So What Happens To Palin?

[Filo]

I agree, backbiting and behind-the-scenes crap. I wonder whose agenda Fox is pushing.

Having said that, I really have not seens too much to support assertions that Palin is smart. Not saying she is dumb, and she may be a good speaker, a good campaigner, and someone who can rally the far right base. But "smart" seems to be a bit of a leap of faith.

[TC]

Nov 6, 2008 10:04:00 GMT -5 Filo said:

I agree, backbiting and behind-the-scenes crap. I wonder whose agenda Fox is pushing.

Fox is pushing an agenda? I thought they were fair and balanced!

[afirth]

It didn't seem like all those comments were made AFTER McCain lost. He seemed to be saying that they'd been saying this throughout the campaign, but were "off the record" and couldn't report it until after the election was over. So it might not all be post-losing bitterness. Either way, if the McCain campaign really was that disappointed with her throughout the month of October, I really wonder why they couldn't have done something about it.

[Cambridge]

Nov 6, 2008 10:31:40 GMT -5 afirth said:

It didn't seem like all those comments were made AFTER McCain lost. He seemed to be saying that they'd been saying this throughout the campaign, but were "off the record" and couldn't report it until after the election was over. So it might not all be post-losing bitterness. Either way, if the McCain campaign really was that disappointed with her throughout the month of October, I really wonder why they couldn't have done something about it.

I'm with Boz on this. It looks like political posturing for 2012. Play into the prevailing perception of Palin as an idiot and the liberal left will lap it up. The fastest and most effective way to spread a rumor is to reinforce or validate something somebody wants to believe. Whether or not Palin doesn't know the geographic realities of Africa, clearly it is the type of leak that feeds the anti-Palin media machine on the left. Well played, Romney, Newt or whoever was behind it. Well played.

[Jack]

Some pretty fun stuff from the Newsweek "embargoed" insiders:

www.newsweek.com/id/167581/page/2

Not all of this is Palin-related, but further evidence that she and McCain were not on the same page, and some fairly damaging tidbits about her shopping habits. I am looking forward to all the "now it can be told" books and articles and documentaries from this incredible event. The post-election media cashing in will rival and probably exceed even the 2004 World Series (I have at least 4 books about that Red Sox team).

[afirth]

Nov 6, 2008 11:06:00 GMT -5 Cambridge said:

Nov 6, 2008 10:31:40 GMT -5 afirth said:

It didn't seem like all those comments were made AFTER McCain lost. He seemed to be saying that they'd been saying this throughout the campaign, but were "off the record" and couldn't report it until after the election was over. So it might not all be post-losing bitterness. Either way, if the McCain campaign really was that disappointed with her throughout the month of October, I really wonder why they couldn't have done something about it.

I'm with Boz on this. It looks like political posturing for 2012. Play into the prevailing perception of Palin as an idiot and the liberal left will lap it up. The fastest and most effective way to spread a rumor is to reinforce or validate something somebody wants to believe. Whether or not Palin doesn't know the geographic realities of Africa, clearly it is the type of leak that feeds the anti-Palin media machine on the left. Well played, Romney, Newt or whoever was behind it. Well played.

I still don't understand why they're throwing her under the bus that much. Even if they don't want her to be the next candidate and are pushing for Romney, etc., she still proved crucial to rallying much of the Republican base.

[afirth]

Nov 6, 2008 11:19:20 GMT -5 Jack said:

Some pretty fun stuff from the Newsweek "embargoed" insiders:

www.newsweek.com/id/167581/page/2

Not all of this is Palin-related, but further evidence that she and McCain were not on the same page, and some fairly damaging tidbits about her shopping habits. I am looking forward to all the "now it can be told" books and articles and documentaries from this incredible event. The post-election media cashing in will rival and probably exceed even the 2004 World Series (I have at least 4 books about that Red Sox team).

