Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

You Betcha I Was Wrong About Sarah Palin
Daily Beast ^ | 01/28/2015 | Matt Lewis

Posted on 01/28/2015 12:15:17 PM PST by SeekAndFind

It’s time to admit that, whatever their motivation was at the time, the Alaska governor’s critics always had a point. Has conservative genuflection at the altar of Sarah Palin finally come to a halt?

In case you missed it, her speech in Iowa this week was not well received on the right. The Washington Examiner’s Byron York called it a “long, rambling, and at times barely coherent speech” and National Review’s Charles C.W. Cooke said she slipped into self-parody. And there’s more. The Examiner’s Eddie Scarry, for example, contacted several conservative bloggers who were once Palin fans, but have since moved on.

But here’s my question… what changed?

Yes, in 2008, Sarah Palin delivered one of the finest convention speeches I’ve ever heard (trust me, I was there), but she hasn’t exactly been channeling Winston Churchill ever since. Remember her big speech at CPAC a couple of years ago? You know, the one where she took a swig out of a Big Gulp and said of her husband Todd: “He’s got the rifle, I got the rack.” Not exactly a great moment in political rhetoric.

So why is anyone surprised when, this weekend, she said: “‘The Man,’ can only ride ya when your back is bent?”

Demosthenes, she is not, but there’s nothing new about Palin’s penchant for populism or lowbrow rhetoric. What does feel new is that she has finally gotten around to roundly losing conservative opinion leaders. (OK, this has been a long time coming. In 2011, Conor Friedersdorf noted that the hard right was skewering Palin, and that Kathleen Parker had been vindicated. And as recently as this past April, I wondered whether it was finally safe for conservatives to criticize her publicly.

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


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016; 2016electionbias; catfight; conservatism; dailybeast; fakefreepers; getpalin; gope; iowafreedomsummit; mattlewis; memebuilding; palin; palinspeech; pds; romney2016; sarahpalin; teamromney
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-149 next last
To: Idaho_Cowboy

They prefer the circular-commit-to-nothing rhetoric that way they cannot be cast as leaning one way or the other. Talk a lot and say little. I prefer someone who is blunt and answer a yes or no question with a yes or no rather than 5 minutes of “um”... “community needs”... “best for the people if”... and other $10 words that mean nothing.


21 posted on 01/28/2015 12:29:55 PM PST by Resolute Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
I love Sarah Palin, but I reluctantly agree that Sarah's time now seems passed. We all owe Sarah a huge debt of gratitude for the slings and arrows she bore for the Conservative movement. Her contribution cannot be overstated. Her convention speech electrified and was probably among the finest convention speeches ever. It also catalyzed the Tea Party.

I believe Sarah Palin paved the way for people like Ted Cruz and Scott Walker. Without a Sarah Palin as the forerunner, the others would be slogging through the corrupt MSM ridicule torture chamber.

22 posted on 01/28/2015 12:30:00 PM PST by Obadiah (Wind turbines, aka: bird choppers, cause earthquakes due to their harmonic frequencies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

When the attacks on Palin hit an uptick, I always think “romniacs”.

Why they think attacking her helps their cause is beyond me.


23 posted on 01/28/2015 12:30:11 PM PST by marron
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: gdani

It looks that way to me


24 posted on 01/28/2015 12:30:21 PM PST by woofie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Whatever. I’ll stick with Palin over those effete pajama-boys like Matt Lewis and Byron York, who slobber over the northeastern establishment crowd. Some conservatives might buy into them, but I regard them every bit a cultural and ideological enemy as those cretins on MSNBC.


25 posted on 01/28/2015 12:31:00 PM PST by greene66
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind; lexington minuteman 1775; Idaho_Cowboy; SoConPubbie; Windflier; onyx; ...
Team Romney is concerned about Sarah Palin again Bookmark Ping.

Sweet SoConPubbie just posted a list of all of Sarah's Accomplishments just as Governor.

There are WAY to long to post here in the Ping. But I encourage everyone to take a look.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3251390/posts?page=70#70

26 posted on 01/28/2015 12:32:01 PM PST by KC_Lion (Build the America you want to live in at your address, and keep looking up.- Sarah Palin)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I’ll always like Sarah Palin because she is so likeable; she’s confident and competent. Maybe also because I’ve been told many times that I look like her ;).


27 posted on 01/28/2015 12:32:21 PM PST by NorthstarMom (My)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Apparently this guy missed her appearance last night on Hannity..she knocked it out of the park!!!


