Last week, I wrote a post praising Romney, Santorum, Gingrich and Paul for their willingness to put themselves through an exhausting, grinding presidential campaign rather than staying on the sidelines. I pointed out that it’s easy for politicians and political commentators to focus on the foibles, mistakes and awkward language that sometimes characterize the current crop of GOP candidates. And I added that it’s a lot easier to analyze candidates from behind a keyboard, microphone, and television studio than it is to actually run day after day, speaking at event after event, taking question after question.
And just like that, who pops up but former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who on Friday told Fox’s Greta Van Susteren, “At this point we are watching Obama with his naive apologies to savages in Afghanistan who turn around and kill our soldiers. We look at things like that, the actions of our sitting president and we say, ‘anybody but Obama.’ And that is why Greta, that Alaskans whom I speak with — we’re so tired of the pettiness within that GOP process. You know, the folks are bickering back and forth about different tactics taken within their campaigns and in this nominating process. We’re trying to remind these candidates: Stay focused on the main thing and that is get a commander in chief who our troops deserve.”
This is rich. Palin prematurely resigned her post as governor because she couldn’t take the political heat. Since the 2008 campaign — in which, it has to be said, she was often badly mistreated — Palin has become brittle, often defensive, and consumed by resentments. She has engaged in too many petty twitter wars to count. And against the counsel of many, at the moment when President Obama was about to speak at a memorial service for those who were killed and wounded in a massacre in Tucson (including Representative Gabrielle Giffords), Palin released a video in which she responded to “journalists and pundits” for “manufacturing a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn.”
So to have Palin complaining about weariness with the “pettiness within the GOP process” and for “bickering back and forth” is a bit much. Among other things, it shows an utter lack of self-awareness by the former Alaska governor and, I would imagine, some degree of projection.
Whatever complaints some Republicans might have about the current field, at least Sarah Palin isn’t in it. Call it a small blessing for the GOP.
I have a lot of respect for Peter Wehner. But I think this is an unnecessary cheap shot. First I am sure Wehner knows the reason Palin resigned the governorship of Alaska was because of mounting legal costs that could have left her family bankrupt. The frivolous lawsuits against her were because of what she had done for the party-accept to be VP candidate and there wasn't any indication the Party was going to come to her aid. Second isn't it good advise for the party to foucs on the big issues and stop the uncessary bickering? I think Romney, Santorum or Gingrich will all be preferable to Obama. I say this as a person who is not a big fan of Palin for other reasons.
Oh, I have to agree. We get it, Peter–you don't like Palin, you don't like people who have funny accents or originated in odd parts of the country, like Alaska. But Peter–when was the last time you had packs of hounds on your heels making it impossible for you to do your job, and systematically bankrupting you with legal fees in the process?
I fail to see how the author can criticize Palin and praise Paul with the other candidates. Whatever may be wrong with Sarah Palin, and I don't find very much, Paul is an insult to any voter's intelligence. He is a neanderthal disgrace and it is a further disgrace to have him on the same podium with the other candidates. There was one Jewish organization which not long ago invited all the candidates to their group's meeting EXCEPT RON PAUL. I congratulate them. Just recently a Nazi, with the last name Jones (can you beat that?) was reported to have the required 1000 signatures to run for congress on the GOP ticket. He was rejected by that state's GOP governing committee. Why can't the national GOP throw out Paul?
If there is a deadlocked Republican convention, then we must draft, nominate and elect Governor Sarah Palin president in the most crushing tidal wave of enthusiastic good judgment ever seen in the history of this nation. With that one bold move we will accomplish the dual goals of seeing America led by the greatest natural born leader in our generation, even as we witness the final implosion and last agonized shrieks of our endlessly lying extreme left loonies. Their entire movement, from the fabricated attacks on Bush beginning with ‘Blood For Oil’ to the crammed-down-our-gullets lies of Obamacare and the Shovel Ready Stimulus, have been nothing but one vile deceit heaped upon another. Such an absolute inability to deal in the truth or to face the facts of our situation and its solutions only proves that there is simply no place at the grown-ups’ table for these diseased sputa. Good riddance to rubes and bad rubbish. Time to usher in the American Renaissance, carried in on the invigoratingly freshening breeze of President Sarah Palin.
