WSJ: Conservative Snobs Are Wrong About Palin
John O’Sullivan, a former senior advisor to Margaret Thatcher, offers a spirited defense of Sarah Palin in today’s Wall Street Journal:
Conservative Snobs Are Wrong About Palin
I know Maggie Thatcher. The two women have a lot in common.
By John O’Sullivan, Wall Street Journal, December 23, 2008
Being listed in fourth place for Time magazine’s “Person of the Year,” as Sarah Palin was for 2008, sounds a little like being awarded the Order of Purity (Fourth Class). But it testifies to something important.
Though regularly pronounced sick, dying, dead, cremated and scattered at sea, Mrs. Palin is still amazingly around. She has survived more media assassination attempts than Fidel Castro has survived real ones (Cuban official figure: 638). In her case, one particular method of assassination is especially popular — namely, the desperate assertion that, in addition to her other handicaps, she is “no Margaret Thatcher.”
Very few express this view in a calm or considered manner. Some employ profanity. Most claim to be conservative admirers of Mrs. Thatcher. Others admit they had always disliked the former British prime minister until someone compared her to “Sarracuda” — at which point they suddenly realized Mrs. Thatcher must have been absolutely brilliant (at least by comparison).
Inevitably, Lloyd Bentsen’s famous put-down of Dan Quayle in the 1988 vice-presidential debate is resurrected, such as by Paul Waugh (in the London Evening Standard) and Marie Cocco (in the Washington Post): “Newsflash! Governor, You’re No Maggie Thatcher,” sneered Mr. Waugh. Added Ms. Coco, “now we know Sarah Palin is no Margaret Thatcher — and no Dan Quayle either!”
Jolly, rib-tickling stuff. But, as it happens, I know Margaret Thatcher. Margaret Thatcher is a friend of mine. And as a matter of fact, Margaret Thatcher and Sarah Palin have a great deal in common.
You can read the full piece here.
Sarah Palin: Conservative of the Year
Human Events has named former Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Alaska Governor Sarah Plain “Conservative of the Year.
You can read Ann Coulter’s article about it here and Human Events Political Editor John Gizz’s interview with Gov. Palin here.
McCain Dodges the Palin Question
Josh Painter over at RedState points out this exchange between George Stephanopoulos and Sen. John McCain on last Sunday’s This Week:
Today on ABC’s This Week, when asked by host George Stephanopoulos whether he would support Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin if she runs for president, Sen. John McCain punted:
“Oh no. Listen I have the greatest appreciation for Gov. Palin and her family and it was a great joy to know them,” McCain said. “She invigorated our campaign and she was just down in Georgia and she invigorated their campaign.”
“But I can’t say something like that,” McCain said, “We’ve got some great other young governors… Pawlenty, Huntsman.”
Pressed by Stephanopoulos that McCain had considered Palin to be the best person to succeed him if he had been elected and something had happened to him, the former Republican presidential candidate replied:
“Well sure, but now we’re in a whole election cycle.”
My first reaction on seeing this was ho-hum… I thought it was kind of a non-story. I never expected Sen. McCain to endorse Sarah Palin, or anyone else for that matter, this soon after the election.
After reading some of the comments posted on George Stephanopoulos’ blog and elsewhere I decided to throw my two cents in though.
Republicans didn’t lose this election because of Sarah Palin or John McCain. They fighting an uphill battle against their own record over last eight years.
They lost this election because they abandoned traditional conservative principles in favor of some sort of squishy, centrist/populist republicanism that lead to out of controlled spending bad policy ideas like campaign finance reform, no child left behind, and amnesty for illegal aliens.
Sen. McCain’s choice of Gov. Palin as a running mate may not have helped him with independent voters but there’s no doubt she energized grass roots conservatives and helped get them to the polls on election day… Without her I can’t help but think that a lot of conservatives would have stayed home on election day.
I’m not sure how or when the Republican party lost its way, but It’s obvious that that there’s a civil war of sorts going on in the republican party… Grass conservatives who want the party to return to traditional conservatives principles are battling inside the beltway cocktail party republicans who think the party should move further towards the populist “center”.
Defining traditional conservative principles isn’t a simple task but in short they start with a fundamental unwavering belief that, in the words of the Declaration of Independence, “… all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
If Republicans are going to have any chance in 2012, or in the 2010 midterms, they need to put principles before policy and start educating voters about the principles of fiscal responsibility, limited government, private property rights, and a strong national defense.
Sarah Palin’s Church Damaged by Suspicious Fire
Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s home church was heavily damaged by a suspicious fire Friday night.
Damage to the Wasilla Bible Church was estimated at $1 million, authorities said Saturday. No one was injured in the fire, which was set Friday night while a handful of people, including two children, were inside, according to Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele.