28 posted on 01/28/2015 12:32:38 PM PST by Sarah Barracuda
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Typical Establishment “conservative”. Sarah has been right about most things and it drives the Establishment crazy.

Perhaps that wasn’t her best speech. OK. Everyone has an off day. But she’s been an articulate, prescient defender of our principles. That’s the real reason that liberals and Establishment types hate her. And yes, I meant to use the word hate. (That is what drives “progressives”, after all.)

Sarah has been able to rally the base like no one I’ve seen in a long time. That’s another reason they hate her.

Besides, suppose she got elected. We can’t allow the first female president to be a conservative, now, can we?


29 posted on 01/28/2015 12:33:42 PM PST by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

These are the same people that love Biden’s “folksy” verbiage.


30 posted on 01/28/2015 12:34:00 PM PST by VanDeKoik
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Idaho_Cowboy

Elitists can’t stand anyone that isn’t another elitist. They look down on the hoi polloi as peasants to be exploited and used and thrown away at their pleasure.


31 posted on 01/28/2015 12:34:08 PM PST by Blood of Tyrants (Good Muslims, like good Nazis or good liberals, are terrible human beings.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

Exactly. Another heart breaker for many was Fred Thompson.


32 posted on 01/28/2015 12:34:40 PM PST by TEXOKIE (We must surrender only to our Holy God and never to the evil that has befallen us.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

If Barack Hussein Obola can be pResident, anybody can be President, including Sarah.


33 posted on 01/28/2015 12:35:13 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Government is the religion of the fascists.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: marron

They think attacking her helps pave the way for yet another liberal scumbag like Romney. It doesn’t. It just wakes more people up like me, who voted GOP all my life, realize that the Republican Party is full of backstabbing garbage, and unworthy of my vote.

Matt Lewis and Byron York and Jennifer Rubin and all those other hacks can frankly go choke to death.


34 posted on 01/28/2015 12:37:22 PM PST by greene66
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: TBP

Sarah Palin will be this generations Phyllis Schafly.

Leave it at that.


35 posted on 01/28/2015 12:37:51 PM PST by EQAndyBuzz (Islam is the military wing of the Communist party.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 29 | View Replies]

To: marron

It was a pretty good, informal, speech. Not a barn-burner, it wasn’t intended to be.

you’re right marron.

the current pres has lowered the bar so low just about anyone would be an improvement


36 posted on 01/28/2015 12:38:06 PM PST by aumrl (let's keep it real Conservatives)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

After a certain “PRESIDENT” proves beyond a shadow of a doubt the OVER-IMPORTANCE of depending on ‘speech-speaking’ abilities to successfully govern over the vast U.S. EMPIRE, .....we now have the same duplicitous standard applied to someone the Left LOVES TO HATE.


37 posted on 01/28/2015 12:38:43 PM PST by LibFreeUSA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Obadiah; KC_Lion
I love Sarah Palin, but I reluctantly agree that Sarah's time now seems passed. We all owe Sarah a huge debt of gratitude for the slings and arrows she bore for the Conservative movement. Her contribution cannot be overstated. Her convention speech electrified and was probably among the finest convention speeches ever. It also catalyzed the Tea Party.

I believe Sarah Palin paved the way for people like Ted Cruz and Scott Walker. Without a Sarah Palin as the forerunner, the others would be slogging through the corrupt MSM ridicule torture chamber.


"I love Sarah Palin, but..." then you put the old lady of, what, 50? 51? in a walker with a limp, barely able to stand without leaning on someone, and way way over the hill. HAR! When actually, she's just beginning her political prime and is ready to knock heads!
38 posted on 01/28/2015 12:39:11 PM PST by Resettozero
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: biggredd1

Phew! What an idiot. I’ll provide an “out” for him: when he realizes that that was a quote from MLK, he will say that as a white woman she had no right quoting it.


39 posted on 01/28/2015 12:39:34 PM PST by miss marmelstein (Richard the Third: Loyalty Binds Me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
I didn't see any of the speeches. The little they showed of her speech did sound a little like she rambled. However, she was on Hannity last night. At first she didn't sound that good, but when he asked her what her message was, she hit it out of the ball park. She went down all the conservative talking points without having to pause. She was speaking from the heart and it showed. I wish she was on message all the time. If she is going to run, she needs to announce early.
40 posted on 01/28/2015 12:40:11 PM PST by FR_addict (Boehner needs to go!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-149 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson