MANY MORE STICKER DESIGNS HERE
Posted on 07/02/2009 9:30:03 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sounds far-fetched and, to some, totally implausible. But the Republicans are losing potential candidates at a pace that is downright alarming if you believe in a healthy two-party system. The demise of John Ensign’s political career a few weeks ago and the surreal downfall of Mark Sanford last week is enough to send chills through the even the most optimistic Republican strategist. We know that of the 2008 crop, only Mitt Romney seems likely to stay on as a contender. The old stalwarts like Newt Gingrich may get a lot of press, but it is unlikely they can mount a real challenge to Obama in 2012. Yet, the presidential election of 2012 will be more than a simple coronation of Barack Obama if the economy stalls and there is no progress in two important areas: national security and healthcare.
Ballooning deficits and a sluggish economy could alter the mood of America by the time the 2010 mid-terms come up, giving hope to the GOP for the next presidential primary season. This is why Sarah Palin is maintaining a persistent media presence, whether it is debating David Letterman or being the biggest Republican draw on the lecture circuit. She clearly has her eyes set on the presidency.
The latest edition of Vanity Fair brings this possibility forward, though not in a favourable light. Journalist Todd Purdhom paints a picture of a woman with a narcissistic personality, who’s short on knowledge, disinterested in policy discussion, and not ready for primetime. In the end, the story says more about John McCain’s competence and character than it does about Palin, simply because he flubbed his most important decision as a presidential candidate. That said, Palin brought much needed energy to an otherwise lackluster campaign and, to this day, she energizes the base as no other candidate can. Could it be possible she may someday be a candidate for the presidency?
My experience tells me that no one should be written off in a hypothetical context. Barack Obama is proof positive of this. I still maintain that, without Bush, there is no Obama nomination. Palin is a street smart politician who has benefited from being underestimated most of her career. McCain’s disastrous choice may have been fatal to his electoral chances, but it brought Palin to the forefront of national attention. Since then, she has become a celebrity that transcends her party. However, if she is to be taken seriously and considered a viable contender, she needs to change the negative perceptions of her and develop a political profile that appeals to those outside her narrow base.
To do this, she must gradually reduce her exposure and begin to educate herself on the issues. She will not be ready for 2012 by remaining governor of Alaska and playing the celebrity. The GOP has too proud a tradition to have a re-run of the 2008 vice-presidential candidate. Also, the base Palin relies on for support no longer holds the sway it once did. Social conservatism is losing steam as a political movement thanks to the dubious habits of people like Gingrich, Ensign and Sanford, and the election of an African-American president as well as the increased attention paid to gay rights issues shows that Americans have begun to cast their old divisions aside. The future for the GOP lies with fiscal conservatism and strong national security policy—not with turning back the clock. Palin must embrace the values that created the Republican party in the first place—a belief in the individual, a belief in a limited role for the state, and a commitment to equality. The party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and (the pragmatic version of) Reagan is the path to a Republican resurgence. Palin is nowhere on that radar. She is all about celebrity status and controversy.
In the lead-up to July 4, Americans usually reflect on their great democracy. Overall, it is healthy and has shown resilience through the decades. But the Republicans have to become a viable alternative for this democracy to remain vibrant. So is Palin a real possibility for 2012 or 2016? Will she someday be a formal candidate for the presidency? Most definitely. But can she ever win? Based on what we have observed so far, I would say definitely not, though politics has been known to produce some strange developments.
She may be exactly what the GOP needs at this point.
Someone who’s as far away from Washington as one can get.
I still remember when McCain decided to ‘concede’ Michigan and pull out. Sarah wanted to keep fighting for every single vote. That tells me all I need to know. Too often, it seems, elected Republicans are willing to concede.
The party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, and (the pragmatic version of) Reagan is the path to a Republican resurgence. Palin is nowhere on that radar. She is all about celebrity status and controversy.
Gibberish. In several ways.
Disastrous choice??? If it wasn't for Sarah Palin, McCain probably wouldn't even have won Arizona.
It wasn’t her fault he lost, but the theory that she could attract enough votes to beat Barack 0bama was tested, and it failed. By nearly 10 million votes and 10 points, no less. If she was the only thing making John McCain competitive, she sure didn’t do a good job. They lost in a certified landslide.
Perhaps if the race had been close, then Palin supporters could have some credibility to their claims. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t even close to being close. Either Palin can pull in the votes, or she can’t. People had to opportunity to choose her over 0bama, and they passed by the millions.
Oh she can and WILL be President in 2012!!
http://www.youtube.com/user/purpleporter#play/all/uploads-all/0/_5bUbl9Dgj0
Go Palin-The first WOMAN PREZ in the U.S.
p.s.
