GOP Governors Pull the Plug On Palin's Press Conference (The RGA Dirt)

Human Events ^ | November 13, 2008 | Jack Thompson

[flattorney]

The Republican Governors Conference Press Guidelines promised that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin would “take approximately 20 minutes of questions” at today’s morning press conference. Instead, this press conference, attended by 150 local and national media and taped by 26 video cameras, disintegrated into a fiasco when Texas Governor Rick Perry shut it down after only five minutes and four questions. Eight other governors assembled on the stage, all men, seemed visibly uncomfortable with the “Palin at center stage” format. When Perry stepped in front of Palin at the podium to announce it was over just as it was getting started, Palin looked irritated, and the media shouted, “You’ve got to be kidding,” “This is ridiculous,” "Come on,” and “We were promised more questions.”

Forty minutes later, at a larger gathering attended by most the seventeen governors at the Conference, Bill Kristol of The Weekly Standard may have given the reason why Palin was reined in: envy. Said Kristol, “This is not the Republican Governors Association. This is really the Republican Presidential Candidates Association.” Palin, after the truncated press conference, gave a prepared twenty-minute speech in a large hall to approximately 400 members of the RGA (who gave her a long standing ovation at the outset and close) and the media. Palin recounted what it was like to go through the campaign and what lay ahead for the GOP. Some quotes of note:

-- She began by joking that she filled the last two months “with a few speeches, meeting important people who change the world, like Tina Fey, and opportunities to expand my wardrobe.”

-- She thanked President Bush for having discharged, over the last eight years, his most important duty of office -- keeping us safe. This was met with long applause.

-- “God is in control, and He decided it was not our time and not our moment.”

-- “We wish President Obama well, but as the chief executives of the various states it will be our job to lead by example, to oppose any more unfunded federal mandates and the growth of the federal government. All Republican governors embrace the federalist principle that the government closest to the people is the most responsive and most responsible.”

-- She took a swipe at what she called the addiction to “opium (Other People’s Money),” found in bail outs that reward bad corporate decisions.

-- Finally, in the area of policy, she repeatedly noted that the Republican leadership in Washington had over the last decade betrayed the conservative principles and values of the Party, and that it is up to Republic governors, not to the failed GOP leadership in Washington, to lead the GOP back to power.

To conclude her prepared comments, she got very personal in tone. She said that, during the campaign, her “real right hand man was my husband Todd, and, in the future, I am to rely upon him more and on others less." She received sustained applause when she remembered all the teenaged girls who came up to her and told her they were excited she had shown “[t]here is no glass ceiling on achievement” and “[o]ne day, a woman will be President.”

Finally, Palin remembered all the special needs children and their parents who met her on the campaign trail with signs “We’re Here for Trig!” and “Trig in the White House.” She noted that on some cars in America bumper stickers say, “My kid is on the Honor Roll.” At her campaign stops, she saw signs held by extra chromosome Down Syndrome kids saying “We’re X-Tra Special,” and parents of those same kids held signs that read “My Kid’s Got More Chromosomes Than Your Kid!”

After Palin’s comments, the roundtable -- including Kristol, General Tommy Franks, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, and Indiana Congressman Mike Pence -- discussed what went wrong in this election cycle and what must be done. Sanford noted, “We must put this election, and the danger it poses, in a broad historical perspective. The ancient Greeks understood that democracy will lead to tyranny, as citizens out of greed vote themselves largesse from a country’s treasure.” Pawlenty, by contrast, rejected the “return to our conservative roots” theme of others at this conference and said,“GOP principles must be harmonized with outreach to the new demographics of America,” “the GOP is fifteen years behind in the use of technology and the Internet,” “the GOP needs more than a political comb-over,” and “voters don’t want our Party led by a crank.” Unsure of to whom Pawlenty was referring in that last comment, there were some gasps from the crowd.

Congressman Pence took direct aim on the $700 billion bailout and any other future bail-outs, stating that Washington’s GOP leaders had walked away from the 1994 Contract with America: “We cannot tax and spend ourselves out of this mess. We must unleash our free market economy.” Pence, possibly not running for the Presidency, turned to Palin and called her “the best and most courageous candidate for the vice-presidency in my lifetime.”

