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George Will: Sarah Palin and the mutual loathing society
The Washington Post ^ | February 18, 2010 | George F. Will

Posted on 02/17/2010 8:27:21 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

The Republican presidential nominee, an Arizona senator, was a maverick, which was part of his charm. He spoke and acted impulsively, which was part of his problem. Voters thought his entertaining dimensions might be incompatible with presidential responsibilities. For example, he selected a running mate most Americans had never heard of and who had negligible experience pertinent to the presidency. This was 1964.

Barry Goldwater, whose seat John McCain occupies, chose to run with Bill Miller, a congressman from Lockport, N.Y., near Buffalo. Miller, Goldwater cheerfully explained, annoyed Lyndon Johnson. After the Goldwater-Miller ticket lost 44 states, Miller retired to Lockport, where he practiced law and lived in dignified anonymity until his death in 1983. Although he had served as an assistant prosecutor of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg and spent seven terms in Congress, no one suggested he should be considered for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination.

Yet Sarah Palin, who with 17 months remaining in her single term as Alaska's governor quit the only serious office she has ever held, is obsessively discussed as a possible candidate in 2012. Why? She is not going to be president and will not be the Republican nominee unless the party wants to lose at least 44 states.

Conservatives, who rightly respect markets as generally reliable gauges of consumer preferences, should notice that the political market is speaking clearly: The more attention Palin receives, the fewer Americans consider her presidential timber. The latest Post-ABC News poll shows that 71 percent of Americans -- including 52 percent of Republicans -- think she is not qualified to be president.(continued)

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2010polls; 2012; adiosjuan; adiosmcdemocrat; adiosrinolovers; elististmeltdown; georgewill; huckabee2012; jdgoodman; jdhaworthgojd; mccain2012; mexicanbarbie; moneygrubber; nomorerinos; nonccain; obama; overexposure; palin; pds; rino; romney2012; sarahpalin; sarahtwoface; secondcoming; senorapalinrino; senoritakewpie; votehaworth
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To: techno
This is her time.

And this is our country's time. We WILL NOT survive until 2016 much less 2020! It's already a mess and we have three more years to go!
81 posted on 02/17/2010 10:04:02 PM PST by presently no screen name
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

We can belittle the polls, or believe them. Frankly I believe them. Palin is very disliked. Wrongly for sure, but that is how it is.

She may squeek out a win against hussein in 2012, but it seems VERY doubtful.


82 posted on 02/17/2010 10:04:51 PM PST by Tolsti2
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

She is not going to be president
*********
God decides these matters.

We’ll see Mr. Will.


83 posted on 02/17/2010 10:05:55 PM PST by Finalapproach29er (Obama will sink as fast as he rose. Idolatry will not succeed. Be patient, folks...)
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To: FreeReign; ari-freedom

WHACK!


84 posted on 02/17/2010 10:06:33 PM PST by onyx (BE A MONTHLY DONOR - I AM)
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To: Tolsti2
Frankly I believe them. Palin is very disliked.

How can you honestly say that? YOU are reading the 'media' - the hate filled media! Seems like they got you w/their propaganda. They use it because it works and you are proof of that.
85 posted on 02/17/2010 10:08:28 PM PST by presently no screen name
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To: presently no screen name

I’m in Texas, and I know the deal. She’s not that well liked, as this poll has shown. I wish it wasn’t true, but it is.


86 posted on 02/17/2010 10:09:26 PM PST by Tolsti2
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To: Tolsti2
I’m in Texas, and I know the deal

Another elitist? Get lost, chump!
87 posted on 02/17/2010 10:10:25 PM PST by presently no screen name
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To: presently no screen name

I wish it wasn’t true, but it is. What part of that don’t you get? McCain wasn’t well liked and he lost. Bob Dole too. Kerry wasn’t, and most of them had less negatives than Palin in polls.

It’s just HOW IT IS. I don’t like it, it SUCKS. But we need to find someone else, quick. If Palin is the 2012 primary, I’ll vote for her. If she’s the nom, I’ll vote for her. Read those last parts before you freak out.


88 posted on 02/17/2010 10:12:26 PM PST by Tolsti2
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To: techno
If I may be permitted a somewhat tepid defense of Will..It's obvious from this piece that he drinks quite a bit. On occasion, when besotted he will sit down to his computer and pen a column..or attempt to. This is obviously one of those efforts..NOT a good idea, Georgie....

OTOH, if I had to contemplate the prospect of sitting down every Sunday with that collection of idiots on the panel of "This Week.." I'd probably imbibe to excess as well...

Seriously, re your comments on Palin..you've missed one key point..right now, today, she's odds on to win the GOP nomination IF SHE RUNS....yes,that IS correct. Polls have shown that among LIKELY GOP primary voters ( remember, that means the BASE) those..like you and I, who are hard-core CONSERVATIVE and thus most likely to actually get out and vote in the primaries...she's favored by about 40-45%.. And because GOP primaries give 100% of the delegates of the delegates to the actual winner ( unlike the stupid Dem system with its proportional allocation of delegates.."BTW...how's that workin' out for them lately???" so she's got a real jump start on the nomination...

