MSM’s Take on Sarah Palin’s No Show at CPAC |
Here’s a YouTube look at how the MSM is interpreting Sarah Palin’s decision not to attend the great CPAC conference from this weekend just past.
I would be very interested to know if the decision not to attend came from Palin or if the powers that be in the RNC leaned on Gov. Palin to hold off on any high profile appearances until she gets some more experience in handling the national media.
~~John Cronin~~
Tags: CPAC Conference, Sarah Palin
Decision Time - Five Potential GOP Candidates Face Difficult Choice |
By the time the next Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) rolls around in 2010, we should have a much clearer picture of who will be running in the 2012 Presidential Election. That doesn’t mean the field will be completely set, but it should begin taking shape late this year, when potential candidates begin building their contacts and getting their names back in the news - or not.
But for five members of the potential 2012 race, a difficult decision lies in front of them - one they will have to make long before, though not necessarily apart from, their decision on whether or not to run for President. Like many Presidential elections, many of the biggest names of 2012 are Governors - including former VP candidate Sarah Palin, and second-tier members Jindal, Pawlenty, and Sanford. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist is also rumored to be nursing Presidential ambitions, though he is less likely to be a major in 2012 than the others. But all five must decide whether or not to seek re-election to their current offices before running for President in 2012. Four will be on the ballot in 2010, while Bobby Jindal, who perhaps drew the lowest card in the deck, must run again in 2011 if he wants to maintain his position as Governor of Louisiana.
Running in 2010 and again in 2012 isn’t impossible, but it brings up interesting questions for each of the candidates. For example, how do you convince voters to elect you to office, even if you clearly have higher ambitions? “Its my back-up” isn’t a particularly strong argument for re-election. Also, what would the effects of a loss be on their Presidential ambitions? George Allen, remember, was the favorite for 2008 until he lost his bid to keep his Virginia Senate seat in 2006 - effectively ending his Presidential run. With that in mind, the clear answer might be to give up their office to focus fully on a run for President, but that too, has its own unique challenges. Of all the candidates mentioned above, only Sarah Palin is clearly in the top tier - the group from which Republican nominees are almost exclusively drawn. And even her position is questionable, given her lackluster performance in the CPAC straw poll, and her potential to vote-split with fmr. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. That leaves the potential that all five could be out of work by June 2012, and the oldest, Crist, is only 52. That’s not a particularly enviable position for any politician.
Correction: It has been brought to my attention by Dav46 that South Carolina Mark Sanford is term-limited, and will be unable to seek re-election in 2010. At least for one of the candidates, the choice has been made for them.
Tags: 2012 Election, Bobby Jindal, Charlie Crist, Mark Sanford, Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty
2012 Power Rankings: January 17th Edition |
In just three days, Barack Obama will formally take over as the 44th President of the United States, and while we still a long way from the 2012 campaign season, its not too early to take a long at which Republicans are most likely to challenge Obama four years from now. Of course, the length of time between now and the start of the next election make these kinds of assessments preliminary. Its possible, even likely, that the rankings will change several times before the Iowa Caucus in 2012, but, for what its worth, here is the first edition of the 2012 CTR Power Rankings:
Tags: 2012 Election, Bobby Jindal, Mark Sanford, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Republicans, Sarah Palin
Romney’s 2012 base: Utah?December 4th, 2008 | 11 Comments | Posted in Governor Romney, Mitt Romney, Presidential Politics, Primaries & Caucuses, Utah
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http://www.politickerma.com/wallyedgema/2060/romneys-2012-base-utah
By Wally Edge
Vice chairman of the Utah Republican Party Todd Weiler on why Gov. Mitt Romney (R), not Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), has the upper hand in Utah for 2012:
“The conservative base in Utah, I think they’re still looking forward to a Romney run in 2012,” Weiler said. “I’m not surprised people aren’t lining up to jump on the Palin bandwagon just yet.”
Weiler said the success of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake guarantees Romney will “always be Utah’s favorite son. If he wants to run, he’s going to have a home base here. Just being Mormon is not enough.”
During the Republican primary, Romney carried the state with 89.5 percent of the vote, a much higher share than the 51 percent he earned in Massachusetts.
Romney won a total of 11 states during the primary including — you betcha — Alaska, where he garnered 36 percent of the vote.
WALLY EDGE can be reached via email at politickerma@gmail.com.
Tags: Sarah Palin
More on Palin |
Despite a clear failure of the Republican ticket in 2008, it seems that some within the party still consider it sinful to criticize Gov. Palin, the now-former VP nominee. Unfortunately, there seems to remain a high level of what we might call “Palin worship” - those who will hear nothing bad about Sarah, and are determined to make her the nominee in 2012, likely to the detriment of both the Governor and the GOP.
Its true enough that Palin bears little responsibility for her own selection, and so much of the blame for the loss on Tuesday remains in John McCain’s lap. But that does not mean that Palin was a good pick. I never opposed Palin because I believed she would make decisions that would doom the campaign, but because I believed that she would come across as unprepared, inexperienced, and lacking in both knowledge of major issues and serious accomplishments. Say what you will, but it appears that my criticism was right on all counts.