He said the blaze was being investigated as an arson but didn’t know of any recent threats to the church. Authorities didn’t know whether Palin’s connection to the church was relevant to the fire, Steele said.
“It’s hard to say at this point. Everything is just speculation,” he said. “We have no information on intent or motive.”
It’s to early to know what the motivation of the person who set this fire was, hopefully it was just an act random inhumanity rather than politically motivated. Churches and other places of worship are, unfortunately attacked by nutcases all to often in this country.
That said I can’t help but think this is where the vitriolic atmosphere of American politics will ultimately take us. Somehow we have come to a place where policy differences become tied to a kind of visceral hatred which invites the unhinged to take violent actions against those they disagree with. If we cannot disagree without demonizing each other, the very foundations of our democracy and our society as a whole are in jeopardy.
Ed Morrissey has more @ Hot Air.
5 Myths About the 2008 Elections
Washington Post writer Chris Cillizza examines and attempts to debunk 5 myths about the 2008 elections… The entire article is worth reading but the two points that stand out in my opinion are these:
4. A Republican candidate could have won the presidency this year.
I doubt it. In the hastily penned postmortems of campaign ‘08, much of the blame for McCain’s loss seems to have fallen at the feet of the candidate and his advisers, who (so the narrative goes) made a series of lousy strategic decisions that wound up costing the Arizona senator the White House. There’s little question that some of the choices McCain and his team made — the most obvious being the impulsive decision to suspend his campaign and try to broker a deal on the financial rescue bill, only to see his efforts blow up in his face — did not help. But a look at this year’s political atmospherics suggests that the environment was so badly poisoned that no Republican — not Mitt Romney, not Mike Huckabee, not even the potential future GOP savior, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal — could have beaten Obama on Nov. 4.
Why not? Three words (and a middle initial): President George W. Bush.
In the national exit poll, more than seven in 10 voters said that they disapproved of the job Bush was doing; not surprisingly, Obama resoundingly won that group, 67 percent to 31 percent. But here’s an even more stunning fact: While 7 percent of the exit-poll sample strongly approved of the job Bush was doing, a whopping 51 percent strongly disapproved. Obama won those strong disapprovers 82 percent to 16 percent. And Bush’s approval numbers looked grim for the GOP even before the September financial meltdown.
Just one in five voters in the national exit polls said that the country was “generally going in the right direction.” McCain won that group 71 percent to Obama’s 27 percent. But among the 75 percent of voters who said that the country was “seriously off on the wrong track,” Obama had a thumping 26-point edge.
Those numbers speak to the damage that eight years of the Bush administration have done to the Republican brand. It’s a burden that any candidate running for president with an “R” after his — or her — name would have had to drag around the country.
5. McCain made a huge mistake in picking Sarah Palin.
No subject is more likely to break up a dinner party early than the Alaska governor McCain chose as his running mate. Everyone not only has an opinion about her qualifications (or lack thereof) but also feels it necessary to share those opinions with anyone within shouting range.
Love her or loathe her, the data appear somewhere close to conclusive that Palin did little to help — and, in fact, did some to hurt — McCain’s attempts to reach out to independents and Democrats. But just because Palin doesn’t appear to have helped McCain move to the middle doesn’t mean that picking her was the wrong move.
Remember where McCain found himself this past summer. He had won the Republican nomination, but the GOP base clearly felt little buy-in into his campaign. A slew of national polls reflected that energy gap, with Democrats revved up about the election and their candidate and Republicans somewhere between tepid and glum.
Enter Palin, who was embraced with a bear hug by the party’s conservative base. All of a sudden, cultural conservatives were thrilled at the chance to put “one of their own” in the White House. In fact, of the 60 percent of voters who told exit pollsters that McCain’s choice of Palin was a “factor” in their final decision, the Arizona senator won 56 percent to 43 percent.
For skittish conservatives looking for more evidence that McCain understood their needs and concerns, Palin did the trick. It’s hard to imagine conservatives rallying to McCain — even to the relatively limited extent that they did — without Palin on the ticket. And without the base, McCain’s loss could have been far worse.
I agree with Cillizza on both points.
1) Republicans had no chance in this election… Over the last decade they’ve abandoned traditional conservative principles in favor of some sort of squishy, centrist/populist quasi conservative “Republicanism” that lead to out of controlled spending and bad policy ideas like campaign finance reform, no child left behind, and amnesty for illegal aliens.
If Republicans expect to have any chance in the 2010 mid-terms or in 2012 Presidential election they need rediscover traditional conservative principles. Defining those principles isn’t a simple task but for me they start with a fundamental unwavering belief that, in the words of the Declaration of Independence, “… all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
It used to be that Republicans embodied those principles by fighting for fiscal responsibility, limited government, private property rights, and a strong national defense. I’m not sure how or when the Republican party lost its way what I do know is they’ve lost lost two straight elections because they’ve alienated both their conservative base and independent voters.
