We all remember the weeks and months after the 2008 election when the establishment types in the GOP distanced themselves from Sarah Palin. When she resigned as Governor of Alaska, Karl Rove grew very cold towards her and her political future.
“She’s putting herself in a place where unless she comes up with something new and novel that demonstrates leadership for effective change outside of government, as she said in her speech, then she’s going to be conventional,” Rove said. “She cannot simply count on going around and collecting chits by campaigning for Republican candidates in 2010. … She also, I repeat, has lost control of her time. She had the excuse of saying, ‘I’m the governor I’ve got things to do.’ Now people will be clamoring for her and the expectations will be out of sight.”
Just last November as Sarah started her book tour the naysayers were out in force.
New York Times columnist David Brooks, a card-carrying neocon who had written glowingly of Senator McCain, claimed Palin represented “a fatal cancer to the Republican Party.” Peggy Noonan, a former speechwriter for President Reagan and columnist for the Wall Street Journal, blasted Palin as “a dope and unqualified from the start.” Last June, Steve Schmidt, the former McCain campaign chief of staff, warned that Palin’s nomination as the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee would be “catastrophic.”
Well, anyone who experienced the energy and enthusiasm of a 2008 Palin rally should not be surprised that Sarah Palin is emerging as a 2012 Republican Presidential nomination favorite. Many presidential hopefuls endorse and campaign for mid-term congressional and gubernatorial candidates in an effort to build support, but they usually try to figure out who is going to win and then hitch their wagon to them. Palin actually sought out conservative candidates that needed support and helped to propel them to victory. In an age where the value of endorsements is rightfully questioned, nobody can deny that Palin has made a huge difference in several races this cycle. The same cannot be said of any of the other likely candidates.
Now the GOP itself is acknowledging the status of Governor Palin. The GOP has chose their headliner for the party’s 2010 Victory Rallies, none other than a very deserving Sarah Palin!
Disrupt the Narrative 
P. Henry Saddleburr
September 30, 2010 at 6:04 pm
The GOP does look a bit bipolar these days and the Tea Party tidal wave is forcing them to put up or shut up for the most part.
So does Palin, to a certain extent.
She campaigned for some true Tea Party types AGAINST the establishment, but also campaigned for John McCain.
This is the great sorting out, Act One.
I, for one, will support my own local Congressman, Eric Cantor, this cycle even though he’s had some questionable, squishy RINO type votes in the past. However, he has to be on notice that THIS IS THE LAST TIME if he reverts to Jell-O. In 2008 he was pretty unreliable. He got better in 2009 and 2010, although he did vote against the Stimlulus but got in line to receive the Pork regarding light rail. Sorry, but that doesn’t fly with me.
We’ll be watching very closely once the Republicans regain Congress.
As for the GOP, they recognize Palin’s star power but I’m sure they are reluctantly capitalizing on it. Behind the scenes there must be great consternation amongst the ruling class.
Saddlesore
September 30, 2010 at 6:10 pm
I think Sarah Palin is more politically astute than people give her credit for. Her endorsement of McCain was, of course, not completely sincere, but it was also obviously perfunctory.
She has managed to continue to redefine the main vector in American politics today, and she has done it against ceaseless onslaughts by the cretins in the legacy media.
I think, to her credit, she is proving her mettle. The Dems perceive this, which is why they are trying to destroy her personally. If the Republicans were as astute in recognizing her talents they would be better off.
zorach
September 30, 2010 at 6:40 pm
I consider myself a moderate and independent voter, and I will say that although I feel a strong need to move the nation in the direction of fiscal conservatism right now (and away from the high spending of the current Democratic administration), I do not find Palin or anyone she associates with to be at all compelling as a candidate.
Palin’s rhetoric strikes me as extremist. She uses simplistic, black-and-white thinking.
How can I vote for someone like this? I can’t. I want to vote for someone who is intelligent, level-headed, whose thinking is nuanced, someone who is wise, deep, and exercises restraint and caution.
No name yet
September 30, 2010 at 8:22 pm
I think the Republican leaders statements are right on the money given the performance Palin delivered during the campaign and after. She does quite well irritating the left with her twittering.
She should do what she does well, and leave the heavy lifting to others. Since she does not appear to be making an effort to become more knowledgable and articulate on the issues of the day.
P. Henry Saddleburr
September 30, 2010 at 10:37 pm
Perfunctory? There will be no cursing here, good sir!!
