Posted on 05/16/2009 6:00:44 PM PDT by Maelstorm
Everyone is piling on Sarah Palin, even though she will never be president of the United States.
The Alaska governor is everyone's favorite foil, from the left-wing Huffington Post to the ever-posturing Mitt Romney. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee who cynically chose her as his running mate, now snubs her with relish.
They all act like she has a real chance to win the White House, when they all know the truth. When it comes to being taken seriously by the general electorate as a potential president, it's as over for her as it was for Dan Quayle.
Quayle was doomed even after he served as vice president. He was the heartbeat away from the first President Bush, but could never overcome the perception that he lacked gravitas.
Palin only ran for vice president; she never made it from Wasilla to Washington. And her problem is bigger than Quayle's, because it extends to her family.
From the moment Palin appeared on the national scene as a surprise pick for vice president, her family attracted critical attention. Palin had to fight off Internet-spawned rumors that her youngest child, Trig, who was born with Down syndrome, was really her daughter's. Then came the real news. Bristol Palin, her 17-year-old daughter, was unwed and pregnant, despite her mother's abstinence-only platform.
Palin weathered those headlines and others about her snowmobiling husband, Todd. As the campaign moved forward, she was undercut more by her own performance in a series of nationally televised interviews.
She was a major turnoff to the very voters she was supposed to attract — Hillary Rodham Clinton's female supporters.
Palin is still extremely popular with the hard-core conservative base and was recently named to the National Council for a New America, a group aimed at rebranding the GOP. Palin made Time magazine's list of influential people, causing Romney to crack: "But was that the issue on the most beautiful people or the most influential people?"
Romney is smarter and more accomplished than Palin, and just as good-looking. But Palin has something he lacks: a core set of unwavering conservative principles. It gives her an early advantage with Republican primary voters.
Palin faces an ongoing family soap opera that continues to undercut her political message. Bristol Palin broke up with Levi Johnston, the father of their child.
The line Palin walks as a mother of five and new grandmother continues to trip her up as a presidential candidate.
That makes her an easy target for Democrats and Republicans, who enjoy running against her.
Joan Vennochi writes for the Boston Globe. Her e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.
I'll never ever vote for Romney and the GOP have left us in a position where there is absolutely nothing to lose this next election. If Palin runs I'm supporting her because of her honesty, her integrity, and those pesky core conservative principles that people in the Romney camp are uncomfortable with. We've had enough of soft rich Republicans who change their values more ease than they change their underpants.
You never know.
People said David Axelrod would never be President of The United States, but look.
Palin is a lot smarter than people give her credit. A heck of a lot smarter than the reporters who ridicule her.
You left out the best part! Sarah is a threat to this woman writer from BOSTON!
Women who are critical of Palin are so petty and undercut their whole attitude of woman are smart...The ONLY reason she’s been maligned and attacked relentlessly is because she is A STRONG CONSERVATIVE who stands for traditional American values. The liberals hate her and even some republicans don’t like her No Nonsense style...What everyone SHOULD be looking at is her record as a solid governor of a hugely prosperous state! Maybe by 2012 America will have grown sick of our leaders being INEPT at spending OUR MONEY and actually VOTE FOR SOMEONE WHO WILL MANAGE IT WELL!!
Nice picture, and a great comment. Palin makes Romney look like Huntsman, all ego and no substance. When Palin starts her serious bid in early or mid-2011 then support for her will grow like a sunflower.
As for Mitt?
“Mitt’s Ado About Nothing”
He's much better.
The MSM IS still the MSM however.
...”even though she will never be president of the United States.”
It’s obvious that someone is afraid that she can be.
I worry about Mitt only in that he has the money to really screw things up again. He won’t win because he can’t win without us. He is too much of a government insider. He doesn’t offer anything new and parrots the left on everything from global warming to health care. I’m not interested in a parrot for President.
If Palin runs I am devoting more time and effort and money to help her get elected than I have ever done in my life.
I hope she gets involved in the 2010 race to point out the RINO’s she thinks should lose IN THE PRIMARIES
Folks..GET INVOLVED IN THE PRIMARIES!! (Palin did, and look where she got!)
YOur vote is worth 1000 times more in the primaries, and IS THE ONLY WAY to keep us from having to choose between a donkey and a rino again
Never? Wanna bet paychecks on that, Joan?
Wait—don’t answer that. You work for the Globe. You might not actually have a paycheck much longer.
I don’t worry about him winning the early primaries. Palin will have the crowds and the support. And the press, for all the wrong reasons, will push Palin. The press will also undermine Romney because they know who he really is, all hat and no horse, but someone who trys to turn his hat into a horse when it serves his purpose.
Romney, history, although he’ll be kicking around a bit. But Palin has the smart people lining up behind her campaign, and this time she will have the power and will surprise the nation when she emerges fully Sarah.
I feel the same way. I’m even more motivated by those who are trying to reinvent the GOP as a more moderate party. The press can attack her and insiders can roll their eyes but Sarah isn’t going away. Sarah represents something that is special, like finding life on Mars.
How many vice presidential nominees have ever outdrawn the top of the ticket in public interest, media interest, and grassroots support?
How many defeated vice presidential nominees saw their political profile and capital increase following their defeat?
When has a defeated vice presidential candidate attracted more attention than the winning candidate well after the election?
Sarah Palin might not be the next President, but her fate will not be that of the usual defeated running mate: swift exile into political obscurity.
Quayle was a solid conservative, a smart guy, and good politician. He also was the resume-candidate compared to the current occupant of the White House. He was a multiple term Congressman. He won his Senate seat by knocking off Evan Bayh's father, who no one else in Indiana politics believed could be beaten before 1978. He won reelection by a landslide. Yes, his family had some money, but he wasn't super rich. Quayle never lost an election until 1992, when his running mate decided to renege on a new new taxes pledge and Ross Perot decided to crash the party.
Quayle was victim of character assasination by the press, and was too genuinely decent to respond to the snarky "You're no Jack Kennedy" line with smack-down like "That's true. I'm faithful to my wife." If the press made as big a deal about Obama thinking there were 57 states as they did of Quayle mispelling potato, we wouldn't be stuck with Dear Leader for the next 3 2/3 years.
The people we have to worry about are the same people who lifted up Fred Thompson only to stomp on him. Romney really played a big roll in that. He likes to attack from the peripheral.
Dan is a very smart man. In an age where good looking means your very smart and no one is looking under the hood to see what is there, We get a paint job.
Trouble people - lots of it coming soon
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