2) Sarah Palin may not have helped McCain with independent voters she did energize the conservative base of the Republican party… Without her on ticket I think it’s a safe bet that Barack Obama’s margin of victory would have been larger.
Personally, I think some Palin’s problems with independent voters sterm from the McCain campaigns management of her. I think they would have been better served by having do a handful of interviews with talk radio and local media in swing states to tell her story directly to voters before her national media interviews with Charlie Gibson and Kattie Couric.
The Blame Game
Over the last couple of days a lot has been said and written about why Republicans lost… Conservatives want to blame John McCain. Moderates and some McCain staffers are trying to pin the blame on Sarah Palin.
Enough!
All this finger pointing ignores one simple truth: Republicans had ZERO chance of winning this election. They have spent much of the past decade destroying their “brand”, they abandoned solid conservative principles in favor of quasi conservative/centrist/populist ideas that lead to out of control spending and bad policy ideas like campaign finance reform and amnesty for illegal aliens that alienated their conservative base.
That plus the Bush Administration’s mismanagement of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, coupled with their ham-fisted response to hurricane Katrina and failure to engage their opponents in a meaningful policy debate not only deepened the divide with the party’s conservative base it helped alienate independent voters.
The basic problem for Republicans is that they’ve forgotten Conservatism is not policy idea it is a fundamental unwavering belief that, in the words of the Declaration of Independence, “… all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
If Republicans expect to have any chance of winning in the 2010 mid-term elections, much less the 2012 Presidential election, they have to rediscover those fundamental principles and return to being the party that embodies them through policies that promote fiscal responsibility and a smaller less intrusive government.
These truths should be self-evident; unfortunately they aren’t, they have to be articulated constantly, lest people forget what they are.
Election Postmortem
Let the finger pointing begin… Beltway Republicans will undoubtedly blame John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate as the reason for his loss. Palin may not have been the most qualified candidate available and her disastrous interview with Katie Couric certainly didn’t help her or John McCain.
It’s easy to lay the blame at Palin’s feet but doing so misses the larger picture; Republicans had no chance of winning this election for a number of reasons:
- Fatigue - Simply put Pres. Bush and Republicans in the House and Senate abandoned Conservative principles and alienated Republican an independent voters with out of control spending, bad policy ideas like amnesty for illegal immigrants, and campaign finance reform and by grossly overreaching on some social issues. That coupled with the Bush Administration’s failure to engage the opposition in a meaningful policy debate left grass roots conservatives demoralized… We fought for them but for the most part they didn’t fight for us.
- Lack of vision - For all intents and purposes the Republican Party ran an agendaless campaign. Yes, they had ideas but they never communicated them in an effective manner and allowed Democrats to color the ideas they did have as just more of the same.
- The Economy - For 8 years democrats and media have called the Bush economy the worst in 50 years, something that’s simply not true… But because of the Bush Administrations failure to engage it’s resonated with voters. September’s economic collapse helped to validate that belief.
That said John McCain and Sarah Plain did about as well as a Republicans could do in this environment.
Where do go from here?
To be honest I’m not sure. Unless things change dramatically Republican prospects don’t look good for the 2010 mid-terms or in 2012.
We need new leadership at the RNC and in the House and Senate… Personally I’d love to see someone like Newt Gingrich as the next RNC chairman. Yes, Newt’s a lightening rod, but he’s also the one of the most effective advocates for conservatism we have.
Ed Morrissey has additional thoughts at Hot Air, Michelle Malkin says “Enough with the “re-branding” crap” and Congressman Thaddeus McCotter has must read column in the American Spectator:
Now, Seize Freedom!
Welcome to “Republican Rock Bottom.”
Possessed of no vision, no principle, no purpose, and no appeal, we deserved our fate.
Now, seize freedom!
Finally, we are divorced from self-deceits. Dead is the self-indulgent imbecility of “re-branding” — as if the Republican Party was a corporate product to be repackaged, not a transformational political movement to be led. Despite what the media will tell you, and what so-called “conservative leaders” will discuss ad nauseam during “secret” meetings, this situation is not a crisis. It is an opportunity. Today, we are as the Great Emancipator proclaimed during another time of national trial: unbound by the tired dogmas of the past; and free to think and act anew.First, we must not mindlessly mimic the momentarily triumphant Left. Sleek, detached, media savvy non-entities posing as existentially anguished leaders are neither in our nature nor our future. We are not teeny-bopper, pop-star politicians or the ideological dinosaurs of wealth redistribution.
