K Street Republicans’ war on Palin

NetRightDaily.com ^ | 08/08/12 | Rick Manning

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

I’m getting sick of the rewriting of 2008 presidential campaign history as K Street Republicans continue to assault Sarah Palin in the fear that a similarly conservative Republican will rise to the top of the VP sweepstakes.

It has been so fashionable in D.C. Republican circles to bash the Palin nomination as a mistake, ill-conceived or even disastrous, that even Dick Cheney has gotten into the act.

These self-serving attempts to change history are nothing more than a smear campaign designed to influence the Romney VP pick by obscuring the truth that the choice of Sarah Palin to be the vice presidential nominee was truly inspired.

The McCain campaign was in the doldrums. Unable to match the youth and enthusiasm of the inexperienced but expert campaigner from Illinois, McCain needed to shake up the race, and Palin accomplished just that.

Her incredible acceptance speech, delivered in spite of a faulty teleprompter (try that, Mr. President), gave the nation a new face and voice for conservative principles just when it was desperately needed.

That same energy from the convention rolled over into the 2010 election, embodied in the Tea Party movement and leading Republicans to a historic victory.

History shows that it was the McCain campaign that blew any chance at election when it suspended its efforts fully three weeks after the nomination to come back to D.C. and rubber-stamp the TARP bailout.

Having agreed upon the legislative actions that socialized losses by too-big-to-fail banks, McCain lost all ability to differentiate between himself and the big-government policies advocated by Obama.

Pollster Scott Rasmussen reported on Sept. 20, 17 days after the Palin pick, that his daily Presidential Tracking Poll “shows Barack Obama with 48 percent of the vote and John McCain with 47 percent. While Obama’s lead is statistically insignificant, it is the first time he has held even a single-point advantage in a week and a half. One week ago today, McCain was up by three points.”

For the mathematically challenged, this means that less than two months from the election, McCain and Palin were leading in the polls.

Rasmussen goes on to say, “Obama’s gains over the past week came as the focus shifted from the momentum generated at the Republican National Convention to the economic roller coaster ride that played out on Wall Street. Few agreed with McCain’s initial statement about the economy being fundamentally sound and neither candidate has yet convinced voters that he will bring the needed changes to the financial markets.”

Now, four years later, those very architects and apologists of “too big to fail” policies desperately seek to dissuade presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney from making a similarly bold conservative choice for vice president.

Let’s hope Romney remembers history, because if he does, he will know that the choice of Palin was one of the few things the McCain campaign got right. It was McCain’s and President Bush’s abandonment of limited-government, free-market principles that were the ultimate culprit in bringing us four years of Obama — not Sarah Palin.

[piytar]

I for one voted for Palin, not that RINO scum McCain. Just like this election: I'll most likely be voting ABO, not for that RINO scum Romney. Although from the move to the “center” MittCare has made recently, there's a decent chance I won't cast a vote for President and just vote the undercard.

Yes, Romney, you're screwing up that badly. IDIOT.

[piytar]

I for one voted for Palin, not that RINO scum McCain. Just like this election: I'll most likely be voting ABO, not for that RINO scum Romney. Although from the move to the “center” MittCare has made recently, there's a decent chance I won't cast a vote for President and just vote the undercard.

Yes, Romney, you're screwing up that badly. IDIOT.

[Free in Texas]

The GOP-E does NOT take kindly to the established order being upset. Now shut up and fall in line.

[Pontiac]

These self-serving attempts to change history are nothing more than a smear campaign designed to influence the Romney VP pick by obscuring the truth that the choice of Sarah Palin to be the vice presidential nominee was truly inspired.

Yes Palin was an inspired pick. Practically the only inspired move McStain made in the entire campaign.

The mistake the Republicans made (it was an obvious one) in the 2008 election was choosing an old, short, bald man who can barely talk let alone give an inspiring speech.

Look at your history of past elections. Ever since the advent of television winning candidates are tall good looking men with good hair (no comb overs) most of who could speak well on camera.

McCain looses in all categories. He lost before he ever started.

