Posted on 11/14/2009 2:06:08 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Sarah Palin's Going Rogue: An American Life (HarperCollins) is being pitched by her publisher as "one ordinary citizen's extraordinary journey."
That's about right.
Palin is ordinary -- remarkably, overwhelmingly, mind-numbingly ordinary.
Back in the day, it seemed as if she might be extraordinary. When I started writing about her in 2006, the year that Palin took on the good old boys of Alaskan Republican politics, she seemed intriguing -- even a little, dare we say it, rogue.
The story of a small-town mayor mounting a primary challenge to a sitting governor of her own party -- who also happened to be a former US senator and an insider of the highest order in a state where the Grand Old Party is so inbred that it is still nominating the same people it was running in the first elections after statehood was achieved -- was appealing. The shoot-from-the-hip (and the helicopter) mayor of Wasilla seemed to come with fewer strings attached then most Alaskan politicians, be they Republicans or Democrats.
Palin's few months as governor quickly disabused anyone who was paying attention to the notion that she was a reformer. After wrangling a bit with the powerful oil lobby -- in a fight that saw her make common cause with liberal Democrats in the legislature -- she soon embarked upon a career of cronyism and abuses of power.
Had John McCain's presidential campaign bothered to vet Palin, she never would have been tapped to join the GOP's 2008 ticket. But McCain, always a seat of the pants flier, went with his gut and got sucker punched.
Palin was precisely the wrong running mate for McCain.
While the senator from Arizona was a maverick who sought to reach far beyond the boundaries of the Republican Party in hopes of actually winning the presidency, Palin had far more ordinary ambitions.
She was delighted to preach to the choir.
Palin wanted to be the queen of the conservatives, and perhaps the matron of what remained of the Republican Party after George Bush and Dick Cheney were done with it.
But she never evidenced the determination of a John McCain or a Barry Goldwater -- let alone a Ronald Reagan -- to build conservatism into a brand that might appeal to enough Americans to actually win a national election.
The most amusing of Palin's apologists stare longingly enough at her photos to see something Reaganesque.
They need to look again.
Reagan was all about big ideas. You could disagree with the guy, but you could not question his boldness -- or the enthusiasm that went with it. Palin's the opposite; her idea of a "big idea" wouldn't make it as a footnote in the Reagan lexicon.
Palin has never had grand ideas or grand ambitions -- a point reinforced frequently in the 413-page-long Going Rogue. She has always been more than satisfied with petty squabbles inside the party and on its fringe; witness the delight with which she joined the sniping over the conservative credentials of the Republican nominee in this month's special election to fill the District 23 congressional seat in upstate New York.
Where Reagan tried to erect a big tent, Palin is busy kicking the infidels out of a very small temple.
Reagan read newspapers and magazines by the stack, combing them for information, ideas and new ways to argue the conservative brief. Palin can't be bothered, as her agonizing interviews last fall with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric illustrated. (In Going Rogue, and in a soft-focus interview with Oprah Winfrey, Palin slaps Couric around, accusing the CBS anchor of skipping "substantive" questions and going for "gotcha moments." Tellingly, the former governor does not dwell on why it was that those "gotcha moments" were so easily gotten.)
Reagan loved the base -- and they loved him -- but he was all about reaching beyond it.
Can anyone seriously imagine Reagan appearing at a major gathering of social conservatives, as Palin did November 6, when she addressed a gala fund raiser for the Wisconsin Right to Life Education Fund, and trying to prohibit media coverage -- along with "cell phones, recording devices, video and still cameras."
And it is downright comic to think that Reagan would have embarked on a national book tour that was organized to "avoid Democratic cities" -- as is Palin's -- and that steers primarily toward the warm embrace of FOX and friends TV and radio interviews. (Palin says she's "hoping to have the opportunity" to talk with Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, among others.)
Contrast Palin's cloistered campaigning with the boisterousness of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a much more Reaganesque figure. Huckabee's every bit as conservative as his partisan compatriot from Alaska. But he's a big-tent man, who stayed out of the New York-23 fight. And when he toured last fall on behalf of his book Do the Right Thing, Huckabee appeared just about everywhere. He even did Comedy Central's Daily Show with John Stewart and went on MSNBC, where he sparred with brainy liberal Rachel Maddow.
Notably, for all the current attention to Palin, it is Huckabee who maintains a solid lead among Republican voters when they are asked who they prefer as their 2012 nominee. A Rasmussen survey conducted last month had the at-least-reasonably-Reaganesque Huckabee at 29 percent.