LOL
Alan Smithee
October 1, 2010 at 10:57 am
I’ll take Palin’s clear speaking over Obama’s clear lying any day. This president says he wants to unify, but he uses every means to either pay off or protect big Democrat constituencies (the stimulus bill and health care bill, respectively). This president says what he likes about Christianity is the “brother’s keeper” idea (which Cain actually said to God sarcastically after he’d killed his brother), but Obama’s own brother scratches out a meager living in a hut in Africa. This president just doesn’t believe anything he says. Palin, whatever her other flaws, clearly says what she believes and believes what she says and acts in ways that are consistent with her beliefs.
And actually, I’d like to know just what passes for “extremist” to the moderate mind these days. I haven’t heard her say anything that’s “extremist,” but I’ve heard a whole lot of Democrats say all sorts of idiotic and extreme things.
zorach
October 1, 2010 at 1:43 pm
Irritating people dosen’t get us anywhere. The U.S. needs unity, not division.
Why do I have a problem with Obama? He had a rhetoric of unity and bipartisanship, but he has so far been unwilling to crack down on highly partisan Democratic party leaders like Pelosi. The way I see it, Pelosi and Palin have more in common with each other than most people in the far right and far left would want to admit. They both have consistently demonstrated an unwillingness to listen to, consider, and respect differing viewpoints.
This isn’t what most Americans want. Most Americans do not believe that someone is necessarily “all bad” just because they disagree with you. That’s a juvenile attitude that people learn to abandon in elementary school or junior high. Yes, there will always be a small fringe of radical voters among both the right and the left who will vote for these sorts of candidates…but no matter how vocal these people are, they aren’t a majority. The majority of Americans are people like me…people who understand that no candidate is 100% good or 100% evil, that no one is going to represent my ideal views perfectly. We just want to vote for the best choice.
And as far as I’m concerned, the best choice is someone who understands those nuances.
hrh
October 5, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Zorach, clearly you know nothing of Sarah Palin’s history – that she actually worked better with Democrats in AK after she had worked to expose corruption in her own party.
That her AGIA legislation passed 59 to 1 in the AK legislature – and that 1 was a Republican.
Dennis Prager has said after their joint appearance in Denver earlier this year that she’s very sharp and quick on her feet.
The former president of NOW said in the 08 campaign at the Daily Beast that she has a photographic memory.
What do you consider heavy lifting?
Taking on Big Oil to make sure that Akns get their fair share of royalties/taxes from the resources that their Constitution says they all own?
Taking on Big Oil to make sure they live up to their responsibilities under land options – and revoking their licenses when they show no sign of development? ExxonMobil, for one, sued her administration for revoking licenses they had held for 30 years – without developing. Essentially warehousing the resources so no one else could develop. The Palin administration won the lawsuit. And gave Exxon back 2 of their 40 leases on the provisional basis that they develop – and they spudded their first new oil well in April 2009 for the first time in 30 years.
Exxon in April 2009 also signed on with TransCanada Alaska to help them through the Feds’ onerous process to get that natural gas pipeline built.
So the criticism FLUNG at Governor Palin that she was chasing Big Oil away by not engaging in back room deals and personal bribes was WRONG.
The heads of Exxon and Transcanada have both talked about the professional toughness and competence of Palin.
I could go on … but it would be nice if you did some of your own homework.
Or at least told us who your big heavyweight candidate is?
And whyso? Based on what accomplishments exactly?
zorach
October 12, 2010 at 11:27 am
You’re right that I don’t know much about Palin’s history, or about Alaska politics in general. I want to clarify though that my opinions on Palin were not formed by reading statements that others made of her, but were formed by listening to what she said, and reading her positions. There are many positions and actions that Palin has taken that I actually agree with strongly.
But Palin’s overall rhetoric in the 2008 election was so extreme, sensationalistic, and confrontational that there was no way I could vote for a candidate who had picked her as VP.
Perhaps this doesn’t represent her “true self” and she was just trying to “fire up the base” so to speak, but that kind of rhetoric alienates voters like me, and if that’s really what’s going on, then she made a dire political mistake.
It’s common that politicians don’t live up to all of their campaign promises, and I’m not naive enough to think that a politician will be good at cooperation and working across party lines just because they talk about it. But when someone focuses on negativity and attacking their opponent rather than respecting their opponent and focusing on the issues, I simply cannot vote for them.