[2ndDivisionVet]

She is easily the most influential female politician on the planet. Hillary? Don’t make me laugh! Even out of office, India, Korea, Israel and other countries invite Governor Palin to meet & greet their movers and shakers, as well as the top dogs. She influenced the 2010 and now the 2012 elections more so than the two men who will face-off against each other for the White House in November. Her Facdebook page and tweets revive moribund campaigns and move markets. She came **this** close to defeating ObamaCare with her death panels statement, forcing the Democrats to cheat, bribe and whip their caucus in illegal ways. If she wants it, she will be president. She is only 48 years old!!

[D-fendr]

I think Palin’s marginalization, in terms of being part of the GOP is her own choice. The party didn’t keep her from running in the primary, didn’t cause her disappointing dance and tease, didn’t keep her from endorsing someone and attempting to unite behind one notRomney candidate.

And it’s not keeping her from endorsing the nominee now and joining the party’s campaign to defeat Obama.

Her choices, not the party’s have been to distance herself.

I do think she is a positive influence in many ways. But I think the conservative message of “limited-government, free-market principles” are and will be front and center of Romney’s campaign - even if Palin decides to maintain her distance.

[Free in Texas]

" If she wants it, she will be president. She is only 48 years old!!"

I pray to God she'll want it. We know what her family would have to endure.

[D-fendr]

If she wants it, she will be president. She is only 48 years old!!

I hope she plans to move in that arc, but I'm not sure she is. She may continue in the commentator profession.

As you note, her age would allow her to continue to improve and build support for another three cycles, at the least. But I think she would need to win elective office or serve in some high appointed position somewhere along the way.

[Catsrus]

Oh, say, like Barack Obama did? Yes sir, he was a senator for all of maybe 2 years and then bingo! He was instantly qualified to become president.

Don’t make me laugh. Sarah Palin was ready and able to be President if she wanted it. I think she is enjoying her freedom now to pick and choose her own path in life.

Although I’m terribly disappointed that she didn’t enter the race, I’m sure she made the decision prayerfully. Her family has been through enough, and it hasn’t stopped yet. What a spine of steel this remarkable lady has!

[The Wizard]

I voted for Sarah, too.....I would love to again...

[D-fendr]

Saying Palin was more qualified than Obama is damning with faint praise.

Everyone can grow and improve, learn and hone their philosophy and how to communicate it.

I actually had in mind Reagan: his experience with SAG, the GE speeches, Goldwater, the “A Time for Choosing” speech, his extensive writings on abortion and recording for the AMA, and his two terms as Governor of California...

Over these 25+ years Reagan grew and improved greatly - to become the greatest conservative president. He first ran for President at the age of 64/65.

Sarah is 48 now. I’m not saying she should wait fifteen years; I’m saying she has many years left and if she spends them as productively as, say, Reagan, she will be that much better a candidate and a president.

[Progov]

You think selecting Palin as a VP candidate was a mistake, what about Romney himself. The Repubs are definitely in fear of someone with Palins abilities and have shown it by selecting a potential loser.

[wastoute]

I know for a fact McLame got ONE vote he wouldn’t have otherwise...MINE.

[wastoute]

The RINOs hate Palin because of her RECORD. She put corupt RINOs in JAIL in Alaska. They will do whatever it takes to keep her the Hell out of DC.

[Progov]

“She (Palin) put corupt RINOs in JAIL in Alaska.”

I am not against that in any way. Unfortunately, there are sooooooooo many damned corupt Rinos in DC, there would be a great void should they be locked up. Best way to get rid of them is to vote them out......Hence comes the Tea Party which the Rinos are also afraid of.

[Diogenesis]

Mr. RomneyCARE - author of Death Panels
began these attacks so the GOP would lose.

THAT makes Mr. RomneyCARE the GOP leader (of the Underworld

) FLASHBACK:

The McCain/Palin ticket was up ++4 to 10 pts
in some polls, days prior to Election 2008.
So rather than helping the GOP, Romney and
TeamROMNEY and the RNME (Republican National Media Establishment)
decided …to attack Gov. Palin to throw Election2008.

Romney, and the Van der Sloot RNME RINOs for Obama in 2008

Late in October, The American Spectator's The Prowler revealed:
"Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers…
have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election.
'Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,'
says one former Romney aide…
'The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney.
"Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a 'diva' and was going off message intentionally."

