Topic: Can Sarah Win?

[AmericanPatriot]

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/06/01/can-sarah-win/?utm_source=FrontPage+Magazine&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=f05a1809c8-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN

Seventeen months from the 2012 election, the Republican presidential field is unsettled in the extreme.  Mitt Romney, the supposed conservative, was considered a liberal four years ago before his miraculous transformation – but he still has Romneycare on his resume.  Ron Paul’s vision is a bit problematic, to say the least — as Michael Medved has documented; he thinks the president shouldn’t have authorized the killing of Bin Laden, that heroin and cocaine should be legal, and that prostitution is constitutionally protected.  Newt Gingrich has spent the last two weeks destroying his conservative following, running desperately for the center in an attempt to claim that empty middle ground as a McCain wannabe.  Tim Pawlenty is now being outpolled by Herman Cain.  Even Thad McCotter, a wonderful Congressman but an unfeasible presidential candidate in his current position, is considering a run.

The candidate sucking all the air out of the room, of course, is Sarah Palin.  Palin has made no secret of the fact that she is considering a 2012 run – she would “crash through” any of “open doors” that would lead her to the White House, she said back in 2008.  Next month, Palin’s campaign will likely kick off with the release of Steve Bannon’s The Undefeated, a documentary reviewing Palin’s accomplishments in Alaska.  “The film is a call to action for a campaign like 1976,” Bannon said to RealClearPolitics.  “Let’s have a good old-fashioned brouhaha.”
 
This week, she’s beginning a bus tour across the country.  Tim Crawford, treasurer of Palin’s PAC, explained that Palin was embarking on the tour “Because she wants to see how this nation was built and get fired up about that.”  Or, more realistically, Palin’s embarking on the tour because she’s softening the ground for her big announcement, which will likely come on July 4.  Palin’s not one for subtlety – that’s her drawback, and that’s her charm.

Will it prevent her from winning?

Current polls have her trailing President Obama badly, by 17 percent according to Public Policy Polling.  That same poll shows Obama beating Gingrich by 14 and Romney by just 7.  Even more disturbing, the poll shows Palin’s favorability ratings dramatically underwater, at 30 percent.  PPP is a Democratic-stacked poll, but these are bad numbers nonetheless.

Oddly enough, Palin is polarizing even within the Republican Party.  Seven percent of Republicans who know her strongly dislike her, compared with just 5 percent for Gingrich.  The only Republican who ranks lower among Republicans overall is Gingrich, at 29 percent to her 27 percent.  By the same token, she blows away the rest of the field in terms of name recognition and favorability (71 percent).  In urban areas, Republicans fear that she’s not sophisticated enough (false), that she’s prone to gaffes (true), and that she’ll be blown off the stage by Barack Obama (unclear).  In rural areas, Republicans love her because they’re not put off by her accent or her corny tics.

The question is whether in this election, Americans will be put off by Palin’s winking more than they’re attracted to her clarity.  Palin’s strength is her glibness – she’s able to boil down issues to their bare essence.  She knows how she’s seen, and she embraces it.  She’s purely authentic – when she says she wants Gretchen Wilson’s “Redneck Woman” as her cellphone ringtone, she’s telling the truth.  In this way, she’s the polar opposite of President Obama, who loves to obscure issues in a cloud of rhetoric and faux complexity, and who is purely inauthentic.  He runs from the fact that he is an ivory tower elitist, alienating Americans with his upturned chin and “into-the-future stare.”

For all the criticisms of her supposedly rough political abilities, she’s navigated the Republican field far more ably than seasoned politicians like Gingrich and Romney.  She hasn’t declared, and she’s already running second.  She didn’t shoot herself in the foot by embracing liberal politics, and she allowed Donald Trump to play stalking horse on the birth certificate and school records issues.  She has never thrown a fellow Republican under the bus (she has praised Romney, Herman Cain, Gingrich, and virtually everyone else who has declared), and she has never promoted a non-conservative candidate for higher office.
 
She knows her base, and she knows her principles.  She smacked Obama on Israel last week with brevity and simplicity: “Anyone who studies history, studies the Old Testament, studies geography understands that Israel now is surrounded by enemies at all times.  It should be now that America takes a stand in defending our friends in Israel …. More than ever, we should be standing strong with Israel and saying, ‘No, you don’t have to divide Jerusalem, you don’t have to divide your capital city.”  Then she went even further: “I’m going to call him our temporary leader because my goal is to make sure that President Obama is not reelected in 2012.”
It’s that kind of absolute willingness to go after Obama that endears Palin to Republicans.  And with Obama’s unpopularity on the rise, the economy in a double-dip, and our foreign policy in shambles, more and more Americans want truth spoken to power.  That’s why, counterintuitive though it may seem, Palin may be perfectly positioned for 2012

[charlesoakwood]

You betcha!

