonder if Bill O’Reilly will join my family on our vacation this summer? And how many of us title our vacation? For the Palins, it’s the “One Nation,” looking back at my childhood, I guess National Lampoon’s Vacation comes to mind…
Yeah, it's hard to tell.
Perhaps Leslie should send in some of the feathers for lab analysis.
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What do you mean "looking back"?
Pretty snarky article about your fellow Fox News Contributor if you ask me.
If you can't get Bill O'Reilly to join you, maybe you can get Shemp Smith. At least you won't have to worry about him hitting on you.
...In before a Fox News host or pundit says that this means she’s definitely not running! Heh!
Wish granted.
It it were a typical campaign tour, Sarah Palin would have published her itinerary in advance so she could have throngs of supporters awaiting her at every stop.
If it were a typical campaign tour, she would have notified the media so they could have photo-ops galore of her.
No, Lesbie, it's what Sarah Palin says it is, a "One Nation Tour" of noteworthy American monuments and memorials.
For nearly two decades, the Republican party has lacked a punch. Campaign managers and pollsters have accepted the results of polling, and proceeded from there. Rarely have GOP partisans stuck their jaws out there and attempted to move the polls. The latest is the cowering over the fact that the left has succeeded at convincing the clueless that Medicare is about to be destroyed by conservatives.
Sarah Palin is a leader who refuses to accept trends as destinies, and she relishes those moments when she is attacked, b/c she quickly retorts with shots many times as forceful as that of her aggressors’. That, as much as the fact that she is a great, courageous American who understands our founding, is the reason that she MUST run and WIN! And that is why she CAN win. Bob
Now where did those FReepers go that insisted that she isn’t running?
Dems are terrified of her because of her money and because of her willingness to take on Obama by name, personally, and not waffle about generic policies.
” it is absolutely clear that the lefties do NOT want her to run, and if the campaign were today, she would, by far, give Obama the toughest battle of any declared candidate today.”
Honestly, I think Leftist are sick enough that they sink so much of their persona into hating Palin, and other Republicans, that they crave this. It’s like watching angry alcoholics who think drinking makes them fun.
With Palin there is no moral dilemma. They just instinctually go into hate mode, and that’s easier than justifying their vote for Obama.
I also think they want to see someone call Obama on his crap, on some repressed level, because they’re too scared to. Doing so would be an admission of their own guilt, so they want someone they think is evil to come and do it for them.
“One Nation”. As opposed to “One World”. Doesn’t anybody else get it?
Who cares? She can pick a running mate and the others will have to wait or go to hel l.
Early polls cannot be trusted. If they were, Donald Trump and/or Mike Huckabee would still be running and Obama would not.
The difference between the Republicans nominating a Moderate versus a Conservative is that the Conservative base will not turn out for a Moderate, while Moderates will turn out for a Conservative given the(Obama)option.
The Experience argument is bunk. It sure didn't matter in 2008. If it does, we're speaking of a candidate with “executive experience”, normally a plus.
Skin tone matters according to Marshall. Well Ms. Marshall, that certainly sounds like a Racist statement, and isn't an attitude which clear thinking Americans should ever endorse.
The only thing I agree with in Marshall's piece is her opinion, in that she's entitled to one, no matter how wrong it may be.
Perhaps Marshall should take that vacation with her buddy BOR, a nice long one.
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