There are some who will claim - as the already have in the comments section of this site - that Palin can only be considereda net positive because she “excited the base”. This may be true - the base certainly was energized in the short term, but in the long run, any benefit she may have provided disappeared by election day. Few, if any, polls showed John McCain in a better position on election day than he was the day before he picked Palin, and many statewide polls gave Palin a negative approval rating by the end of the campaign. Overall, more than half of the American public said that Palin was unprepared to be President.
Even if Palin did excite some within the GOP, I would challenge anyone to present evidence that the same excitement could not have been generated with another selection - perhaps one who would have been able to cover for McCain’s lack of experience on economic issues.
Tags: John McCain, Sarah Palin
Autopsy on the McCain Campaign |
At the start of this election cycle, no one should have expected a Republican victory. With an unpopular war, corruption within the GOP, and a generally unhappy electorate, there was no reason to expect that McCain or any other Republican would be able to win the White House in 2008. Yet, its very difficult to lay blame for last night’s defeat on anyone other than John McCain and Sarah Palin. The fact that McCain stayed as close as he did, for as long as he did, despite running as poor a campaign as he did, speaks of a fundamental weakness of Obama.
Perhaps the biggest mistake of this campaign cycle was made by Republican voters when they chose an old Washington insider to confront the platform of youth and change. But that alone should not have doomed the party. Had he made the right moves, McCain should still have been able to win this election. Unfortunately, a number of errors on his part led to defeat instead:
1) “I don’t understand the economy” - This reflect just how poor of a campaigner John McCain is. Why any politician would admit that they are clueless about a major issue is beyond me. Exit polls confirmed that the economy was the top issue.
2) Not using the “Wright” issue - McCain had no hesitation about using either William Ayers or Tony Rezko against Obama, so why didn’t he attack him for - willingly - attending a clearly Anti-American church for 20 years?
3) “Country First” - This is one you really don’t here about, but I personally believe that McCain’s choice to make service and sacrifice a primary theme of his campaign was a mistake. You do not go to a war-weary public that is suffering from a deep economic crisis to ask them to give even more. Contrast Obama’s message of hope and change with McCain’s primary theme.
4) Dropping the economic ball, again -Even after McCain admitted a lack of knowledge or experience on the economy, he still could have comeback had he picked a running mate who could have covered for his flaws, or else announced a team of respected advisors who would craft his economic policy. Instead, he failed to use either Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney in any large capacity, while naming a VP who had little - if any - experience on this critical issue.
5) Palin -Am I a little biased? Yes. Undeniably. Not only do I believe that Romney should have been the VP, but I also believe that McCain would have won if he had picked Mitt. But personal loyalty aside, with the exception of exciting the base - which could have been done by any number of Republicans, including Mitt - can anyone name me a single benefit provided by Palin? She failed to bring Hillary supporters to the ticket, she added no additional experience or expertise to the ticket, and was zero help in any state. In fact, poll after poll has shown that, not only did the vast majority of voters believe Palin to be unqualified, but in some areas, she actually had a NEGATIVE approval rating.
I can’t honestly say that any of that surprises me, but if the McCain campaign wants to know why it lost, it needs only to look in the mirror.
Tags: John McCain, Sarah Palin
Palin’s SpeechSeptember 4th, 2008 | 8 Comments | Posted in Acceptance Speech, John McCain, Republican Convention, Republicans, Sarah Palin
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For archiving purposes:
Girl PowerSeptember 4th, 2008 | 6 Comments | Posted in Alaska, Cindy McCain, Girl Power, History, John McCain, Meghan McCain, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Women's Suffrage
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From The McCain Blogette
A Portait of Sarah PalinAugust 29th, 2008 | 36 Comments | Posted in Biography, Glenn Beck, John McCain, Multimedia, Sarah Palin, VP, Veepstakes, Vice President, Video, conservatives
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From Governor RomneyAugust 29th, 2008 | 78 Comments | Posted in John McCain, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, VP, Veepstakes, Vice President
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ROMNEY STATEMENT ON GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN
BOSTON. . . Governor Romney today issued the following statement on John McCain’s selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate:
“Governor Palin’s story is one that all Americans will find inspiring. She’s a Washington outsider with a commitment to the conservative principles that will make our nation stronger. I look forward to campaigning for Senator McCain, Governor Palin and Republicans all across the country.”
Tags: John McCain, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Veepstakes, Vice President, VP
Obama Attacks PalinAugust 29th, 2008 | 16 Comments | Posted in Barack Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin, VP, Veepstakes, Vice President
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Ya know, McCain put out this video last night specifically to highlight the historic nature of Obama’s nomination:
So, what does Obama do upon McCain’s decision to choose Sarah Palin as his VP Nominee…
“the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency.”
Obama is such a weasel. He can’t even give a civil response. I’m gonna be fighting HARD to ensure he doesn’t get elected President.
Tags: Barack Obama, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Veepstakes, Vice President, VP
Palin is it…August 29th, 2008 | 77 Comments | Posted in Independant, John McCain, Maverick, Sarah Palin, VP, Veepstakes, Vice President
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While I love Mitt Romney, I am very happy with this choice…A conservative woman, and a mother of a special needs child to boot (that means a whole lot to a person like me).