I have her autograph along with Piper’s and I plan to place them in my in VOTES for WOMEN banner circa 1913. Talk about a treasure trove!!
GO SARAH!!
The fact the left and the MSM hate her tells me all I want to know.
Look how they behaved last Presidential Election cycle; they did all they could to pump up McCain, and to a lessor extent, Rudy. Two losers they knew were going to be the easiest to defeat because out of all the candidates, they had strayed the farthest from the base.
Sarah excites the base. Furthermore, she is not afraid to fight back and fight back hard on a continual basis.
She is a fighter and exactly the candidate the GOP needs to coalesce around.
Excellent point. I agree that Romney has the best chance to win Michigan as he did in the primary.
Yeah. Like a Kenyan running The United States.
she was not at the top of the ticket!! she was not running against Nobama!! McCain was. Sorry but your theory is utterly rediculous and reasoning inherently flawed.
Gee, that sounds like McCain's strategy.
How about she focus on promoting freedom, opportunity and the removing of government shackles.
If that doesn't appeal to enough voters than the country doesn't deserve her.
“Oh she can and WILL be President in 2012!!”
Sorry, but you’ll have to wait until noon on January 20, 2013.
Was she running for president against Mr. Obama? Conventional wisdom says that the top of the ticket is what decides the winner, not the running mate. Given that, she still has much more executive experience than Obama does. Senator McCain’s suspending his campaign to fly back to Washington and then doing nothing substantial didn’t exactly inspire confidence, or have you already forgotten that fiasco? Being the standard-bearer is different than the VP nomination. BTW, who do you suggest for the nominee three years hence?
10 points is not a “landslide” and in the electoral college it was like the 8 point Clinton victory over Dole in 1996.
Nothing like the Reagan over Mondale 1984 or Johnson over Goldwater 1964 elections. Those were the real landslides.
The article is from a Canada.
Macleans does not understand Conservatives.
Thanks...but NO THANKS.
NO one who supports amnesty will get my vote. NO ONE.
In comparison to zero, biden and hillary, I would say Palin is well qualified
People were very aware of her. They had a chance to vote for her. They didn’t. Instead they voted for 0bama. Either a candidate has it, or they don’t.
If Palin ran against 0bama in 2012, everyone would say “we’ve seen this race before.” And they would be right.
It would amount to a rematch, just like Mondale vs. Reagan, Stevenson vs. Eisenhower, or Dewey vs. Truman. All three of those races had candidates who ran on opposing tickets 4 years earlier, and all were considered rematches, even though some had been VP candidates in the prior election. And all three challengers went down to even worse defeats the second time around.
Rematches are always ill-conceived.
This author, John Parisella I think due his apparent attitude must be spending one “H” of a lot of time with the Leftist ranks of the Republican party better known as RINO’s.
We’ll certainly find out in 2010 which direction the public is going, but my best guess is that the overeaching of the Democrats currently is not in their favor.
She does not support amnesty.
I live around 18 miles north of the largest and busiest border crossing in the world, San Diego - Tijuana.
I will be first in line to vote for gov. Palin.
As I posted before, this article is out of Canada
“It wasn’t her fault he lost, but the theory that she could attract enough votes to beat Barack 0bama was tested, and it failed. By nearly 10 million votes and 10 points, no less. If she was the only thing making John McCain competitive, she sure didn’t do a good job. They lost in a certified landslide.”
++++++++++++
You forgot about the illegal millions the press let Barack wallow in, the corrupt support the press showered zero with, etc. etc. etc....how many points do you think that was worth. Now that we know what a war this is and now that the economy is in the toilet, we need strong candidates who aren’t going to sleep around like some 17 year old...
Please provide a link to Governor Palin supporting amnesty, if you are able to.
If you don't like Sarah Palin, you don't like Conservatism and the US.
YES. She does. Saying otherwise, is a outright lie.
NO AMNESTY OF ANY KIND (including Palin’s “path to citizenship”) FOR ANY ILLEGAL ALIENS.
Shoot, I thought this was going to be a good article I’d like, but it’s a hit piece like all of them. I am so hoping this will change ... and so believing it won’t. She’s still my candidate.
*Rematches are always ill-conceived.*
Your opinion.
We don’t have time to play games. It might make many happy on FR that Obama continues his path to Marxism,
there won’t be an election in 2012.
Then some won’t have to worry, they will have their
Obama.
Translation: Pro-Life = racist, Pro-Traditional Marriage = racist, Anti-Pornography = racist
Guess what? She’s the only hope for America. If the idiots who run the Republican Party are to damn stupid to realize that Sarah’s got what it takes.. then the world has no hope, and all is lost.
