Brice,
I sympathize with what you are saying, but let’s be clear about something.
Palin has been too opaque as to her intentions. When she plays the “I don’t need a title to serve” game, that gives others an opening.
This is Palin’s own damn fault. Now she’s going to have to fight these people for bandwidth, because she jinked around about ramping up her game.
Palin has no one to blame but herself, and let’s be clear, both Perry and Bachmann have the right to compete.
Bachmann is a Potemkin villiage candidate who is working for Romney, but she has the right to compete.
Best,
Chris
Part of what we do on these forums is to project ahead. I don’t need to wait until any of them has declared in order to comment. If anyone thinks that the activities of last year and the scenarios I posit (which is far from improbable, since all three have made unmistakable moves toward running recently) reflect well on Perry or Bachmann, then by all means vote for them. I merely identify what Palin did for them in the very recent past and speculate that, if they run (which I said, but won’t repeat again, they have a right to do), it will reflect poorly on their character.
As for Palin’s timing, that has no effect on the scenario. Maybe they think she is not running. She goes on the bus tour. She is releasing the epic film to set the record straight on her governorship. She is doing it first in Iowa, NH and south Carolina. I think that is pretty good evidence that she is. Bachmann has said she will not be deterred if Palin enters the race. Perry’s people have walked back his assertion that he would only run “if she didn’t”. So the assumptions I make are not at all off the wall.
I never said Perry said anything negative about Palin. Phil Crane never said anything negative about Ronald Reagan. His challenge to Reagan in 1980 left him held in contempt by Reagan and his men as a traitor. And that is a documented fact. I contend that people may well draw the same conclusions about Bachmann and Perry (if they run)
“Now she’s going to have to fight these people for bandwidth,”
You couldn’t be more wrong. Palin will completely overshadow the both of them. That is so self evident that it almost doesn’t need to be said.
Take a look at their facebook numbers.
Palin: approaching 3.2 million
Bachmann: 188,000
Perry: 56,000.
Give me a break.