---

The Palmetto Scoop reported: "One of the first stories to hit the national airwaves was
the claim of a major internal strife between close McCain aides and the folks handling his running mate Sarah Palin."
"I’m told by very good sources that this was indeed the case and that a rift had developed, but it was between Palin’s people and the staffers brought on from the failed presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, not McCain aides."
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
… aides loyal to Romney inside the McCain campaign, said The Scoop, reportedly saw
that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.

---

"These staffers are now out trying to finish her off ….hoping it would ingratiate themselves with Mitt Romney."

---

"Who's the Palin Leaker from the McCain Campaign?
National Review Online The publication of a Vanity Fair profile of Sarah Palin
appears to have opened old wounds in the McCain campaign.
... the source of the “Diva” leak was Nicolle Wallace’s husband."

---

"Peeking Out From the McCain Wreckage: Mitt Romney"

"Someone's got to say it: IS MITT ROMNEY RESPONSIBLE FOR OBAMA'S VICTORY?"

"Vanity: Team Romney Sabotaged Palin and Continuing to Do So?"

"Romney Supporters Trashing Palin"

"Romney advisors sniping at Palin?"

---

p began these attacks so the GOP would lose.

[wizwor]

McCain was the mistake.

I voted for Palin. The morning after the election, I took a razor to my McCain/Palin bumpersticker — leaving the Palin half until I could get a Palin 2012 sticker (which not sits on my back window.

[lentulusgracchus]

Although I’m terribly disappointed that she didn’t enter the race, I’m sure she made the decision prayerfully.

One way of looking at it would be to say that in 1938, while some people of vision might have wanted Winston Churchill in 10 Downing Street, it just wasn't time yet. The full awfulness of Neville Chamberlain's fatuousness and French dithering in the face of German aggression had to play out "for some reason" before Churchill could come to the fore and make his bones as the greatest PM in British, and probably world, history.

s The distance between 1938 and 1940 was very, very great ... and that goes for America, too.

[xzins]

After looking at the field, I can only say that Sarah Palin is a vast improvement. Would she cause me to vote for her again if she were teamed with Romney? If Romney were to pledge to only one term, and if he were to give Palin the authority that Cheney had with Bush, and if he were to pre-announce his cabinet and major advisors, and if he were to provide a list of judicial candidates from which he would select, and if he were to pledge that executive orders and legislation signatures/vetoes must have the VP’s sign-off, and if he were to run all military decisions through the VP’s office for sign-off, then I might consider it.

In other words, if he were to become a figurehead only who could jaunt around the world with Prince Andrew and sit in the celebrity box at sporting events. Not much chance of that is there?

That said, and looking at the electoral map, I’m thinking that Romney would be well-served by choosing Susana Martinez of New Mexico as his running mate. She is a conservative who won in a blue state, she shores up his cred with females, and she is Hispanic. Her record is pro-life, pro-heterosexualism, pro-small government. (Which probably takes her out of the running.)

Romney would be benefited by New Mexico’s EVs, and this will be a close enough race that that those 5 (?) could be the difference. He needs help with females. He needs help with Hispanics. She does all of those things.

She is a short-time governor, but a long-time district attorney. She has no national security credentials, but as a leader in a state bordering Mexico, it’s not as if she has zero international background.

I have no idea if she’s a good public speaker.

[lentulusgracchus]

I for one voted for Palin, not that RINO scum McCain.

Laws were changed in many places to forbid ticket-splitting at the top, otherwise, we'd very probably have wound up with Sarah as VP today, and Obama walking on eggs past a Republican House Speaker and VP to get to his office every day.

[W. W. SMITH]

Sarah Palin is sitting on between 18 and 20 years executive experience. This is more than almost any other President we have ever had.
Palin’s record includes a term on the Wasilla Council, two terms as Wasilla, AK Mayor, a stint as Chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and gas Conservation Commission (which she left to almost single-handily take down the corrupt GOP Establishment in Alaska. She served as president of the Alaska mayors association and as chairman of the Republican governors. As governor she accomplished more in two years than most do in eight years. Alaska has the largest national guard and they are always on active duty with the governor briefed daily.

