Doug Mataconis over at OTB [1], is commenting on the Anti-Palin backlash going on, and seems to me quite willing to be part of that backlash.
I’ve already made note since the elections of reports of growing concern about Palin inside the GOP, [2] as well as comments by the likes of Karl Rove [3] that Palin is acting in an “unpresidential” manner. Now, the Palin backlash seems to be going viral with Townhall’s Mona Charen being the latest to argue that Sarah Palin should not run for President: [4]
[5]
Gov Sarah Palin
After the 2008 campaign revealed her weaknesses on substance, Palin was advised by those who admire her natural gifts to bone up on policy and devote herself to governing Alaska successfully. Instead, she quit her job as governor after two and a half years, published a book (another is due next week), and seemed to chase money and empty celebrity. Now, rather than being able to highlight the accomplishments of Sarah Palin’s Alaska, we get “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” another cheesy entrant in the reality show genre. She’d so much rather be out dog sledding than in some “dull political office,” she tells the audience. File that.
She is wildly popular with a swath of the Republican electorate, it’s true. And, as a conservative woman politician told me, the consultants (who get paid the big bucks win or lose) will doubtless descend upon her with game plans showing how she can win in Iowa and then cruise to the nomination. Maybe. But the general election would be a problem, since 53 percent of independent voters view Palin unfavorably, according to a recent Gallup poll, along with 81 percent of Democrats.
(…)
Palin has many strengths. I admire her fortitude and her commitment to principle. Her capacity to connect with a crowd is something most politicians can only dream of. I will always remember her 2008 convention speech as a rollicking star turn. She would be terrific as a talk-show host — the new Oprah.
But as a presidential candidate? Someone to convince critical independent voters that Republicans can govern successfully? Absolutely not.
Of course, there are those, such as MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, who think that this entire Palin-For-President dance that we’re seeing is part of a cynical dance that the former Governor is playing that has nothing to do with any plans to ever run for higher office…
First, I feel obligated to point out that anybody that points to any operative at MSNBC the the the as a worthy comment on anything that’s happening on the conservative side, has a credibility gap that you could drive my tractor trailer through.
That said, I’m with Dan Rheil, who says: [6]
These days, they are little better than Republicans content to hem and haw on the margins in the face of a Leftist, or progressive movement, and policies, that even now continue to push America to the Left. If my politics have shifted at all in recent years, it is in coming to see myself more aligned with a movement, the conservative movement, with perhaps one last chance to pull this great nation back from the Euro-socialist abyss.
It will not be an easy fight. But it is certainly one worth having. We will have to fight the Republican ruling class, the corporatists and the globalists, who couldn’t give a tinker’s damn [7] about the founding principles and core attributes that served to make America great for so many years. And that’s even before we take on the progressive Democrats.
Whether Sarah Palin is ultimately the one to lead that battle politically, or what, precisely, her best role in the fight might be, I can’t say. But I believe we are fortunate to have her, as she clearly will have some important role. For now, perhaps it’s simply drawing out our enemies established, allegedly, on our own side.
[8]
Gov Sarah Palin
But these people are not on the side of we the people. They ultimately and will forever come down on the side of Washington. It’s the sow that suckles them and, like a good little piglet, Mona Charen would be left aghast at the thought of having to ween herself from its proverbial teat. Heavens, she might be forced to do something productive, like get a real job for a change.
I have spoken warmly of Mona in the past, when she has been correct. Indeed, there was a time when she was consistently so. But now the battle lines are being drawn as Dan suggests. Mona had better figure out that this is not about the Republican establishment, but about real conservative values, which the Republican establishment has long since given up on. The reaction of the American people to such candidates as the Republican establishment offers, such as John McCain, for example, tells the real story.
I said several years ago, in part:
I don’t support Bush because of Bush. I support Bush because he and the remainder of the Republicans are the best weapon we have available to defeat what I see as the largest evil we face; Leftist Democrats.
That situation has not changed. I still see the Republican party to be the best weapon we have again what Dan calls “the Euro-socialist abyss”. thing is, that will only hold true so long as we remove those willing to compromise with the Euro socialist left otherwise called “Democrats” from positions of power, and impose real conservative values. I still hold that the GOP is the best tool to that end. Assuming, of course, that we managed to take it back from the RINO crowd.
The degree to which this anti-Palin nonsense is getting press, his testimony to a growing fear among the left that real conservatism is actually going to take hold. Let’s remember, people, the number of leftists who were willing to jump in with John McCain, at least in the primaries. they viewed him as being less of a threat to the leftist movement. Clearly, they consider Palin and the Tea party to be a greater threat to the expansion of their socialist ideals.
Is Sarah Palin the best choice for President? I don’t know as that’s the issue as yet. There may in fact be better choices that have not presented themselves. Then again, we haven’t been presented a choice as yet. What we’ve been presented with from the press and from the left (granted, I repeat myself ) is a dosage of fear. This fear is not based on her competence , or the lack of it. This fear is based on her lack of being an acceptable to the socialist left, and to the RINO leadership so willing to compromise with the left. And frankly, that point alone is what so many find endearing about her.