Your Argument is Invalid.
Posted on 01/30/2015 4:54:59 AM PST by LeoMcNeil
Sarah Palin made headlines last weekend when she said she was interested in running for President. Palin has been an important part of the Tea Party and conservative movements in this country since she came onto the scene in 2008. Nobody on the right throws red meat to a crowd quite like Palin. Her ability to sarcastically tear down liberal sacred cows is second only to Rush Limbaugh. Best of all she drives liberals up a wall. They hate her more than any other conservative in this country, including George W. Bush and Limbaugh. Watching liberals fall to pieces over Palin is always amusing. Palin has also been an important player in the Tea Party political scene. The candidates she campaigned for, particularly in 2014, generally won. She has an excellent track record in that regard.
The question is whether Palin should run for President and perhaps as importantly whether conservatives should support her candidacy. The answer is clear, she should not run and if she does conservatives should not support her. There are any number of reasons why Palin shouldn’t be the Republican nominee beginning with the fact that her experience is limited and at this point remote. Palin was Governor of Alaska for all of two and a half years. She resigned ostensibly to make money in personal appearances. If Palin was serious about running for President, she should have stayed in office and run for re-election. In the alternative, she should have run for a winnable Alaska Senate seat in 2014. Instead, Palin has shown a lack of interest in actual governing. We need to nominate someone with experience and if we look at the slate of candidates out there we can clearly see there are other conservatives who have a lot more experience than Palin. Surely the GOP can find someone with more experience than Obama had in 2008, we can’t set the bar down to his level.
Palin’s ability to attract people other than conservatives is near zero. Fair or not, Palin is a polarizing figure in American politics. On one hand she’s brought it on herself by tearing down liberal sacred cows. On the other hand, the left-wing media has relentlessly attacked her for no other reason than she’s a heretic to the feminist cause. Let’s be honest, Palin has egged the left-wing media on and it’s been amusing to watch her set them up and tear them down. Doing that makes for great giggles for Tea Partiers but it does nothing for Palin’s likability. Because of the media, people actually think Palin said she can see Russia from her house. The media has pushed that narrative, knowing full well that Tina Fey said that on a Saturday Night Live sketch. People other than conservatives think Palin is a crass moron. That is a hurdle she won’t be able to overcome if she runs for President.
Sarah Palin has a place in conservative movement of the Republican Party. She’s an important part of the Tea Party. There’s a difference between being the flame thrower for conservatives and running for President. Palin is great at what she’s doing right now. She’s made a good living for herself and her family by giving speeches and making media appearances. She’s done a terrific job campaigning for conservatives in House and Senate elections. She’s found her calling in politics, it makes no sense for her to give it up to run for President. Conservatives shouldn’t want her to give it up either. Her record was magnificent in 2014. We’re much better off having her back conservative candidates for Congress than we are watching her flame out in a GOP Presidential primary that’s likely to be crowded with too many conservative candidates. If she wants to get involved in the primary, she should act as kingmaker and endorse someone. For her to run though will result in her ultimate defeat, which will likely limit her opportunities to influence politics in the future.
We conservatives need to find someone who has more than the right views. We need to find someone who has experience and can translate that experience to the White House. That person isn’t Sarah Palin. Two and a half years as Governor of a small state isn’t good enough. Eight years as Mayor of a town of less than 8,000 is not good enough experience. Palin is great at what she’s doing now, conservatives should be happy that she’s found something she’s both successful and influential at. The Democrats set the bar low for experience when they nominated Obama. The Republicans need to raise that bar. Scott Walker is just as conservative as Palin and he has a lot more experience. He’s balanced budgets and taken on unions in a blue state no less. Ted Cruz has more experience than Palin between his time as solicitor general in Texas and the US Senate. We need someone who is more skilled than Obama is. We have candidates like that on the right in the GOP. Sarah Palin just isn’t one of them.
If you read the entire post you would have noted that I suggested Scott Walker and Ted Cruz as better candidates than Palin. I’m not ready to endorse a candidate yet but those two are at the top of my short list.
To me it is very understandable as to why she resigned from her governorship after being legally hounded by the leftist nation as a whole.