From the Newsweek thing: "McCain himself rarely spoke to Palin during the campaign, and aides kept him in the dark about the details of her spending on clothes because they were sure he would be offended. "

I'm glad that's what the McCain campaign was concerned about. Not offending him by telling him what his VP candidate was actually doing.

[Elvado]

What happens to Palin?

She remains a very attractive mother of 5 and governor of Alaska. As a bonus, she ends up remarkably wealthy from book deals.

Why would she demean herself with any future political aspirations?

[EasyEd]

Nov 6, 2008 10:04:00 GMT -5 Filo said:

I agree, backbiting and behind-the-scenes crap. I wonder whose agenda Fox is pushing.

Having said that, I really have not seens too much to support assertions that Palin is smart. Not saying she is dumb, and she may be a good speaker, a good campaigner, and someone who can rally the far right base. But "smart" seems to be a bit of a leap of faith.

I've said this before but people are missing the difference between smart and informed. Palin finished the campaign much more informed than when she started it and her interviews and chats with the press showed this. I think you will find she is smart and will continue to become much more informed.

As for the information from the McCain insiders, I think this is a combination of it not being all true, jealousy that Sarah became the star of the Republican campaign, the long-standing friction between the moderate (McCain) wing of the party and the conservatives, and "don't blame me" for McCain losing.

[Cambridge]

Interesting discussion between Tucker Carlson, Ross Douthat, Douglas Kmiec, Jim Manzi, Kathleen Parker, and Christine Todd Whitman on where the GOP should go from here.

www.slate.com/id/2203800/entry/2203801/

[strummer8526]

Nov 6, 2008 13:34:16 GMT -5 Elvado said:

What happens to Palin?

She remains a very attractive mother of 5 and governor of Alaska. As a bonus, she ends up remarkably wealthy from book deals.

Why would she demean herself with any future political aspirations?

Don't you mean: why would she demean the office for which she runs?

She was an embarassment from day 1, and I don't feel the slightest bit bad for her. This is what happens when you're a cruel, condescending, self-righteous person who tries to assume a position for which you are dangerously unqualified.

[Filo]

Nov 7, 2008 9:24:13 GMT -5 strummer8526 said:

Strummer, I served with Elvado: I know Elvado; Elvado is a friend of mine. Strummer, you're no Elvado.

[strummer8526]

Nov 7, 2008 10:31:38 GMT -5 Filo said:

Strummer, I served with Elvado: I know Elvado; Elvado is a friend of mine. Strummer, you're no Elvado.

Hahaha. Well-played. I just embarrassed myself audibly laughing in class.

[thebin]

If Palin, or anyother moouth-breather that think's the jury is still out on evolution, gets the GOP nom in 2012, that will do it for me and the GOP. I'm tired of my party being the party of the illeducated and superstitious. We need a return to western, Goldwater, small government, strictly secular Republicanism. We need to jettison this southern evangelical brand of Republicanism which will fight nothing but rearguard actions for the rest of it's limited days, all the while ensuring more and more disasterous big government socialism as it does so.

[Boz]

I don't know, bin. You tell me.

Are you SURE the jury isn't still out on evolution?

[SoCalHoya]

When Palin first gave that speech at the RNC, as a liberal, I had to give her a lot of credit. A tough place to make your foray into national politics, and she did magnificently. Great delivery, and it was the red meat rhetoric folks from the far right were looking for. Family friends were really enthusiastic about her participation, especially women, and felt they finally had a voice inside the McCain camp.

I noted on this board the day after her speech that she might overshadow McCain to his detriment. Most thought that impossible given that VPs rarely have much an impact. At the time, I really thought maybe it was her popularity that may hurt McCain (GOPers really wanting her to headline, instead). I didn't think at the time that it would be her ambisinistrous interviewing skills and behavior that would do McCain in. My comment now looks strangely prophetic.

To thebin, I think McCain was the conservative you were looking for. He remains a good man, and it is a tragedy that he had to go down like this given that I think he would have won back in 2000.

