Palin Launches PAC
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin launched her own PAC this week called SarahPAC. The launch means she plans to run for president in 2012, despite her bad poll numbers as Senator John McCain’s running mate.
When Americans were first introduced to Palin they were mightily impressed. The speech she gave at the Republican National Convention impressed many, friends and foes alike. She presented herself as a feisty, reformist conservative able to appeal to middle class voters and women in general.
Not only did she initially appeal to said groups, she also riled up the conservative base which was demoralized for years. Rank and file conservatives considered McCain to be too moderate and uninspiring. They were not willing to do any work for him. When Sarah Palin joined the Republican ticket, however, millions signed up for online and real-world activism. They signed up voters and called them at home urging them to go out and vote Republican.
Without Palin McCain would have lost the elections back in September already.
But there’s more to the story of McCain-Palin than the above. Days after Americans were first introducted to her, the “drive-by media,” as Rush Limbaugh calls the MSM, went after the governor of Alaska. The mission was to destroy her and, for last year’s elections at least, they succeeded. Support for Palin dropped under everyone but the conservative base, and she ended up costing McCain among moderates. Or so polls show.
Was Palin such a horrible candidate? Was she indeed so incompetent?
No. What happened was the media. They realized she posed a tremendous threat to Obama, so they decided to take her out. No one was investigating anything in Chicago, while dozens of reporters were sent to Wasilla, Alaska, to dig up dirt about the governor. Ridiculous charges were made against her; they even attacked her saying she didn’t give birth to her son Trig who suffers from Down Syndrome. They created a charicature of the governor, and indoctrinated this distorted picture of her into the public.
Her image was ruined.
But, Palin has all she needs to make a comeback four years from now. Firstly, the conservative base supports her unanimously, which is a definite pro for any ambitious Republican. Secondly, she is a talented politician and speaker who can connect to John Doe. Thirdly, even if she did not know a lot about foreign policy last year, she has several years to study this subject which should be enough to turn her into an expert. Fourthly and lastly, she has done a tremendous job as governor of Alaska; she knows how to govern, she understands fiscal responsibility and she is an energy expert – energy could and should be a major issue four years from now.
Despite Obama’s victory last year, Sarah Palin remains a force to be reckoned with, and she will only become more influential. Many top conservatives are rallying behind her; she has already become the unofficial leader of her party; no ambitious Republican can ignore or dismiss her easily. The PAC will help her improve her image, fight media bias and set the stage for a major PR and political offensive.
It are going to be an exciting couple of years for Palin fans.
Juliet, obsessing over whether Trig is her own baby or whether she pretends he’s hers to protect her daughter is stupid on so many levels I hardly know where to begin. Imagine she really claimed her daughters baby as her own, what of it? Yes, you can make some wisecracks about abstinence only education and its patent results, but generally speaking I admire a woman who steps in to protect her daughter. In any event this is her private family business and I find it entirely irrelevant. The sooner we stop obsessing over the private family lives of politicians the better. I really could give a damn how many kids they have, whether they sleep around or whether they have a rubber-ducky fetish. As long as they can handle their business the rest is up to them and their families.
These arguments only help Palin. Palin is inadequate because she is not only deeply ignorant of the essential subjects of the nation, she’s proudly ignorant. She represents a portion of the American populace that finds virtue in not knowing things, that believes that education makes you less American, less “real”. If she continues on that vein and Obama isn’t an absolute disaster she will be destroyed in 2012. The only thing that could help her with Independents is if people start obsessing over utterly useless, irrelevant and ill-intentioned non-issues like where her baby came from. File that away with Obama’s birth certificate in “not important”.
FYI, Claudia, the comment you were responding to was deleted as part of standing policy to delete all comments which attack innocent family members and/or spew baseless conspiracy theories that are irrelevant to the actual content of the post.
“She represents a portion of the American populace that finds virtue in not knowing things, that believes that education makes you less American, less “real”.”
Claudia, this is just ignorant on your part. I don’t know anybody that is proud about not knowing things. I will also assert that I know people that are well educated, some say over educated, but have zero common sense, and struggle in everyday life until they are lucky enough to find a partner that does.
I do know a group of people who, thru peer pressure, reduces the educational opportunity. If you don’t believe me take it with with a couple of my friends who continually hid their grades from their peers for fear of being called white. Hopefully the election of Obama will rectify this situation. There aren’t a whole lotta blacks that vote Republican though, is there.
Still it was nice to see you stand up to the most odious of gossip.
Linked
. Thanks for the great article Michael.
Palin worked hard to get a college education. While her journalism degree is from the University of Idaho, a relative backwater, she’s still better educated than the average American and obviously brighter. The fact that she’s considered and rejected left-wing positions and maintained her Christian faith is insufficient reason to call her ignorant. A better reason is her lack on knowledge about the world outside her state, something that can be forgiven in a person who is rightly working hard to improve outcomes in her sphere of influence.
I’m not thrilled about Palin as president for other reasons, specifically what I perceive to be arrogance about her own infallibility. At times she comes off as mean-spirited and even petty rather than presidential. Or is that the media filter?
I also don’t care for her starting her campaign so soon, however. The country needs to breath and Barack Obama needs an opportunity to show us what he can do.
And just one more small quibble Claudia- even the part about criticizing Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy on the grounds that it’s proof of the failure of abstinence only education doesn’t work is false because Palin’s daughter was not given abstinence only sex ed. Palin doesn’t politically support that and someone verified that her school district has contraception education as part of the curriculum. I only mention that because I feel that so many people wrongly assume that abstinence only is the political position that Palin espouses, and that’s been debunked.
I continue to be amazed at the lightening rod Sarah Palin has become. Why is this not just simply a conservative governor from Alaska, who based on recent national exposure, has established a PAC to (possibly) explore a presidential run in 2012.
Were Republicans as “upset” about Dennis Kucinich’s presidential aspirations or Democrats upset at Sam Brownback’s presidential aspirations in prep for ‘08? If voters don’t like Sarah Palin for whatever reason, they won’t vote for her. And not to “over-stretch” an analogy but I recall a state senator from the midwest who had the temerity to express presidential aspirations after a nationally televised speech (but little else). That seemed to turn out ok for him. The voters decided.