If you expect the deportation of 20 million plus illegals you can wait a long time.
No one ever wins a landslide victory like that unless they are already a popular sitting president up for reelection. Such victories have only been seen in the second terms of Reagan, Nixon, Johnson, and FDR.
The fact is, my friend, that McCain-Palin’s lost by larger numbers than Carter did in his landslide defeat by Reagan. That is the election you should be looking at. And if Palin took the Mondale route, then, and only then, would 0bama’s reelection look like that of Ronald Reagan’s.
Will there DEFINITELY EVEN BE any elections in ‘10, ‘12, and/or beyond? Leftists, in control of everything important politically, do a lot of strange things on a lot of issues, when they have so much political power. Sometime in the future, even if conservatives do end up winning big, how damaged will the U.S. really be by then, and how can conservatives really successfully “fix” all of the problems on all of the issues, thanks to leftists being leftists?
Sarah Palin is the one who got so many conservatives to the voting booth. Until Sarah came along most would’ve stayed home...who wanted to vote for McRino. That’s why the radical left attacked her continually. She scares the hell out of them to this day. She is a female Ronald Reagan. I sure hopes she decides to run for the President.
It’s a mild hit piece compared to a lot of them and makes some valid points. I don’t believe in only posting “rah-rah” feel good articles that we can all shake our heads in agreement at and have our views validated. We need to know what our opponents and enemies are up to, and one way to do that is to read what they’re saying. Do you see my point?
Her position is EXACTLY that of McCain’s - AMNESTY. AND, even since the election, and all the lousy stuff McCain has pulled, she’s said NOTHING to withdraw this statement or explain why she would say such a thing. Clearly, the excuse that she was towing the McCain line is ridiculous. As far as I’m concerned, she was on the ticket that suited her...with McCain.
http://www.univision.com/content/content.jhtml?chid=3&schid=10414&secid=25534&cid=1716304&pagenum=2
...with a narcissistic personality, who’s short on knowledge, disinterested in policy discussion, and not ready for primetime...
Oddly enough, I would not describe Sarah Palin in these terms. However, they could very well, and very accurately, be applied to obama.
...to this day, she energizes the base as no other candidate can...
But then he contradicts himself with:
...she needs to change the negative perceptions of her and develop a political profile that appeals to those outside her narrow base.
First, I don't see many (any?) negative perceptions of her. How can she energize the base, yet have a narrow base? Tough sell, I'm not buying it.
To do this, she must gradually reduce her exposure...
Oh yeah, the libs and 'rats would like nothing more than to get Sarah Palin out of the public eye. She is everything they are not - a true leader.
...the base Palin relies on for support no longer holds the sway it once did.
Yet she energizes that base? An energized group of voters can do wonders...
...as well as the increased attention paid to gay rights issues shows that Americans have begun to cast their old divisions aside...
Yeah, just look at Prop 8 in CA. Most Americans are tolerant of gays and lesbians, but we don't want them shoved in our faces. (hey, I don't want my heterosexual friends' sex lives in my face either)
The future for the GOP lies with fiscal conservatism and strong national security policy—not with turning back the clock.
He really doesn't understand Sarah Palin, does he...
She is all about celebrity status and controversy.
Absolutely, 180 degrees off true wrong. obama, now he is his own biggest fan. Sarah Palin is about doing what is right.
In the lead-up to July 4, Americans usually reflect on their great democracy.
Tell that to the socialist with fascist leanings currently occupying the White House.
Overall, it is healthy...
No, not right now. This Country is in more danger than ... possibly more danger than it has ever been in before. The biggest threat to America is currently inside the beltway.
So is Palin a real possibility for 2012 or 2016?
Yes, to both. I predict two very successful terms for her.
...can she ever win? Based on what we have observed so far, I would say definitely not...
I foresee Sarah Palin in a landslide win in '12.
Fantastic for you.
Maybe you can also learn how to type properly.
lol. wrong. im not from the hee haw wing of the party.
You are from the patronizing "know it all" newbie wing.
Actually, the picture Purdhom painted [except for the gender] described the current occupant of the Oval Office to a “T”.
My thoughts exactly and I like her. I know plenty of Dems who would never vote for Palin, period. I also know plenty of Rep who still think she’s the problem with the party. If Palin can’t get the Republicans to vote for her then how is she to get the moderate Dems to vote for her so she has a chance of winning in 2012?
She doesn’t have the tools to do this.
Anytime someone questions her intelligence, remind them that the so called “smartest, best and brightest” are the ones that got us into this mess. We need someone with integrity and who loves our country. 0bama and his minions do not love the country they love power and control.
Well said, Sir or Madam.
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