At heart, we Republicans are flesh and blood and backbone, the proud servants of people. If we re-orient our vision, renew our purpose, and reaffirm our principles, the times will demand us — not as we were, but as we must be! Read the rest…
Alaska Personal Board Clears Plain Of Wrong Doing In “Troopergate”
New report from the Alaska Personal Board has cleared Governor Sarah Palin in the firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. The report prepared by independent investigator Timothy Petumenos, goes on to say the investigator hired by the Legislature was wrong to conclude that Palin abused her power by allowing aides and her husband to pressure Monegan to dismiss her former brother-in-law.
From the Anchorage Daily News:
A new report, released just hours before the polls open on Election Day, exonerates Gov. Sarah Palin in the “Troopergate” controversy.
The state Personnel Board-sanctioned investigation is the second into whether Palin violated state ethics law in firing her public safety commissioner earlier this year, and it contradicts the earlier findings by a special counsel hired by the state Legislature. The board is set up in state law as an independent agency to hear complaints of violations of state ethics law brought against executive branch employees. Members are appointed by the governor, though Palin only had a role in appointing one of the three members.
Both investigations found that Palin was within her rights to fire Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. But the new report says the Legislature’s investigator was wrong to conclude that Palin abused her power by allowing aides and her husband, Todd, to pressure Monegan and others to dismiss her ex-brother-in-law, Trooper Mike Wooten. Palin was accused of firing Monegan because Wooten stayed on the job.
For the first time, the report says Palin specifically denies Monegan’s versions of events; specifically, she says two conversations that Monegan described having with her about Wooten never happened. Both Monegan and Palin made their statements under oath. Read the rest…
Democrats will of course call the Personal Board’s investigation biased but to anyone who has followed this case closely, the personal board’s finding isn’t at all surprising.
Sarah Palin: ‘I Haven’t Always Just Toed the Line’
Whatever reservations I have about Sarah Palin’s qualifications are largely muted by the fact that I like her. Palin has endured a torrent of abuse from the left and from some erstwhile republican elitist and through it all, she has remained cheerful, positive and optimistic.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Ask Sarah Palin what she has found most surprising about her campaign experience and she replies, with more than a touch of humility, “the enthusiasm.” She’s got a point.
Wending my way through the traffic and crowds around the Palin event in this small river city on Thursday morning, I began to wonder if the whole state hadn’t shown up. Walking the cold half-hour from the nearest parking space, I passed mobs of disappointed voters who had already been turned away for lack of space. Inside the city’s Show Me Center, thousands of roaring, stomping, sign-waving Palin fans were practically hanging from the rafters. It felt like, well . . . an Obama rally.
And there you have the paradox of Sarah Palin. The press has brutalized the Alaska governor, playing gotcha with her record, digging through her family life. The liberal intelligentsia has declared her unfit for office, a rube, a right-wing maniac. The conservative intelligentsia has accused her of being a lightweight, of “anti-intellectualism.” Polls suggest a significant number of voters believe she is not up for the job.
Yet her supporters idolize her — all the more because of the criticism. Mrs. Palin has, for millions of Americans, become a symbol of a reformist average Jane, a working mom, ready to take on the Washington they detest. Talking to Missourians before the event, I heard little mention of flashpoint issues like her religious views, or her experience. I was instead repeatedly, and vociferously, informed that a Vice President Palin would “fix that place” and “shape up the GOP.” I also heard a lot about how she would accomplish all this because she was a “real” person.
The governor is one of those politicians with the gift of connecting with her audience, a trait that surely has helped with her quick political rise. “I’m so glad you’re here!” she said as I walked in to the holding room, with such warmth I wondered if she might actually mean it. As in her staged events, she comes across in person as confident. Read the rest…
Palin Now More Accessible than Obama?
The conventional wisdom is that Sarah Palin doesn’t make herself available to the national news media, but as this CBS News story shows that simply isn’t true.
It was less than two weeks ago when Sarah Palin astonished her traveling press corps by lifting the curtain (literally) and journeying to the back of her campaign plane to answer reporters’ questions for the first time after 40 days on the campaign trail. But the candidate who has been criticized for having a bunker mentality when it came to the national media can now lay legitimate claim to being more accessible than either Joe Biden or Barack Obama.
In the past two days alone, Palin has answered questions from her national press corps on three separate occasions. On Saturday, she held another plane availability, and on Sunday, she offered an impromptu press conference on the tarmac upon landing in Colorado Springs. A few minutes later, she answered even more questions from reporters during an off-the-record stop at a local ice cream shop.
By contrast, Biden hasn’t held a press conference in more than a month, and Obama hasn’t taken questions from his full traveling press corps since the end of September.
One of my biggest complaints about the McCain campaign is how they handled Gov. Palin after she was announced as John McCain’s running mate. Personally, I think they made a huge mistake by keeping her away from the media in the weeks after the convention. They would have been much better off scheduling interviews on talk radio so she could introduce herself and tell her story directly to voters.
H/T: Ed Morrissey.