Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Questions for your discussion while I am away
I am in France about to begin a day of meetings and taking in the results of last night's Republican primaries. I have two questions for your discussion in my absence, both of which are of great moment.
Question One.
Will the recent victories of "Tea Party" candidates, including in Delaware last night, make it easier or more difficult next year to achieve legislative results that conservatives would prefer? Comment with reference to this thoughtful piece from Doc Zero at Hot Air. More on the same subject here.
Question Two.
Do you think Power Line's Paul Mirengoff is correct in his assessment that the 2012 GOP presidential nomination is Sarah Palin's to lose?
Release the hounds.
10 Comments:
By 
, at
Wed Sep 15, 07:01:00 AM:
So with the caveat that I'm likely the least thoughtful poster in TH history, I like Palin, but see her as more kingmaker, fundraiser and vote influencer on the margin (of the constituency for a particular candidate). I do not believe she has the stuff to carry it all the way to the oval office.
If Christie stays on a roll, I actually see him having a shot. Italian/Irish ... lots of those in the country, and with a no BS/straight talk approach, and his not likely photoshopped to look any better physique, I have to believe he's got more appeal to the everyman voter in the country.
The people have spoken and hopefully will make it crystal clear in a month - stop pissing away the money, back off my wallet, and freaking govern. Do it like so many who struggle to make ends meet, and get me politicians who at least front up as regular folk and not uber rich.
Sarah might make it happen someday, but I don't think she's got the stuff. I'd ask a different question ... any bets on whether Bama's run out his 15 minutes and loses the nomination in 2012?
By , at
Wed Sep 15, 07:35:00 AM:
The real loser last night is National Republican Party, which saw 8 of the 8 candidates it endorsed lose primary/caucuses. Clearly, the Republican leadership is out of touch with its base and unless it startes nominting candidates that can win in general elections they are not going to make much progress in winning back seats unless you believe as O'Donnell does that "lust in your heart is committing adultery and you can't masturbate without lust. " Alrighty, then....Watch out Democrats! She's got a lock on the anti-masturbation vote!
Too funny!
By , at
Wed Sep 15, 09:24:00 AM:
I agree with John - Palin probably won't be on the ticket. Probably somebody very down-to-earth and very conservative like Mitch Daniels.
National Republican leadership absolutely sucks. If they don't wake up, the party is going to die and be replaced with the Tea Party in some form.
As far as legislation is concerned, I feel much better with Tea Party Conservatives than Rino-Dem-Lite Traitors cutting deals for tax-payer goodies.
By 
MTF, at
Wed Sep 15, 10:26:00 AM:
With respect to question 2, John nails Palin's 2012 role, I believe. Her inexperience and precipitous resignation of the Governorship are too much to overcome in the short space between now and the beginning of primary season. She's got obvious political star power with the energized midterm voters but I see zero evidence she can translate that appeal to the larger pool of Presidential primary voters.
By , at
Wed Sep 15, 11:02:00 AM:
1- It will take an Obama-style perfect storm to elect zanies like Paladino and O'Donnell. What's the chance of that happening?
2- Governor Palin has many fine qualities and can be called a genuine American original. That being said, she is a quitter and Obama would make mincemeat of her in a debate. Do you remember the deer in the headlights look she gave Katie Couric when asked what books she was reading? It doesn't get any easier than that.
If Governor Christie can make solid, measurable progress in New Jersey, he would be by far the most compelling candidate.
By PatD, at
Wed Sep 15, 11:35:00 AM:
Of the four people on the 2008 tickets, only one had built a base of experience in relevant areas and developed a successful approach to problem solving. It wasn’t Barack Obama, as is now painfully obvious to us and the world. It wasn’t Joe Biden, a man who served a year in the senate 36 times. It wasn’t John McCain, another professional politician. That leaves Sarah Palin.
Ran a small business? Check.
Successful Mayor? Check.
Successful regulator? Check.
Successful Governor? Check.