Yes, please, please, please, please nominate the Quitta from Wasilla. If you thought the 2008 landslide win by Obama was impressive, you'll be truly astonished by how wide the margin would be in a Palin vs. Obama election.
2008 was a solid win for Obama but no landslide. n nAmericans know Obama now, and they will not welcome this dismal failure back for a 2nd term.
She was brutalized and irrationally dogged by Republicans who were once respected by more than just their enemy-sharing Left. n nAt the end of the last presidential election she was absolutely a wounded animal. n nI can understand that she might not have wanted to admit it, but had she admitted it she could have sought the shelter of work and family to heal. But she didn't. She continued, incident by incident to lose what empathy she had acquired. n nBefore Rush's recent rant I could have said that no Republican would have descended to Andrew Sullivan's level but I can't say that now. n nIt is long past due for Conservatives to seek and find holy voices: what can't be presented can't be embraced.
what you are saying is impossible because democrats continued to target her by using alaska's ethics laws to file phony charges. She had to make money to fight the charges which would lead to more phony charges and then she resigned because democrats were absolutely determined not to allow her to govern. she had to be completely destroyed – and she was- not by defeat or impeachment but the resignation.
Not at all true. n nMost of the ethics charges have been filed by REPUBLICANS. n nThe state of Alaska offered to pay a large portion of her legal fees, which were nowhere near as expensive as she has claimed. n nYou can keep blaming Palin's failures on Democrats, but they are her own fault. Of course, Palin never accepts responsibility for anything, so I'm sure that she and her followers will continue to do what they do best: lie.
Get the facts straight, please. First, the overwhelming majority of the complaints were backed by a Dem operative lawyer in California. Second, there was a related veritable avalanche of FOIA requests which were going to consume not only an enormous amount of money that the Palins did not possess, but a huge amount of time that left little time for Palin to tend to her official duties. Third, Alaska law provided that officials facing ethics complaints from having the state pay for the defense.____Even if the defense costs were "only" in the hundreds of thousands, Palin would have been ruined financially, as she and her husband did not have anything resembling wealth. Yes, she cashed in, but this was an orchestrated plan by a group of tenacious and mendacious people.____Oh yes, in the end, virtually every charge was dismissed as being frivilous.
I hope Governor Romney sees the descent of conservatism for the large problem that it is.
The sad thing is if Palin had run, Wehner would STILL be writing pieces just like this. n nHis sanctimony of ignoring his own guilt in the continual cheap shotting of Palin is disgraceful. n nIt's a lot easier to sit behind a keyboard, erm, er, is that not what you are doing? n nAbsolutely breathtaking hypocrisy. n nBTW, she was absolutely correct in that video; the absolute silence of the GOP to call out the Left for its blood libel is reprehensible. There is STILL over a year later not one tot or jittle of evidence that Jared Loughner ever even saw Palin's graphic. n nIt is a FACT, however, that Daily KOS had a bullseye on Gifford – not her district – but herself because she wasn't liberal enough. And Daily KOS was the first to accuse Palin WITHIN MINUTES of the shooting. n nYour need to be liked by your colleagues proves your lack of courage. You do no research but accept the meme the media puts out, so they don't call you an extremist. Heaven forbid. n nNo courage. Which deserves no respect.
Palin's "blood libel" comment may have been an edgy choice of words, but it was a legitimate response to the attempt of the Democrats/media to blame specifically her for the Giffords shooting merely because of the unexceptional use of bullseyes on a map of political targets. And don't forget that the choice of Palin got McCain into the lead in early September polls, and but for the timing of the Lehman Brothers collapse she quite likely would have dragged his sorry carcass across the finish line in 2008 and saved us Jimmy Carter's second term. I'm not sorry she's not running now, but we have not nearly heard the last of her.
A woman was nearly killed, while a half dozen others were killed. n nI hardly think that pointing out that Gifford had been shot at a political rally and that Palin had a gun sight graphic specifically targeting Gifford is out of bounds. As more information became available, it became clear the two weren't linked… but it's a pretty spooky coincidence. It's not like the accusation came out of nowhere, after all. n nAnd it's not like conservatives didn't try to blame liberals for that shooting.
No one was blaming "liberals" for the shooting. Folks were only making it clear that the shooter was an avowed leftist and should have been identified as such.