[LadyVirginia]

 

[Libertas]

Temporary Leader, heh, I like that!  Gotta start using that one!

As for these polls, I smell plenty of rats...I think there is manipulation to play up negatives in the GOP ranks (70% strongly dislike & 71% favorability) as well as playing up the RINO's in the field when compared to the Temporary Leader!

I am sooo effing sick of business as usual!

And all this RINO-courting and Palin-bashing...I smell the foul stench of The Butthead!!!

I personally would like nothing better than seeing Sarah run and trounce all comers!  And if she does run and the Rovians deny her the nomination, I hope she runs as an independent and tell the Ruling Class bastards their time of taking real conservatives for granted is OVER!

[Predator Don]

If she gets in she has my vote.....I know plenty of people who feel the same way.

Mr Cain seems to be the only other candidate I'd support....The rest carry a piece of baggage, turning me off.

[Sectionhand]

Not only do I think she cannot win , I don't believe she'll be nominated . I like Sarah personally but she has way too much going against her than for her . She should have run for the senate from Alaska when she had the chance which would have given her seasoning and some bona fides . If she does run it will be a huge waste of time and money .

[radioman]

Not only do I think she cannot win , I don't believe she'll be nominated . I like Sarah personally but she has way too much going against her than for her . She should have run for the senate from Alaska when she had the chance which would have given her seasoning and some bona fides . If she does run it will be a huge waste of time and money .

All due respect, but being a senator does not give a candidate bonafides. In fact, it is an impediment. Senators don't do anything, but show up to vote, and then, when things don't work out like they had hoped, they form a commission to find out what went wrong. I'll take an exexcutive any day of the week. They have to make decisions and stand by them no matter what.

OBTW, did anyone mention that Sarah Palin has more executive experience than the rest of the field?

[Libertas]

I'd go with that.  I'd take a successful governor and a successful businessman over a Senator, hell I'd take many congressmen over most senators...getting into the senate makes one tend to become even more of a DC autobot I think.  At least young congressmen stand a better chance at holding onto their principles.  Another reason (in a long list of many) why I would never get elected let alone chosen to run for senator, I'd go in there with the intent of lighting that place on fire...to hell with making friends!  Lets start making sense, those who like that will be my friend!

[hemm]

Temporary Leader Occupant - Leader associated with da wun is like calling a nyslimes story writer a journalist ,

heh, I like that!  Gotta start using that one!

[Sectionhand]

Not only do I think she cannot win , I don't believe she'll be nominated . I like Sarah personally but she has way too much going against her than for her . She should have run for the senate from Alaska when she had the chance which would have given her seasoning and some bona fides . If she does run it will be a huge waste of time and money .

All due respect, but being a senator does not give a candidate bonafides. In fact, it is an impediment. Senators don't do anything, but show up to vote, and then, when things don't work out like they had hoped, they form a commission to find out what went wrong. I'll take an exexcutive any day of the week. They have to make decisions and stand by them no matter what.

OBTW, did anyone mention that Sarah Palin has more executive experience than the rest of the field?

Being a senator is what you make of it . The question of the thread is "Can Sarah Win ? " My answer is no , she can't win and won't receive the nomination . All I did was answer the question .

[trapeze]

If she gets in she has my vote.....I know plenty of people who feel the same way.

Mr Cain seems to be the only other candidate I'd support....The rest carry a piece of baggage, turning me off.

So who did you vote for in 2008?

I voted for McCain. Not that I wanted to but the alternative (not voting or *shudder* voting for Mr. Stupid) was not a real possibility.

Like you, I have serious problems with many in the field of Republican candidates (declared candidates and otherwise). But...I would vote for a dog over O'Bama. It just doesn't matter that much if the choice is between a Marxist committed to the destruction of the country as founded and anyone else. Anyone else will get my vote every time.

This will be an existential election. We will be voting for the nation's survival over its destruction. Even if a RINO ends up on the top of the ticket I will vote for them. It's that important. Our nation simply cannot endure another four years of this idiot.

[hemm]

oh and I do think she can and will if elected.

for anyone to say she lacks experience and isn't qualified, I would point to the current occupant, he sure as $hit hasn't got any, and OJT isn't helping him a bit, but it is killing this country............

[trapeze]

Not only do I think she cannot win , I don't believe she'll be nominated . I like Sarah personally but she has way too much going against her than for her . She should have run for the senate from Alaska when she had the chance which would have given her seasoning and some bona fides . If she does run it will be a huge waste of time and money .

All due respect, but being a senator does not give a candidate bonafides. In fact, it is an impediment. Senators don't do anything, but show up to vote, and then, when things don't work out like they had hoped, they form a commission to find out what went wrong. I'll take an exexcutive any day of the week. They have to make decisions and stand by them no matter what.