89 posted on 02/17/2010 10:13:13 PM PST by ken5050 (Save the Earth..It's the only planet with chocolate!!!)
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To: techno

She needs to run in 2012 or get out of the way. If Palin passes up the chance to make her voice heard on the campaign trail then she really is not using her talent to there fullest extent. Sarah needs to run in order to remain relevant, but she does not necessarily need to win in the primary. If she wins in the primary then she will have one chance to do it right. If Sarah does not run in 2012 I will never contribute to her PAC again and I will start looking for new faces.


90 posted on 02/17/2010 10:14:53 PM PST by Sarah-bot (Savage is the only one qualified to become the first female President)
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To: onyx

I know Mickey Mouse is not a person. But at this moment even he could be Obama. :)

Now, when 2012 rolls around, don’t be surprised if we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. We’re not called the Stupid Party for nothing.


91 posted on 02/17/2010 10:16:14 PM PST by EveningStar (Karl Marx is not one of our Founding Fathers.)
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To: presently no screen name

From the PPP blog referring to a poll to be released on Thursday:

“I (Tom Jensen) was a little skeptical last week of the WAPO poll showing that 71 of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, didn’t think Sarah Palin was qualified to be President. So we asked it over the weekend and found that 59% of Americans-but only 30% of Republicans-don’t think Palin is qualified.”

“Here’s what’s interesting though—matched up against Barack Obama, Sarah Palin gets 22% from people who DON’T think she’s qualified to be President!”


92 posted on 02/17/2010 10:17:24 PM PST by techno
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I have been sick of Georgie "ABC token conservative" Will for quite some time now. He truly is a beltway animal. He is so contaminated by that crowd, he slips between Conservative and liberal beltway elite seamlessly. He lost his connection with regular hardworking Americans years ago, maybe decades. SAD, I liked him as a young man.

Nam Vet

93 posted on 02/17/2010 10:18:18 PM PST by Nam Vet (Inuendo IS NOT an Italian suppository.)
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To: Tolsti2

Freak out? Because I don’t want to listen to your mimicking the media? I could flick on the boob tube and get the same crapola.

Conservatives aren’t defeatists but your surely are!


94 posted on 02/17/2010 10:20:54 PM PST by presently no screen name
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To: Nam Vet

George Will stuck up for the Super Collider, which would’ve given us incredible breakthroughs (like project constellation) that democrats love to throw away. I remember that fondly.

Lately he’s gotten a bit lame. I will same that his Palin stuff MAY be accurate. She just might not be ellectable.


95 posted on 02/17/2010 10:21:24 PM PST by Tolsti2
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To: techno

This sounds a lot more realistic. I never understood why so many people were willing to take the Washington Post Poll at face value.


96 posted on 02/17/2010 10:21:35 PM PST by Sarah-bot (Savage is the only one qualified to become the first female President)
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To: ellery

He has a beautiful voting record—darned near every bit of it pro-American and pro-family. But the most pressing problem for the time being, IMO, is the bipartisan, erroneous and dangerous policy on foreign trade and its partner, regulatory policies against domestic competition for about 30 years now.

I’ll have to think on that. We’re about to lose it all due to the debt-for-import schemes, IMO, and really need to get back to some real work. Most of our American industrial ingenuity came from men working in manufacturing—men with whole families. And it wasn’t that kind of man who threw it away. It was the philandering drunks who came down from the offices to scream at them and throw things. ...and the union lawyers from the same social origins, of course.

It’s saddening to know that there may well be unprecedented suffering in our own country before long. We’ve let our economy and our defense go too much for the unhealthy, personal social preferences of a few constituents favored by both parties.


97 posted on 02/17/2010 10:22:08 PM PST by familyop (cbt. engr. (cbt), NG, '89-' 96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote.)
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To: EveningStar
Now, when 2012 rolls around, don’t be surprised if we snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. We’re not called the Stupid Party for nothing.

Our very nation is at stake, we cannot afford to be stupid in 2012.

98 posted on 02/17/2010 10:23:03 PM PST by onyx (BE A MONTHLY DONOR - I AM)
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To: presently no screen name

I was called a defeatist when it was clear hussein would win. I think it’s clear, sadly, that Sarah is not likely to win. Things can change of course, and it’s a long time away. But sometimes you gotta refocus and concentrate on a winning solution instead of a certain loss.


99 posted on 02/17/2010 10:23:18 PM PST by Tolsti2
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To: techno
Sarah Palin gets 22% from people who DON’T think she’s qualified to be President!”

And those 22% aren't conservatives so what the h*ll do they know anyway. ;)

Thanks!
100 posted on 02/17/2010 10:23:27 PM PST by presently no screen name
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