Bill Kristol noted things may turn the GOP’s way more quickly than the doomsayers think, citing the quick reversal of fortune for the GOP from 1976 to 1980 and from 1992 to 1994. “Such a turnabout can come again if Republican governors take advantage of the blessing, not the curse, that the national hegemony by the Washington GOP is over," said Kristol. “It is up to you to seize this opening and to show, in your states, that you are the party of bold ideas, the party of reform, and the party of action. Ronald Reagan was a successful Governor who reclaimed Washington for the GOP.”

[flattorney]

Adjunct Post to FR Thread:
11.13.08 MSNBC Hardball Video: Will the GOP Back Palin? - RGA Conference, Miami, Florida
- - Is Palin the future of the Republican Party, or does the somewhat chilly reception she's received from her fellow governors at the Republican Governors Association Conference in Miami suggest tougher times ahead for her? Discussion by moderator Chris Matthews, Pat Buchanan, and Republican strategist Mike Paul. They also discuss what GOP changes are necessary. The conversation becomes heated between Buchanan and Paul.

RGA Chairman Gov. Rick Perry of Texas jumps in and rudely cutoffs off press questions to Gov. Palin

FlAttorney’s FR “Straight Talk” Republican Governors Association

MAR

[2ndDivisionVet]

Stick a fork in Rick Perry; He’s done.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

I reported this same occurrence, day before yesterday, and was shrilled at by a good many mouth-breathers and assorted Team McCain spider monkeys. ;)

[GOP Poet]

Maybe she needed to shoot and field dress Perry. LOL.

[SeeSharp]

I’m surprised he didn’t try to vaccinate her.

[hiredhand]

Ping!

[GOP Poet]

mouth-breathers and assorted Team McCain spider monkeys. ;)

:-D. Love your names for these sorts. Great!

[ABQHispConservative]

All these rino governors should be envious of Palin. She has the base behind her, and we are taking note.

[Doug TX]

Palin needs to retreat to Alaska for six months. The media will find a new target and if obama is sworn in, he will have more problems then the media has cameras.

Time for Palin to ‘get lost’. Plenty of opportunity time later.

[cherry]

does anybody have an explanation for this?

[Still Thinking]

What a dick. If he thinks he’s a more viable candidate than she is, he’s free to seek the nomination, and find out if he’s right. The bunch of RINO primary voters that show up, sad to say, he’s probably right.

[Squantos]

GOP hangs this lady out to dry then I am done with the GOP !

Not sure what is going on here but it don’t look good initially !

Fair warning GOP !

[nralife]

"Stick a fork in Rick Perry; He’s done."

We can hope! He has been and is an embarrassment to Texas.

[GOP Poet]

Now that is a picture that needs a bit of photoshopping with Sarah’s hunting gun—LOL.

[dalereed]

Pawlenty and Pence need to be kicked out of the party!

[Oldexpat]

The voters will favor her with votes and money. Just wait.
Rich Perry is toast. He tried upstaging the real hero of the campaign and we won’t forget. He can kiss any national ambitions goodbye.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

GOP hangs this lady out to dry then I am done with the GOP !

Ditto!

[flattorney]

Thank you. This entire situation is ridiculous.

“Some anonymous Republican governors grumbled to CNN that Palin’s presence at the meeting distracted from the broader display of unity they were seeking.”

Yes, Sarah is really “distracting” Gov. Dave Hieneman (R-NE) at the RGA conference. /sarcasm. She probably had to go back to the hotel room and change her blouse after he slobbered on it.

MAR

[Sun]

Gov. Perry was the idiot who wanted young school girls to get vaccinations to prevent them from getting sex-related disease, whether they were sexually active, or not.

[nralife]

Instead, this press conference, attended by 150 local and national media and taped by 26 video cameras, disintegrated into a fiasco when Texas Governor Rick Perry shut it down after only five minutes and four questions.

Office of the Governor - Rick Perry - Contact Page!

Send him a message!