Also, Palin may just want to kill Tina Fey now (maybe with a gun from a chopper). I honestly think Tina's portrayal of Gov. Palin was material to her undoing.

[thebin]

Nov 7, 2008 13:23:46 GMT -5 SoCalHoya said:

When Palin first gave that speech at the RNC, as a liberal, I had to give her a lot of credit. A tough place to make your foray into national politics, and she did magnificently. Great delivery, and it was the red meat rhetoric folks from the far right were looking for. Family friends were really enthusiastic about her participation, especially women, and felt they finally had a voice inside the McCain camp.

I noted on this board the day after her speech that she might overshadow McCain to his detriment. Most thought that impossible given that VPs rarely have much an impact. At the time, I really thought maybe it was her popularity that may hurt McCain (GOPers really wanting her to headline, instead). I didn't think at the time that it would be her ambisinistrous interviewing skills and behavior that would do McCain in. My comment now looks strangely prophetic.

To thebin, I think McCain was the conservative you were looking for. He remains a good man, and it is a tragedy that he had to go down like this given that I think he would have won back in 2000.

Also, Palin may just want to kill Tina Fey now (maybe with a gun from a chopper). I honestly think Tina's portrayal of Gov. Palin was material to her undoing.

McCain was the kind of conservative I was looking for for the most part. That's why I voted for him. But it got kind of close for me to be honest after he picked Palin. Yeah, she gave a great speech, she presented well, and her experience should have been cancelled out by the fact that she had about the same amount as Obama had. But the over-riding point for me was always that hers was a "trust me even though she doesn't deserve this" Harriet Miers selection. Too cynical by half, not remotely responsible or rational. With a president who would be in his 70s, no thanks. Only those who deserve in some nominal way the White House should ever be picked as VP. It was a reckless ploy, and made me question McCain's judgement and frankly state of mind. Not since McCain Feingold has he made such bad decisions, and I was just starting to get over that one....

[EasyEd]

"We need to jettison this southern evangelical brand of Republicanism which will fight nothing but rearguard actions for the rest of it's limited days, all the while ensuring more and more disasterous big government socialism as it does so."

If you jettison the evangelicals from the Republican party you will end up with no Republican party. Look at the makeup of the party.

[thebin]

Nov 7, 2008 14:39:51 GMT -5 EasyEd said:

"We need to jettison this southern evangelical brand of Republicanism which will fight nothing but rearguard actions for the rest of it's limited days, all the while ensuring more and more disasterous big government socialism as it does so."

If you jettison the evangelicals from the Republican party you will end up with no Republican party. Look at the makeup of the party.

Read more carefully, I said jettison the evangelical brand of the party, not all evangelicals. Let's face it, the evangelicals highjacked the party in the early 90s and have been punching WELL above their weight for too long at the expense of the true small government libertarian wing that came from Goldwater's inspiration. The Evangelicals can and will still vote GOP of course, where else are they going to go, but the time for them to run the party is and should be at an end.

[SoCalHoya]

Nov 7, 2008 14:52:56 GMT -5 thebin said:

Nov 7, 2008 14:39:51 GMT -5 EasyEd said:

"We need to jettison this southern evangelical brand of Republicanism which will fight nothing but rearguard actions for the rest of it's limited days, all the while ensuring more and more disasterous big government socialism as it does so."

If you jettison the evangelicals from the Republican party you will end up with no Republican party. Look at the makeup of the party.

Read more carefully, I said jettison the evangelical brand of the party, not all evangelicals. Let's face it, the evangelicals highjacked the party in the early 90s and have been punching WELL above their weight for too long at the expense of the true small government libertarian wing that came from Goldwater's inspiration. The Evangelicals can and will still vote GOP of course, where else are they going to go, but the time for them to run the party is and should be at an end.

You never know, they could start their own party altogether.