For nearly three years, Sarah Palin has bedeviled the Left. By far the most popular Republican and conservative in America, she is also the most recognizable (next to Limbaugh, he would argue) and therefore also the most hated (again next to Limbaugh, he would argue.)
Even before Barack Obama was inaugurated the Left assumed Sarah would be Obama’s principal opponent in 2012 and the “Destroy Sarah Palin…and all that she loves” machinery was set into motion.
Fast forward and it’s just 13 months in front of the next election, three months in front of the first primary, and it’s true, Sarah Palin, while still the most popular Republican in America, also carries the weight of having earned the most negatives. And I think she’s had almost as much fun earning them as Rush Limbaugh.
And therein lies a tale, for a person who wants to be president anytime soon shouldn’t lay themselves open to the sort of hatred Sarah Palin has, at least conventional wisdom says.
And it begs the obvious question, does she want to be president in this election cycle, when, you have to admit, her negatives might not matter as much?
Or would they? for many conservative analysts believe she might be just the tonic to energize a lethargic, even disillusioned and embarrassed Democrat-Left base. They have a point.
I won’t debate the numbers here, for I think instincts trump conventional numbers right now, just as they largely did in 2010. And I can’t know Mrs Palin’s heart, but I do think she’s well aware of the role she’s been playing the past three years, and accepts it, obviously with good cheer.
At 47, she’ll be around to torture the Left for a very long time, no matter what.
But a lot of pundits insist that Mrs Palin must state her intentions NOW, and then, throw her support in some candidate’s direction, again RIGHT NOW.
Sarah Palin, Her Mama Grizzlies and the Cursings (Ps 139:22)
When I was in the Soviet Union just before the fall in 1991, I found it interesting how people always looked over their shoulders when I made some off-the-wall comment about Lenin. It made people uncomfortable, so I stopped.
In like manner, no conservative really wants to poke fun of Sarah Palin, but because she won’t play the political game as they think she should, they feel they must say something.
So what we are witnessing in some quarters are some handicappers embarking on a campaign to denigrate, if not Sarah directly, but indirectly, by castigating her followers as being on the same level as the demented Paulbots…at the same time seeming to want Sarah to deliver those same insane followers over to the support of their candidate.
Does this make sense to you?
I don’t know if any of the GOP candidates are actually doing this, or these games are being played by erstwhile surrogates, similar to what the hapless Bill Kristol has had to face down in seeing two “chosen ones” pass on his offer to run and now having to stand by the wall hoping Chris Christie will pencil him in on his dance card.
But recalling how supporters of Fred Thompson were nearly run off the planet because they actually believed their guy to be a better match for the presidency than John McCain (Kristol’s choice, by the way), and subsquently stayed home because of the ill-treatment from people they thought were conservatives too, I have a bad feeling about where this kind of thinking may be going.
We’re supposed to be creating a circle of cordiality among conservatives, not a ring of fire, if we are going to get out out vote next year. And I suggest you who choose to lead with your pride, always remember it goes before a fall.
I do believe Sarah’s legions will vote for the candidate Sarah endorses, so why in heaven’s name would any sane supporter of any candidate want to go around putting a bad taste in their mouths beforehand?
My view
I like what Sarah’s doing, and on the assumption that she won’t get in unless a sure-fire moderate seems to be going to win, why try to swing the campaign now with four certifiable conservatives in race?
Sarah is still the most recognizable Republican in America, and as a conservative, that recognition is largely positive. She is still young, 47, and will be just as viable a candidate in 2016 or 2020. She knows this.
For now, she is a moving target and distraction for the Left.
Many are demanding she declare now, on the notion that unlike 2008, suddenly we need to know who the candidate will be NOW in order to match Obama’s billion dollar treasure chest. I’m of the opinion that three times that money won’t help Obama, and only the votes of ten million illegals will. Bev Perdue may well have signaled Obama’s only path to a second term.
Sarah Palin continues to out the Left, witness the disgraceful public attack on daughter Bristol in an LA chop house, and which, despite his subsequent public apology on the advice of counsel, (did our friends at GreatAmericanZeroes.com help?), still mirrors the mean, hate-filled inner self of the American Left. With the possible exception of Herman Cain, who is now raising hate-speech from leftist blacks like trout to a royal coachman, no other conservative inspires this sort of hate.
As a stark contrast between us and them, no one does it better. And this is a good thing.
I see no reason why we need to know who the presumptive GOP candidate will be before a single vote has been cast. The conservative field is four times stronger than it was in 2008, and the Democrat field a thousand times weaker.
Two, we all know every candidate wants Sarah’s endorsement. In truth I think Perry, Romney and Cain would all be the presumptive winner should she give it at any time during the contest (and she knows this), while Gingrich, Bachmann and Santorum would become much more formidable candidates should she give it as well. She has that kind of power right now.
But as we are seeing, the candidates are still revealing themselves.
Politically, why should Sarah Palin split hairs and choose among conservatives (Bachmann, Cain, Gingrich Perry, and Santorum) when it has been the practiced wisdom of conservatives, even at RedState.com, to let the people decide? Only last year, in 2010, it was a mantra of the conservative right to insist that the people’s voices be heard first, and go with that. Suddenly, the people need their choices reduced? This makes no sense to me.
Sarah is wise to wait.
Sarah Palin is doing a wonderful job of gaffoodling the media and the Left. I hope she keeps it up, for it means they must keep one pistol holstered at all times. Today she is still conservatism’s best weapon against them (except Limbaugh, according to him).
Most of all, conservatives should treat Sarah supporters with the respect they deserve, for their vote will almost insure any GOP candidate the victory next fall.
And their staying home will be the best news Barack Obama has gotten since the Dean of Harvard Law School lost his transcripts.