Ordinary Sarah Palin was at 18 percent, and falling.
LMAOPOTF. He would not recognize Ronnie if he bit him.
Preemptive post... because there will no doubt be the RINO crowd harping about “Reagan not being a quitter like Palin”:
Reagan shortly after taking office as Governor in California tried to run for President in 1968. If succesful he would have quit from his post he was just duly elected to. He obviously wouldn’t have minded being a “quitter” for becoming President.
Would you have voted against Reagan in 1968 just because he would have quitted his just won office in California?
Reagan also quit from Lebanon.
Reagan didn’t finish business with getting rid of Gaddafy.
Also the situation of Reagan and Palin isn’t comparable as Reagan wasn’t harrassed and driven into massive debt by frivolous lawsuits as Governor.
Finally what’s the point of your comment? Resigining as Governor didn’t do Palin any harm politically or financially. To the contrary. She is more than ever engaged in national politics, free from leftist lawsuit terrorism and makes big money.
Neat huh?
Hmmm, so it appears the left want Huckabee as the Republican nominee..hmmm, anyone wonder why? I know I know, but heck, I’ll just let everyone here guess. Also, when the hell did the left ever give a damn about Ronald Reagan
She is Sarah Palin, ordinary, common sense, straight shooting on target Sarah Palin.
The left didn't like Reagan, but they really didn't fear him.
They fear Sarah, down right fear her. Because what was common and ordinary has become the extraordinary.
Huckabee is the next McCain. He’s the “conservative” that all the leftist love.
You can tell who’s worthless to OUR cause when you see them pushed by THEM.
Huck in fact did endorse Hoffman the Sunday before the election, this guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but then again, he’s a leftist oaf, so it’s no surprise.
They are scared shitless....
They’re reduced to complimenting Reagan in order to tear Sarah down.
However, I’m getting a little concerned that she’s too easily embroiled in petty disputes - that is, if she’s really running for 2012. If she’s just wanting to sell books to make money then it’s a good strategy.
Huckabee may have a small degree of show biz in common with Ronald Wilson Reagan, but that is where the similarity ends. Sarah Palin is real people, a fighter for what is righter. Nichols is a know-nothing, imho.
Huckabee —McCain, but a bit nicer, and way fatter.
Yuck.
No one is comparing Palin to Reagan. We just recognize that there are some similarities between them, and she is wisely following his path.
I think Sarah will be America’s Maggie Thatcher.
The left fears Sarah’s charisma. Good.
~Michael Reagan, son of President Ronald Reagan
If McCain didn't bother to vet Palin, then why did he charge her $500,000 for vetting her after the campaign?
If you thought these people were really clever you might think they were trying to ruin Huckabee. But no, they’re not that clever.
They’re just in a permanent panic over Sarah Palin!
Don’t worry Liberals, it will all get better after January 20, 2013 when she takes the oath of office as our 44th POTUS (Obama, not being constitutionally qualified, doesn’t really count).
Where on earth does this guy live?
Sarah is not Reagan, she is PALIN!
What we need now is PALIN.
I love these crabby pants pundits, they get
EVERYTHING WRONG and still can’t see it
because their heads are so far up their butts
with their own hubris.
I look forward to the Palin/Bachmann ticket destroying
them en mass in 2012.
If she runs I will do everything I can to help her
reach the goal of being the First Woman President with
the First Woman Vice President at her side.
I have no idea if Sarah is gonna run in 2012, but I do know this, the media tells us everyday who they are TERRIFIED can beat Obama. I don’t give a rats behind what some poll says. They could release a poll tomorrow showing Sarah Palin with a 10 percent approval rating and I will still believe she can beat Obama..why, because I see the fear in the media’s eyes when they mention her name. I don’t see that fear when they mention Romney or Huckabee or Pawlenty, but just watch the fear in their voice and their eyes when they mention Sarah Palin’s name. That is all the proof I need
LOL you want to watch liberals heads explode...
Tell them to imagine that the GOVERNMENT controls their health Care and then Sarah Palin is elected President and she uses this new found power to cure all of our social ills.
Liberals will only support govt control of healthcare when their are Democrat administrations.
good example will be...
“Today President Palin signed an executive order that provides govt health services will no longer cover any Sexually transmitted diseases because Condoms are available and not using them is a failure to comply with medical guidance.
This EO is very controversial to liberals ever since President Palins first executive order banning all abortions from govt supplied health services.
Debate continues on the requirment for govt to provide health services to Prostitues and Felons.
LOL
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