In defense of Sarah Palin

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Originally Posted by WireBeard

With her extremist views and her "my way or the highway" arrogance, I cannot see her being able to work as a Sentor or Rep. Her squandering of RNC funds on clothes for both her and her husband is beyond the pale, esp. on him...there is a difference between putting on a suit and wearing a suit...he didn't pull it off at all.

Hardly Joe the Plumber.

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Originally Posted by nun2sharp

I have to agree with you to a great extent, one day shes a nobody and next day shes supposed to play the role of Americas darling. The Sarah Palin we saw may not have been the real Sarah Palin, if she had been given time to grow with the responsibilities. I think Mc Cain screwed her for the rest of her political life. If she did have any real talent, its been squandered.

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I agree with both of you.
She was indeed totally unprepared for her ticket, and it showed.
But her extremist views and lack of knowledge about the world are her own. It's only because she was out of her league that she didn't know how to cover them. And you should be grateful that she was so inept.
If she works at it, she'll no doubt be able to try on her own, but she'll still have the same ideas and opinions.

I read yesterday
ABC News: Palin Aide Fires Back at Reported McCain Camp Slams
that the knives are out and republican lawyers are going to work their way through her expenses to see how much money she actually spent on clothes, cosmetics and other stuff. Apparently it was even more than the 150K that was reported earlier.

It also seems that the majority of the people who switched rep to dem named Palin as the no 1 reason.
Perosnally, I think she will be dealt with and never again be allowed near top republican brass.

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Originally Posted by gugi

Absolutely, she should've turned it down, not when it was offered, but in the period before then. She clearly has had high ambitions for a while, but she should've had friends to advise her of not blowing it by jumping the gun too early. Or may be she is just 'wired to not blink'.
I hope it will end up being good for her. Hopefully she's more smart than she is egocentric and will extract not just the political lesson from this reality check.

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Well, that's easy for us to say with the benefit of hindsight, and from the outside looking in. But if you put yourself in her position, and you're given an opportunity in your career/life which is fantastic, how are you going to turn it down? If you do, you may never get that opportunity again. To grab the opportunities life gives to you, isn't that something encouraged in the US? If you turned down a great opportunity in your career to play it safe, or because you may doubt that you're ready, isn't that just a path to regret for the rest of your life?

I think she was absoutely right to seize the opportunity -- after all, like the Masons, if you say no then you don't get invited again. Her subsequent failure was her own of course, but McCain's failure was not just down to Palin.

But in politics there always has to be a scapegoat, a sacrifice. Looks like she's finding out what it's like to be a moose in a hostile environment. :roflmao

Well, actually I thought that she should have waited the day she was announced. And I thought Obama should've waited as well. At least Jindal had the senses not to get involved, or may be somebody else had the senses not to ask him.
I don't think it's one of a lifetime chance. Perhaps she saw it that way, but she doesn't strike me as too insecure for that.
She is clearly very good at connecting with people, which seems to go a long way in US elections. But you're right, if it'd worked, it would've been a big plus for any future runs for the #1 spot. May be it still is - she threw her hat into the national politics and demonstrated the kind of crowds she can gather and excite. It's quite impressive actually.

You now what Gugi, just to really mess you about, I'm doing a John Kerry flip-flop. This morning I was sipping my coffee, looking out my office window, and I remembered what Palin had done in Alaska. Trooper-gate, Librarian-gate, the works. And I got to thinking, you live by the sword you die by the sword. If you go around shafting people like that, then I guess you have to expect it back sometime.

What was I thinking, feeling sympathy?:gaah:

But I do still think she's hot.

The failures are all McCains;

1. He asked Palin.
2. He knew her extremist views.
3. He knew her record and level of experience.
4. He was unable to control her and the message.
5. He knew the electorate had concerns about his age and that his VP pick was critical.
6. Even after it became obvious she was a drag on the ticket and lost control he stuck with her.
7. She brought nothing to the ticket, she couldn't deliver a blue state, she couldn't bolster his admitted lack of economic knowledge, and she wasn't a suitable replacement should he be unable to fulfill his duties as President.
8. He seem to not know about the baggage and scandals she was bringing with her.

"I make them (decisions) quickly as I can, quicker than the other fellow, if I can. Often my haste is a mistake, but I live with the consequences without complaint." John McCain -Worth Fighting For

By choosing Palin he lost two of his platforms, experience, and I put the country first.
Palin had no experience (no matter how much they want to try and spin it) and it was obvious to most that Palin was red meat for the religious right crowd, she wasn't going to bring in moderates which are need by both side to actually win an election.

It was a decision made out of political expediency without any thought to the consequences. Coupled with the Bush record, McCain's swing from moderate to the right, his courting of the religious right and his negative campaign, the writing was on the wall.

Blaming the loss on Palin is really bogus, he made the decision so he is solely to blame for the outcome.

Had he made a better choice would the outcome have been different, we'll never know.

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Originally Posted by Hutch

The failures are all McCains;

6. Even after it became obvious she was a drag on the ticket and lost control he stuck with her.

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I agree with everything you've said except that point.
Dropping her would have been campaign suicide because by the time the really bad stuff happened, the elections were less than 2 months away.

How relevant is she now?

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Originally Posted by maplemaker

How relevant is she now?

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I'd say more relevant than ever. She's going back to Alaska, but the republican party will have to reshape. They cannot ignore Palin and the effect she had on significant part of their base, and Palin may be many things but she is not stupid to not realize the strength of her current position. If past is any indication she will try to use it to further her political carreer.

But yeah, very relevant, I'm quite interested to see what happens to the political right.

Several conservative pundits are calling her the next Reagan...which is shocking (and insulting to the late President Reagan).

Connecting with people is fine, but you don't work with those people daily when running the nation. You work with people that, in most cases, are fairly intelligent. You can surround yourself with brilliant advisors to assist you in areas you may not have expertise, but you do have to have basic knowledge.

This "she's just like me" mentality is ludicrous. She is not just like everyday people and her behavior has shown that.

The RNC audit of her "shopping" should be interesting.

Well, she has power over the right side of right wing.
But the rep leadership will also recognize that she scared away the moderate majority they need to actually win an election.

Imo if Obama does not make a mess of things, the reps will have to let go of their extremists or at least keep them out of the spotlights.
From what I read so far, the rep party is out for her blood and has sent a team of lawyers to investigate her expenses during the campaign. Imo, she will never be allowed to run national again. And if she tries, I predict a humongous pot of dirt will be exposed on her to kill her career.

The hard line reps will vote rep no matter what. they will certainly not vote dem. The key to any election are the moderates who can go either way. And Palin drove them away in droves.