Solved the long standing gas pipe-line problem? Check.
Fixed the relationship between Big Oil and the State of Alaska in Alaska’s favor? Check.
Rooted out corruption in the Alaskan GOP? Check.
Survived the most hostile personal attacks in US history? Check.
Courage under fire? She’s got that, too.
She is already making mincemeat of Obama with her FaceBook posts and she did pretty well in her VP debate with Joe Biden.
By PatD, at
Wed Sep 15, 11:37:00 AM:
Obama/Biden won and Palin/McCain lost. McCain went back to the senate and resumed his role as the maverick Rino. Palin went back to Alaska with a huge target painted on her back. She threatened to take away a core constituency of the Democrats, the soccer Moms, while attracting Reagan Democrats. The Democrats and their MSM lackeys continued their relentless election-time attacks on her and her family. And they found a weapon, that Palin created, to use against her. In fighting corruption in Alaska, Palin had promoted a strong ethics law that made it much easier for Joe Public to fight corruption. Palin’s opponents, some of them with links to George Soros and the White House, starting filing ethics complaints against Palin. This had two impacts; she and her staff were wasting a huge amount of time and tax-payer dollars responding to these complaints, and she was running up frightening legal bills. This was a Democrat’s dream come true; she would be stuck up in Alaska as an ineffectual governor struggling with ethics issues, a narrative the MSM was only too eager to run with.
Palin escaped that Alinsky trap by resigning. Pundits on the left and right wrote her off as a quitter. Well, she did quit being a target. They got that right. But she wasn’t quitting; she was reloading. She wrote a NY Times best-selling book that made her a millionaire. She found speaking engagements at $100K a pop. That’s Bill Clinton level fees. And she started zapping the Obama administration using Facebook. She almost derailed Obamacare with her “Death Panels” post, which she backed up in subsequent FB posts. Obama proved her correct when he used an unnecessary recess appointment to make Dr. Donald Berwick head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That puts Dr. Death in charge of the Death Panels. He’s the sort of anti-market progressive who doesn’t understand that today’s expensive drug is tomorrow’s generic sold at Walmart.
Palin has defied the pundits and become even more influential than she was as McCain’s VP candidate. In fact, their roles have reversed; he needed her to endorse him in his Senate race.
By Kinuachdrach, at
Wed Sep 15, 11:45:00 AM:
If I were female, I might be getting angry at the moment.
We see the "Old Boy" Republican establishment in lockstep with the corrupt Democrat establishment and the worthless Media establishment (but I repeat myself). Sarah Palin, Sharron Angle, Christine O'Donnell -- notice something about those the establishment considers Untouchable?
Meanwhile, O'Donnell is "too inexperienced" to be a Senator -- unlike, say Senator Al-Franken or Senator Hussein Obama?
The Republican establishment has made itself part of the Enemy Class. They think they can succeed by being "Not the Democrat". They are blowing a huge opportunity to earn a genuine electoral mandate for Hope & Change by running on a national platform of cutting spending & regulation and restoring Constitutional government.
The Republican establishment used to think that we, the people, had no alternative. Wrong!
By , at
Wed Sep 15, 01:26:00 PM:
All I want for Christmas is Nancy dumped.
I'm not expecting miracles, just some checks on the imbalances.
Paul Mirengoff is correct, in my view, and he is still a long ways from falling in love with Palin. So am I, but everybody thought Joe Biden, he the one of so much intelligence, would clean her clock in the VP debate. We all saw how that turned out.
I'll vote for some other Republican before I vote for her, but she has a history of littering the road with those that underestimate her. If at the end of the day it is her vs. BO, she'll do her part and I'll do mine.
M.E.
By , at
Wed Sep 15, 03:31:00 PM:
I'm not concerned with achieving any legislative objects, I just want to stop the commie bastards in DC from doing anything else to try to destroy our country and the middle class. Everything else, getting rid of Dingy or the Hag, trying Obama for treason, examining the records we should have seen, etc. is gravy.
