First off, thanks for the kind and reasoned response.
I love her, always have. But I think her resignation takes her out of the political sphere as a future candidate particularly as president. I was supremely disappointed that she resigned, although I undertand it and hope she makes lots of money now that she is free of the bonds of public service.
I think Sarah could be a formidible force in conservatism as a pundit and one who helps us keep our focus and maybe helping to elect the right candidates. Kinf of like a Coulter or Limbaugh. What I’m afraid of is that even though she knows this her most ardent supporters don’t and will do everything possible to tear down other potential nominees in the process and splitting conservatives right down the middle.
What I would like to see is Sarah to come out now and tell us if she is going to run for the ‘12 nomination. I don’t think she did this in her resig speech nor now as it will affect her “cash flow” in the meantime. What I see is her keeping everyone in suspense, expectations high, and at the last moment, decline. You may think that is cynical but I’ve been around politics long enough to know a long con when I see it.
I don’t hate Sarah, I hate what some of her supporters are doing. It’s bad for conservatives and the cause in the long run. We need to know where we stand now so we can make logical and informative decisions. At this point I see Sarah playing the gane. If she’s going to run, fine, tell us and let us modify our approach accordingly. If she isn’t, free up that emotion and effort and allow it to be pointed in other more effective directions.
As you probably don’t know as many others here on FR won’t, early in FR’s history we were tied fairly closely to Alan Keyes. We all loved him and he said the right things. He spoke at all our activism events, I even picked him up in LA and ferried him around as a PTB for FR, the LA Chapter and the FR Network. But I eventually got turned off not necessarily at Alan but his supporters. I didn’t want to be associated with them anymore. They were fraking nuts. That may not be a direct reflection of Alan but he was the head of the org and all that was his responsibility.
I’m getting the same feeling with Palin supporters as I did with with Keyes and his org. It’s uncomfortable and won’t win me many friends, but as anyone who has worked with me in FR can tell you, I call ‘em as I see ‘em.
BTW - If Sarah were to announce her candidacy for ‘12 I would support if for no other reason than I think she would be a shoe in and we would have only a couple dozen months to rework her public image. Personally, I think she has a long haul to actually win the Presidency, but I’m a realist and if she wins the nom I will support her as best I can because the alternative is nothing short of disaster.