The Governorship of Alaska, as defined by the Alaska state Constitution, is the most powerful in the nation. This has left Sarah Palin uniquely qualified to go from being the most powerful Governor in the nation to being the most powerful national leader in the world.

[lentulusgracchus]

The RINOs hate Palin because of her RECORD.

No, they hate "flyover America" -- the middling values, the heterosexual moral orthodoxy, the "narrowness" (whine, whine -- Sinclair Lewis was already bitching about Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, 110 years ago, because he was a frustrated boulevardier who wanted to spend his life drinking wine and reading "French novels"), everything that separates the people in the "Finkelstein Box" of Southern and Midwestern States from the gravid mobs of the seaboard cities that ritualistically vote Democrat.

That crap has continued unabated from that day to this, and now the East Coast urbanites want to seal the deal and finish us off. They can't stand real Americans!! The secret is out! Doubt me? Read this:

Commentary dumps on Sarah Palin: What Neocons really think.

and be sure to catch the further discussion by Bushbot David Frum and others at Gawker and Frum's site. There are links here, with this blog comment page:

More beating on Sarah Palin.

[jimfree]

Sarah Palin continues to have more relevant and quality executive experience than the other three national candidates of 2008.

[Timber Rattler]

The party didn’t keep her from running in the primary, didn’t cause her disappointing dance and tease, didn’t keep her from endorsing someone and attempting to unite behind one notRomney candidate.

Wrong!

Next for GOP leaders: Stopping Sarah Palin

[LibLieSlayer]

I despise the gop/e as they are the gop leaders and they stand against me... no different than the dims.

LLS

[ebshumidors]

Sarah’s no dummy. She’s collecting a lot of IOU’s that she’ll cash in when the time is right.

[sergeantdave]

In state legislative primary races, RINOs are falling across the country. It’s looking good for many states in 2012. In 2010, more than 700 patriots and conservatives were elected to state legislatures, giving us effective control in 26 states.

If the federal election turns to crap, we have the option of falling back and fighting the criminal fascist syndicate from the states. A thousand brushfires can be set. Federal bureaucracies and courts in states can be dismantled by harassing them out of existence through state laws and enforcement. The federal fascists have neither the logistics nor manpower to handle this.

It’s imperative that conservatives also get to work on local village and county races. Cleaning commies out of your neighborhoods will make lifre more pleasant and agreeable. It’s especially critical that you elect constitutional sheriffs in your counties. That office gives you atmed muscle to take on the federal fascists locally, espcially the EPA, FWS, Homeland Security and Interior Department.

[TWhiteBear]

It seems unlikely that Mr. Obama will be reelected. When Mr. Romney is sworn in, the financial powers will destroy the economy in order to write off the bad paper, bonds etc, that are on the books. Like Herbert Hoover, Mr. Romney, and the Republican Party will go down in political flames. The election and ensuing catastrophic failure of the Romney administration may finally permit the Old Party to pass away and be replaced by a new coalition. Governor Sarah Palin will be the winner in the next election because she will have taken the future.
TWB

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Saying Palin was more qualified than Obama is damning with faint praise.

Everyone can grow and improve, learn and hone their philosophy and how to communicate it.

I actually had in mind Reagan: his experience with SAG, the GE speeches, Goldwater, the “A Time for Choosing” speech, his extensive writings on abortion and recording for the AMA, and his two terms as Governor of California...

Over these 25+ years Reagan grew and improved greatly - to become the greatest conservative president. He first ran for President at the age of 64/65.

Sarah is 48 now. I’m not saying she should wait fifteen years; I’m saying she has many years left and if she spends them as productively as, say, Reagan, she will be that much better a candidate and a president.

In the military there is a criterion for rejection of promotion called “overage in grade.” The presidency has a similar criterion which might be called, “over experienced in grade.” Obviously Reagan got elected at an unusually high age, but he was not a national politician for a long time before being elected POTUS. From the time he was elected Governor of California (1966) to the time he was elected POTUS (1980) was a period of 14 years. And that is about the limit for attaining national office (POTUS or VP) after attaining statewide office (Governor or Senator); I read that nobody had been elected POTUS without attaining at least VPOTUS within 14 (or 16, I honestly forget) years of attaining a governorship or a Senate seat.