What makes me disappointed is her handling of whether she was going to run in 2012. She demurred and toyed too much for my taste, and I think she lost some measure of support from potential voters.
That said, I think she remains the soul and the conscience of conservatism and what a patriotic, unapologetic American should be.
In the end, I am far more interested in getting Ted Cruz elected President than I am her. Were she to end up as a VP candidate, then I’d certainly support that ticket - if the head of the ticket was not an Amnesty or Pathway-to-Citizenship appeaser.
I’ve already voted for Mrs. Palin twice (write-in votes).
I will vote for her a third time.
I am convinced that only a conservative woman can put Hilary down - no conservative man can shoot the arrows that Sarah can, the arrows that need to be shot.
100 Percent on target.....
In the United States of my fantasy the next president who will have the ability to send my Army son to stand in front of enemy bullets will be a male who has dodged enemy bullets, too.
No females and no wingtipped country club boys.
Just a fantasy.
Hear, hear!
No sir, you’ve picked a fight here with someone with expert cred on this particular subject. And it’s not hero worship.
It’s the conservative understanding that anyone who claims serving your country can only be done in elected office is no conservative and someone with a huge intellectual hole.....like you.
She is serving the country. She is making money at the same time. Any real conservative would appreciate that unique position she holds and understand why it has to be that way. To hell with you judging her. YOU have the hero worship thing, like a jilted lover who wanted her to run.
Political skill doesn’t come from holding office? Are you out of your mind? The job of President is much like any other job out there in that a truly decent President will have worked his way up the ladder. You don’t just name the ditch digger as CEO and expect him to do the job well. In politics, you can’t expect a four year Senator with two years spent campaigning for President to do a particularly good job in the White House.
You want a conservative to surround themselves with the right conservatives. That’s great, I completely agree. It takes skill to figure out who those people are and how to best utilize their talents. To gain that skill you need experience, which is why former Governors always make better Presidents than Senators. Former Governors learned these skills at the AAA level, Senators are like high school athletes sent straight to the Majors. They don’t have any experience to fall back on and flounder as a result.
Fair enough, but why are you tired of the celebrity? Would you rather the attention and space she gathers get swallowed up by the normal celebrity, meaning a flaming lib feminist bitch?
Embrace the celebrity - it enriches not only her, but the national conversation.
Yep, as if ‘electability’ is some kind of trait only some people are born...the political ‘winners’ of life’s lottery (Oh, how I despise that phrase....socialist to its core).
Still, nobody’s rehashed the (IIRC) son’s post-election defeat message: “He really didn’t want to win anyway.”
“Political skill” is not what is needed. We don’t need someone who “knows how Washington works” - we need someone who will bring “how America works” to Washington and not give a damn about “political skill”
Wow dude, you are EAT UP with conventional Fox News estab Karl Rove wisdom. Is that really wise? Is it original?
No, and no.
You have no basis with which to accuse me of supporting Romney or Jeb Bush. Don’t slander me like that without proof. If you had bothered to read the whole post you would have noted that I suggested Scott Walker or Ted Cruz. Those two are a far cry from Romney or Jeb. For the record, I didn’t vote for McCain in 2008 or Romney in 2012 and won’t be voting for that type in 2016. I’ll only vote for a strong conservative and the only way we’ll get that is if we unite behind an electable conservative. Palin is not electable and is much more influential doing what she’s been doing the last several years.
Bill Clinton going to the child sex slave island is more likely to defeat Hillary than Sarah Palin.
PDS
Your Argument is Invalid.
Thank you for responding.
Have a great day.
I don’t watch Fox News and I avoid Karl Rove and his useless diatribes at all cost. Once again, I’m not suggesting the GOP nominate a moderate. I’m suggesting there are better CONSERVATIVE candidates out there who are more electable. Scott Walker in particular comes to mind. Ted Cruz as well. I rather get the impression Rove doesn’t think much of either of them.
I agree, and I understand why she didn't want to take one for the team. She put her family first, as she most probably should have. I might have done the same.
But I really am looking for a rock, someone who is willing to take one for the team. So I must regretfully pass on Sarah as a candidate for president.
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