Sarah Palin vs. the GOP
Republican candidates are shying away from inviting Palin to campaign for them. Is Palin losing her party?
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin
(Reuters/Corbis/Rick Wilking)
Despite her enduring popularity with the GOP base, “Republicans facing tough elections in 2010 don’t want Sarah Palin campaigning with them,” said Molly K. Hooper in The Hill. To gain seats, the GOP has to win in districts that President Obama took in 2008. Well, Obama is a “frequent target of Palin’s criticism,” and her “help” in these areas would likely fire up Democrats more than it would GOP voters. She can help, they say, “by staying home in Wasilla.”
“Typical Republicowards,” said Dan Riehl in Riehl World View. Not all Republicans in Congress are “Scaredy-crats,” of course—Chuck Grassley and Roy Blunt are “principled” enough conservatives to welcome Palin’s help—but it’s time to clear the party of the “weak-kneed, big government Republicrats” who would shun Palin.
What the Republican Party needs is “conservative leaders who know how to think,” said Peggy Noonan in The Wall Street Journal, and that emphatically excludes Palin. If her GOP apologists keep believing their serial “Palin myths”—that the “elites” hate her, the “media did her in,” her poor treatment is due to her social class, she can learn how to think—Republicans shouldn’t be treated as “a grown-up, responsible party, a party that deserves to lead.”
Who else do the Republicans have? said David Frum in The Week. Palin should be out of the running, because Americans "adore” but don’t vote for “irresponsible, flashy celebrities.” But Republicans “rarely reach into their second tier for national leadership”—sorry Bobby Jindal and Tim Pawlenty—and they tend to favor orderly succession. That pretty much leaves 2008 runner-up Mitt Romney.
Don’t be so quick to dismiss Palin, said Jay Newton-Small in Time. While she’s lost ground with Democrats and independents since her surprise resignation, it’s “actually given her a bump amongst GOP voters.” And Republican primary voters are the only people she has to please for 2012.
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47 Comments
Posted by Ed Buczynski, Friday, July 10, 2009, 11:30 am I agree that those wimps who are afraid of having Sarah Palin campaign for them need to find another job. They do not represent me or my values
Posted by Jim Bob, Friday, July 10, 2009, 11:48 am Palin is both a kook and quitter. She simply does not have what it takes to be in any office. She mistakenly entered politics when she clearly just wanted to feed her huge ego as aBlist celebrity. Good riddance Sarah unfortunately I'll miss all the laughs!
Posted by Nick, Friday, July 10, 2009, 11:49 am Who would want someone that would not even finish one term campaigning for them? She took the money, she got in to government for the money and power now she has a book deal and radio/tv deals in the works and she went with the money. It was always her goal, to get rich, she did it and doesn't need Alaska anymore so she left them in her dust.
Posted by Dan McClain, Friday, July 10, 2009, 11:51 am The Preposterous Palin! I submit that the GOP, in it's scramble to make excuses for the failure of one potential candidate after another, is digging itself a larger hole by sticking with it's 'base'. The reason is that the whole country has moved away from their lock step thinking and rigidity. This is a party that is painting itself ever so relentlessly into a very small, white corner, a net loss.How anyone in their right mind could think she is qualified to be President Of The United States cannot possibly claim to put our security first.
Posted by UncleSammy, Friday, July 10, 2009, 11:53 am Palin is the gift that keeps on giving. She guaranteed an Obama victory and I hope she stays active...Count me in as one of her supporters hahaha
Posted by Ed Nonymous, Friday, July 10, 2009, 11:54 am Since when is politics not about money and/or power? She just changed her source from the public to the private purse.Perhaps she's less dangerous than ALL the other politicians who do nothing and take in millions in public dollars for themselves and their cronies.
Posted by NickO, Friday, July 10, 2009, 11:56 am Palin fires up a small percentage of a shrinking party. Bring on the comedy, I love a good laugh.My Republican Party was highjacked long ago, by big government con artists who beat the drums of war with a Bible in one hand and their other hand behind their back with two fingers crossed.
Posted by Rein Pfeiffer, Friday, July 10, 2009, 11:56 am Palin will always be the darling of the right wing nutcases. If Republicans want to win they have to look beyond her,because independents rightly, will scorn her.
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