Gov. Palin will not be overage for the presidency for a long time. But her introduction to the body politic happened in 2006; if she doesn’t run in 2016 or 2020, she will be unlikely to attain the presidency after that. IMHO she passed on her main chance (not that it would have been a cakewalk) when she didn’t go for it last year. IMHO her entry early would have kept other conservatives out of the race, and it would have been between her and Mitt (with journalism firmly on Mitt’s side).

And her correct strategy would have been to ignore calls for “debates” moderated by journalists. Run an internet/personal appearance campaign, and try to suck the oxygen out of the other campaigns with her own charisma running big events when the journalists were trying to run debates. That was always her only chance, either she could do it or she could not. I do not expect conditions to become more propitious for her to run in the future, by then others will become rising stars in their own right.

[D-fendr]

Sorry, I still don’t see where the party kept Palin from running in the primary, kept her from endorsing someone else, etc..

[D-fendr]

No, I don’t think selecting Palin was a mistake. And I supported Newt. We got Romney because of a weak field and lack of unity behind one notMitt candidate.

A lot of more conservative candidates sat it out, including Sarah. I don’t blame Repubs for this.

[hrh40]

That’s because there’s a LOT, an iceberg-sized lot, of inside baseball that happens politically that neither you nor most of us here see.

And it’s corrupt and dirty to the core.

I’ve begun to see just what good ol’ boy crap happens at the local and state levels.

Magnify that to the national level.

It ain’t pretty.

And one of the reasons you don’t see it is so that gullible folks like you can make statements like that.

Look back at the interview Palin gave to Greta Van Susteren about a week before her announcement: It was full of protestations of I won’t be handled, shackled, and I’m not for sale.

As in her speech in Iowa a few weeks back right after her public contretemps with Karl The Demolition Man Rove: I am not for sale.

So sure, she could have run. And been Goldwatered by the Romney GOP.

Just as Goldwater was Goldwatered by the Rockefeller GOP.

She’s smarter than that.

I believe “alley cat smart” was the term that former 2-term Alaska governor, Tony Knowles, said of her after she beat him out in the 2006 gubernatorial election.

So yes, you have plausible deniability to state that the GOP did not physically or legally prevent her from running.

But they very much made it apparent that if she were to run, she’d have to do so their way. Or else.

She declined those conditions.

As she may also decline whatever assinine conditions Romney’s GOP puts on her in order to speak at the Romney Lovefest convention.

[D-fendr]

I’d see that as a pretty low opinion of Palin, the victim.

The party kept her from running in the primary, caused her to dance and tease about running, kept her from endorsing someone and attempting to unite behind one notRomney candidate...

She couldn’t run with the big dogs, they were just too powerful for little Sarah.

Sorry, I don’t buy it.

[Timber Rattler]

Then you are willfully blind as to what was going on at that time...the whole point of the GOP-E’s campaign against Palin and her supporters was to keep her from running by demonstrating that the party would NOT support her in 2012, even if she won the primaries.

[Timber Rattler]

But they very much made it apparent that if she were to run, she’d have to do so their way. Or else.

I think that you're 100% correct about what was going on behind the scenes with the GOP-E and Palin. In this context, her comments about not being for sale or handled make perfect sense.

[D-fendr]

Well if you’re right and she just can’t beat the establishment - even if she wins the national primary - then she’s too weak a candidate.

But I think you’re wrong.

[Al B.]

Thanks for the ping.

[Progov]

I DID NOT say selecting Palin was a mistake, I said selecting Romney was/is the mistake. He is a loser, plain and simple and his campaign (with media's help) will lose this election and that dumb ass %*#$@ will become king of the universe. Once again, the conservatives will lose BIG TIME due to their ignorance & arrogance.

[D-fendr]

Yep, should have ‘selected’ Palin.

Oh wait, she didn’t run for selection.

[TBP]

Sarah boosted the ticket and put it ahead until Juan McVain went back to DC to support TARP. But the Republican Establishment would rather have Democrats (even Obama!) win than a conservative.