OBTW, did anyone mention that Sarah Palin has more executive experience than the rest of the field?

Being a senator is what you make of it . The question of the thread is "Can Sarah Win ? " My answer is no , she can't win and won't receive the nomination . All I did was answer the question .

And Reagan couldn't win either. Until it was his time to win. Palin may have a time to win in her future. If the election were held today it most likely would not be her time to win. I would still vote for her but too many others would not.

[hemm]

damnit Trap I hope you are wrong about a rino eventually being at the top of the ticket. I'd not be able to sit it out as much as I'd like too. To me that is tantamount to voting for the current totus........

[trapeze]

oh and I do think she can and will if elected.

for anyone to say she lacks experience and isn't qualified, I would point to the current occupant, he sure as $hit hasn't got any, and OJT isn't helping him a bit, but it is killing this country............

I think she could win, too. Just not today.

In another year she might be able to pull it off. The deciding factor for people who today hold a dim view or her may completely change with different circumstances. A worse economy would be a big factor for an "anyone but O'Bama vote." $6/gallon gasoline or worse might do it. A string of successful terrorist attacks might do it. Double digit inflation might do it. Or any combination of these and/or other factors might cause people who otherwise don't think she can do the job to vote for her out of sheer desperation.

This election is O'Bama's to lose and, so far, he is doing everything needed to give just about anyone (all but the brain dead base) very, very good reasons to vote for anyone on the other side of the ballot.

[hemm]

oh and I do think she can and will if elected.

for anyone to say she lacks experience and isn't qualified, I would point to the current occupant, he sure as $hit hasn't got any, and OJT isn't helping him a bit, but it is killing this country............

I think she could win, too. Just not today.

In another year she might be able to pull it off. The deciding factor for people who today hold a dim view or her may completely change with different circumstances. A worse economy would be a big factor for an "anyone but O'Bama vote." $6/gallon gasoline or worse might do it. A string of successful terrorist attacks might do it. Double digit inflation might do it. Or any combination of these and/or other factors might cause people who otherwise don't think she can do the job to vote for her out of sheer desperation.

This election is O'Bama's to lose and, so far, he is doing everything needed to give just about anyone (all but the brain dead base) very, very good reasons to vote for anyone on the other side of the ballot.

Agreed, but it will take a spine and intestinal fortitude, and she's got bigger balls than just about any male that has declared to this point.

[trapeze]

damnit Trap I hope you are wrong about a rino eventually being at the top of the ticket. I'd not be able to sit it out as much as I'd like too. To me that is tantamount to voting for the current totus........

The electorate is primed for an outsider this year. The nomination is Cain's to lose, in my opinion. There are any number of ways and zillions of opportunities for him to blow it between now and the convention. He will have to blow it in two distinct ways: Not give people a valid reason to vote for him and commit a very, very bad and unrecoverable gaffe.

I still think he's a long shot but if ever there was a year when a true outsider could win this is it. Just having the Tea Party in the mix is a completely new variable that will have unforeseen consequences. Lots of interesting factors at work this time around and that's what I find interesting about politics on the national scale. Not boring. And the stakes couldn't be higher.

[hemm]

damnit Trap I hope you are wrong about a rino eventually being at the top of the ticket. I'd not be able to sit it out as much as I'd like too. To me that is tantamount to voting for the current totus........

The electorate is primed for an outsider this year. The nomination is Cain's to lose, in my opinion. There are any number of ways and zillions of opportunities for him to blow it between now and the convention. He will have to blow it in two distinct ways: Not give people a valid reason to vote for him and commit a very, very bad and unrecoverable gaffe.

I still think he's a long shot but if ever there was a year when a true outsider could win this is it. Just having the Tea Party in the mix is a completely new variable that will have unforeseen consequences. Lots of interesting factors at work this time around and that's what I find interesting about politics on the national scale. Not boring. And the stakes couldn't be higher.

Cain~Palin........I'd love to see that ticket......and I'd pay a gazillion dollars if they could talk Mark Levin into being the press secretary for just one week..........

 

[trapeze]

Agreed, but it will take a spine and intestinal fortitude, and she's got bigger balls than just about any male that has declared to this point.

I think that her greatest value in the race will be to frame the debate...to push the envelope...to move the Overton Window. So even if she doesn't get the nomination she will still have had an impact. That's what "players" do. Even if the don't win they substantially affect the way the game is played out.

[trapeze]

I think that Cain has a better chance at the bottom of the ticket. We get the racist insurance that way and he gets OTJT for the big show. If I could pick the ticket today it would be Perry/Cain.

The office of the President NEEDS an executive. Perry is a sitting governor of a successful state. He is everything that O'Bama isn't. Cain would (again barring something bad coming out about him) be a near perfect veep candidate. I would pay good money to be at the veep debate with Cain squaring off against sheriff Joe.