It is a disgrace that liberals never mention Palin was being blamed for the massacre by so many people and only focus on the blood libel line which was totally correct to say in the face of her being blamed for the killing of those people.
What's a disgrace is all the conservatives who refuse to acknowledge that liberals have agreed that Palin did not inspire the Arizona gunman … but who also believe that her kind of repeatedly violent rhetoric is inspiring a new generation of sleazy political debate. n nShe still tries to claim our president "pals around with terrorists," for instance.
what do you consider Bill Ayers if not a terrorist …
Bill Ayers may have been a terrorist in the past, but he's not — nor has he ever been — anyone that Obama "palled around with." n nPalin, on the other hand, is married to a secessionist and has spoken at secessionist gatherings. n
Lay off Gov Palin! She has been attacked far more than any other politician in my memory- going back to Kennedy-Nixon. The GOP has made it difficult for her to run, putting up multiple candidates to keep her out. Why did Michele Bachman and Rick Perry enter the race? Both were obviously unprepared. Anyway, Gov Palin makes TV appearances and gives opinions because people are interested in what she has to say. Fox is a business and wants to make money, which means getting viewers. If she can help deiver those viewers, more power to her.
Ouch. Wehner nails it while showing admirable restraint in places where he could easily let loose with a tirade of invective. Being female, I find myself less able to hold back the dam. Partly because I wonder what was the matter with me, for ever having thought her anything besides an avaricious shrew. And now that the blinders are completely off I'm tempted to lash out every time I'm reminded of my own gullibility. n nAnother related conversation is about FoxNews… would Sarah Palin still be in anyone's consciousness without it?
of course! Liberals hate her so much they keep her famous. Like this movie shows.
nice shrewish response yourself …
When anyone says that Palin only became "brittle" and spiteful "since the 2008 campaign," has not been doing their research. n nPalin has always been brittle, spiteful, and eager to attack anyone she has even thought might disagree with her. She was more willing to work with Democrats as governor, but even then she talking smack about others and had her staff writing letters of support and sending them to the media constantly. n nPalin is someone who could only have risen to her level of incompetence by living and running for office in Alaska; a huge state with only a few people who bother to vote.
Palin is the only candidate who wins against Obama and carries through the policies needed nto get this country back on track nPeter you are a self serving snob writing pieces just for DC dinner invites
Palin has yet another stalker – Darklady. Between lefty Peter and bitter Darklady – we have some nasties on this site.
The author has to repeat the same old tired lies and misrepresentations in order to make his self-serving "point". In other words, he sayd Palin resigned because she "couldn't take the political heat"–which is FAR from the truth. She resigned because the excessive attacks and the frivolous lawsuits and FOI requests were hurting the state of Alaska –no state business could be properly conducted anymore. It was for the good of the state she resigned–NOT because she couldn't "take the heat".
I feel really sorry for thoughtful, serious, intelligent conservatives such as the author of this article. Your party has been hijacked by the hate, irrationality and ignorance epitomized by Palin and her supporters. It's frustrating and depressing for everyone, not just intelligent Republicans.
would those intelligent republicans actually be rabid leftists ? this author is hard intelligent or a conservative …
I don’t think the price tag of her legal defense is as clear-cut an issue as implied. IIRC, the large price tag was due, in large measure, to Trooper-Gate defense and her involvement in that before she became Governor. n nAs mayor she took advantage of a tax increase her predecessor had secured for her. She went on to increase expenditures, decrease revenues and finally left Wasilla’s fiscal situation in worse condition than she found it. She wasn’t governor long enough to be able to judge her management of the State. n nShe continues to have the same terrible instincts that led Wasilla citizens to begin an early process of recall. n nShe represents what is best and what is worst about America: ambition without dignity; community without sincerity.
of please … as opposed to Obama who has never ever sponsored a single bill and never finished his first term as Senator … n ntry harder to figure out a way to call her incompetent … you look simply ignorant …
Perhaps Mr. Wehner needs to PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH! Who gave him the 'thumbs up' to spout his opinion. Looks like he just made up a lot of facts——-this is called "fiction".
notice how he doesn't actually dispute that they are engaged in petty bickering …
Palin is simply reporting what Republican voters all over the country are actually saying …. n nAnd Palin was exactly on target with her counter to the radically dishonest leftist media onslaught against her in the Gifford case. n nWhen did Peter Wehner become David Gergen?