Why Sarah Palin Makes such a Big Difference for the GOP Ticket

American Thinker ^ | September 10, 2008 | C. Edmund Wright

[Puzzleman]

It is pretty obvious that the liberal media's reaction to Sarah Palin is driven by their two camps: those who don't understand her, and a small but growing number who do and are scared to death.

-- snio --

The Alaska Governor is far more than someone who appeals to the base, she is someone who can make the base appeal to America...

[Puzzleman]

The author has some interesting observations.

[Renfield]

[AHerald]

The Alaska Governor is far more than someone who appeals to the base, she is someone who can make the base appeal to America. She is more than a token to take advantage of disaffected Hillary voters, she can replace Hillary as the authentic female role model and more in line with how the base lives.

Good stuff. Palin has the potential to dramatically reshape the political landscape. She's represents a mortal threat to the Left.

[Deagle]

Obvious to all except the idiots on the left.... We will win this election by a landslide while they wonder what happened.

[floozy22]

When she says that the opinions of the pundits and reporters and insiders are not of concern to her, it is more than a good line. It is reflective of her history. The public gets the impression of someone who would rather be back in Wasilla at the snow machine races than live the compromised life of a DC politician.

But make no mistake about it: Sarah Palin is the base, as in those who believe in the basic principals of smaller government, lower taxes and a strong national defense. She is more of the base than George Bush 41 or 43. She lives a Reagan life. She lives a Contract with America life. She lives the life the Founding Fathers envisioned when they crafted a Constitution to guarantee everyone a shot at such a life.

Right on.

[ari-freedom]

“The base is not deceived. McCain is not one of us. He won’t run like Reagan and he won’t get 60% of the vote. If he gets a tad over 50%, he won’t govern like Reagan. But what we do know is with Palin on the team, reaching 50% is suddenly possible in 2008. With her youth and authenticity, the days of 60% are at least worth dreaming about again.”

OK. Palin is great but stop right there.
McCain is the one with the full-throated Reagan foreign policy and supported the surge when even republicans were giving up on Iraq
McCain is the one who wants to cut the corporate tax rate and move to a new tax system that you can file on a postcard with only 2 rates.
http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/Speeches/641cbd73-6945-4103-ad70-306862fdecf3.htm

McCain is the one who opposed ethanol subsidies in Iowa and flood insurance and the prescription drug benefit in florida and still managed to win the nomination.
McCain is the one who picked Sarah Palin. But that is only one of his many courageous positions.

[freema]

From this article:

If they can't stand the heat, they should get out of her kitchen.

From a leftist article:

Anyway, the athletic Sarah Palin is, at first sight, an improvement on female Republican cookie-baking goody two shoes.

http://www.nydailynews.com/latino/2008/09/10/2008-09-10_que_sarah_sarah-2.html

This female Republican cookie-baking goody two shoes is damn glad the (oven) mitts are on.

[Senator Goldwater]

Bush was never this loved or considered “one of us,” but next to Al Gore and John Kerry he was positively adorable.

---

This is good stuff.

[Senator Goldwater]

She is more than a token to take advantage of disaffected Hillary voters, she can replace Hillary as the authentic female role model and more in line with how the base lives. That’s why the base is beyond happy. They are electrified. And fear of this game-changing dynamic is panicking some on the left (and in the center, too.)

---

Brilliant. He nails it.

[Man50D]

VP candidates don't have much influence in administration. They are and always have been essentially figure heads. Presidents set the agenda for their own administration. They dictate to VP's positions the administration will take on various issues. A person is selected as a running mate because he or she is willing to support a Presidential candidate on at least a majority of the issues.

McCain has voted and sponsored legislation with the socialist Democrats on several issues, including amnesty for illegal aliens, global warming(a plank in the GOP platform)and restricting free speech, throughout his political career. It's unrealistic to expect a neophyte on the federal level such as Palin will suddenly and with much influence change his positions on these issues! On the contrary, Palin as a VP must have agreed to support him on most issues to be his running mate. Consequently she has sacrificed much of whatever conservative values she had prior to becoming his running mate.

[b9]

Amen, freema.

[goldstategop]

There's only one Reagan. The reason the American people rejected the GOP in 2006 was not because they fell in love with the Democrats or embraced liberalism but because the GOP had abandoned conservatism and embraced Big Government. Today, the GOP has been given that rarest of opportunities: a second chance to get back on track to the fundamentals. America is fundamentally, by philosophy and in spirit, a conservative country. The liberals look powerful because conservatives have failed to grasp the fact the entire point of changing Washington is not to find common ground with them but to expel liberals from the American body politic. That is bringing real change to Washington.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[fortheDeclaration]

Amen to your post.

[ari-freedom]

Anyway, the athletic Sarah Palin is, at first sight, an improvement on female Republican cookie-baking goody two shoes.
or worse...

[Hardastarboard]

She's represents a mortal threat to the Left.

Unfortunately, nothing is truly a mortal threat to the Left. They're like roaches after a nuclear war - they'll survive no matter what.

[nicola_tesla]

While I perfectly agree with you, I so far have some hope that #1 he will listen to some of her positions or at worst #2 he doesn’t run for re-election in 4 years and she runs for President.

[untrained skeptic]

Why Sarah Palin Makes such a Big Difference for the GOP Ticket

Because McCain is such a horrible candidate that conservatives are desperately looking for some reason to support him rather than just giving up and staying home.

Obama is also a horrible candidate unless you're a big fan of the loony left. He's way, way left of center. He's running a hollow campaign based on platitudes. His running mate is a political insider from the far left that really brings nothing to the ticket but a lot of experience and all of it bad.

Palin has a lot of appeal to conservatives, those that like strong women, and those that like someone who will take on the establishment.

She didn't have a chance of winning the nomination because she had even less serious experience when the primary race started. However, a great many people are hoping that she will get the experience she needs and shape up as the front runner in the next presidential election. That hope is enough to swing a lot of votes to McCain in a race with no really good choices.

[Cheryllynn]

It’s obvious by the left kook reaction we are seeing that McCain made a most excellent choice. I couldn’t have even dreamed of this kind of reaction we are seeing.

[EEDUDE]

Excellent post!

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

VP candidates don't have much influence in administration. They are and always have been essentially figure heads. Presidents set the agenda for their own administration. They dictate to VP's positions the administration will take on various issues. A person is selected as a running mate because he or she is willing to support a Presidential candidate on at least a majority of the issues.

Reagan won nearly 60% of the vote and no one has come close since. Those principals are still valid but got watered down by trying to be "kinder and gentler" (Bush 41) and a "compassionate conservatism" (Bush 43). That is to accept the liberal premise that true conservatism is not compassionate. That's the kind of screwy idea you get in the Ivy League or in Washington focus groups, not in Wasilla Alaska.

McCain is undoubtedly worse than either p41 or p43 - but a great deal better than any democrat since Kennedy.

Palin, OTOH, is quite Reaganesque. So we swallow the damage a RINO will do, in preference to the Obama alternative and in hope that Palin will be influential. Which is a lively prospect inasmuch as McCain may not run in '12.

Just think how much good it would do even to have a RINO justice like Kennedy replace Stevens or Ginzburg. If you had one that was right when Kennedy is wrong, you could tolerate having him be wrong when Kennedy is right.