Posted on 05/16/2009 6:00:44 PM PDT by Maelstorm
Everyone is piling on Sarah Palin, even though she will never be president of the United States.
The Alaska governor is everyone's favorite foil, from the left-wing Huffington Post to the ever-posturing Mitt Romney. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee who cynically chose her as his running mate, now snubs her with relish.
They all act like she has a real chance to win the White House, when they all know the truth. When it comes to being taken seriously by the general electorate as a potential president, it's as over for her as it was for Dan Quayle.
Quayle was doomed even after he served as vice president. He was the heartbeat away from the first President Bush, but could never overcome the perception that he lacked gravitas.
Palin only ran for vice president; she never made it from Wasilla to Washington. And her problem is bigger than Quayle's, because it extends to her family.
From the moment Palin appeared on the national scene as a surprise pick for vice president, her family attracted critical attention. Palin had to fight off Internet-spawned rumors that her youngest child, Trig, who was born with Down syndrome, was really her daughter's. Then came the real news. Bristol Palin, her 17-year-old daughter, was unwed and pregnant, despite her mother's abstinence-only platform.
Palin weathered those headlines and others about her snowmobiling husband, Todd. As the campaign moved forward, she was undercut more by her own performance in a series of nationally televised interviews.
She was a major turnoff to the very voters she was supposed to attract — Hillary Rodham Clinton's female supporters.
Palin is still extremely popular with the hard-core conservative base and was recently named to the National Council for a New America, a group aimed at rebranding the GOP. Palin made Time magazine's list of influential people, causing Romney to crack: "But was that the issue on the most beautiful people or the most influential people?"
Romney is smarter and more accomplished than Palin, and just as good-looking. But Palin has something he lacks: a core set of unwavering conservative principles. It gives her an early advantage with Republican primary voters.
Palin faces an ongoing family soap opera that continues to undercut her political message. Bristol Palin broke up with Levi Johnston, the father of their child.
The line Palin walks as a mother of five and new grandmother continues to trip her up as a presidential candidate.
That makes her an easy target for Democrats and Republicans, who enjoy running against her.
Joan Vennochi writes for the Boston Globe. Her e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.
Fact is, Dan Quayle is not Dan Quayle. He is a intelligent conservative upstanding guy who got the “Palin” treatment, same as Palin is getting the “Palin treatment”.
I would prefer quayle over palin as president.
He would have made a great President.
Get rid of same day registration too.
Trip her up??? Foolishness...Those are some of her assets...She's just like (most of) us...We can relate to her and she can relate to us...
She may not be my first pick but she'll be miles ahead of anyone the RNC will dredge up...
she did cancel it, but the state kept the money
Complete agreement - nicely stated!
Smarter than reporters? Hmmmm...I dunno.
She didn’t look too smart in those ambush “interviews”.
Now, before the flames, let me state that I absolutely LOVE Sarah; NOBODY was happier than me when McLame chose her; and there is no one I consider better qualified to be president.
BUT, those interviews will come back to haunt her. I was devastated when I saw them...I was seeing Sarah die before my very eyes. If she couldn’t defend herself any better than she did agains those two twerps, well...
“I hope she gets involved in the 2010 race to point out the RINO’s she thinks should lose IN THE PRIMARIES”
I hope one of those is John McCain!
Another hate laced rant from a libtard.
She has to find a national role. Senator - maybe.
I don’t know about that, DR. Savage claims he was pulled out in place of McPain to save face & maybe perhaps run in 2012? Savage seems to think that the financial mess would have destroyed the GOP completely had Romney won. Who really knows though?
Does this chick imagine herself to be Nostradamus or something? Just why does she think she knows the future?
P got to personally shake her hand and talk to her today. I told her I was proud of her, and her family. She was nice and sincere, and yes, she is a beautiful woman!
Meantime the guy that did end up as VP gets a pass. His beer-bottle-throwing daughter is invisible, his hedge-fund scandal-ridden son is unknown and his own stinginess ($389 in annual charitable giving was his high-water mark in 10 years) goes unexamined.
But the people need to be insulated from that sort of thing, you know.
Wow. I haven’t seen the libs this scared since Reagan was in the Whitehouse. They’ve been at it nearly a year and she’s still standing. IMO, she’s going to crush them when she gets her turn.
A bridge in Colorado, built, that they don't need, can't use and yet they've requested another FIVE MILLION DOLLARS of stimulus money so they can build an off-ramp to it? Huh? And is this is a Republican district? Of course not! Otherwise you'd be hearing about it on a daily basis. It's in Democrat Ken Salazar's district. Who, feeling a little heat now that money is tight, put out an inquiry into the bridge being built.
Hey Ken, it's in your district. You gonna question the other $5mil too?
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