The Palin Party

Over at Daily Kos, BrooklynBadBoy has a piece arguing that Sarah Palin's influence on the Republican party is what's keeping Mitt Romney from locking down the nomination. It's a good read.

From the post:

The Palin Party does not want Mitt Romney. For while Palin and Romney are both ambitious to a fault, Romney's ambition is of a different variety. Romney couldn't care less about minorities, gays, women, city and suburb dwellers, immigrants, or any of the other "others" that the Palin Party despises. Mitt Romney couldn't care less about religion, including his own. That's why he doesn't like talking about it honestly in public. Mitt Romney cares about one thing and one thing only: that the top one percent stay on top and become even more top. That's a problem for the Palin Party because they believe they should be on top by virtue of being better than everyone else ... by being "real Americans" rather than rich Americans.

Generally I think Romney's problems come down to a shitty economy. He's the worst candidate for this cycle because he so obviously represents the people responsible for our current economic situation. Both Democrats and Republicans are suffering equally in this recession, and though we disagree on the solution it's obvious to everyone that the lying, stealing, and greed of the 1% got us to this point.

But BrooklynBadBoy is right about Sarah Palin electrifying the base and giving new energy to that segment of the GOP. The moralists, the racists, and the populists finally had a voice - a voice they recognized as being one of their own.

Watching Game Change last week, I was reminded of how much my aunt adored Palin, referring to her as "my kind of girl." I was also reminded of what I initially liked about Palin's arc (I know, I know!). Sarah Palin was clearly not a republican in the old white man mold, but she had no sense whatsoever that she shouldn't be there. She was clueless of how the system worked and not at all compelled to follow the rules.

BrooklynBadBoy's post concludes:

In the end, Palin's legacy will fade away as quickly as it came about. Her party is an aging, shrinking, dying demographic of rural White men. Many of the Republican party's luminaries understand this. Likely sooner than later, the GOP establishment will come to grips with the idea that if they are to survive as a political institution they will have to jettison the nutcase fringe. The reckoning will come, as the American political system tends to correct anomalies over time. But first, they'll have to blow an election that should have been easy as apple pie. For that, Mitt Romney can thank Sarah Palin.

The economy is going to help here as well. In better economic times Americans don't have as much need for moralism or scapegoats. Only the social die hards will remain and their numbers are shrinking rapidly. Just not fast enough to save Mitt Romney. Read More......

Sarah Palin endorses Gingrich in South Carolina, sort of

Apparently Sarah Palin is enjoying this primary season as much as I am. She'd like it to keep going for awhile longer, and a vote for Newt is the best way to keep this circus alive.

Also, in case you were wondering, Palin's complete lack of self-awareness remains unchanged. Money quote from the article:

“More debates, more vetting of candidates because we know the mistake made in our country four years ago was having a candidate that was not vetted, to the degree that he should have been,” Palin explained. “I want to see that taking place this time because America is on this precipice — it’s that important. We need this process to continue."

The other half of Team Palin, Todd, formally endorsed Gingrich last week. Read More......

Campaign finance questions emerge around current Palin trip

MSNBC contributor Karen Finney has a piece in The Hill questioning the propriety of Sarah Palin's use of SarahPAC money to pay for her and her family's "vacation" around the east coast. The trip has been treated by the press the same way it has been treated by Palin's growing campaign machine: like a political trip, replete with meet-and-greets, on-the-road pop-ins and photo ops with key Republican politicians at iconic locations. Of course, as Finney points out, Palin's explanations of this as a family vacation fly in the face of what political contributions to her PAC can and should be used for. Finney writes:

Given that Palin has so emphatically stated that this personal family vacation is not related to any political purpose, is it criminally fraudulent — federally punishable as mail or wire fraud — if the PAC funds, reasonably contributed for political purposes, are unlawfully converted for personal use?

This is a great question and an incredibly reasonable one for reporters to ask.

Finney thinks Palin is showing poor judgement by using PAC money for a family vacation which is masquerading as a presidential campaign testing-the-water trip which is masquerading as a family vacation. I disagree. Palin can answer as she has already - by being deliberately obtuse while performing linguistic gymnastics in response to reporters questions. She can tell her supporters on Facebook and Twitter that these questions are simply the LAMEstream media out to silence her. And she can probably assume that neither the FEC nor the Department of Justice will investigate if she is illegally using PAC money for personal gain, despite the fact that John Edwards is about to be indicted for using unreported political contributions for personal gain. In a sense, Palin has no real reason to not be coy with her purposes and her accounting because she has generally immunized herself from scrutiny from the press and from Democrats (at least to the extent that she does not accept their frame - how voters take her is a different question). Read More......

Palin attacks Romney, liberals defend Romney

CNN's Peter Hamby tweets that Sarah Palin has used one of her non-campaign stops to attack Mitt Romney's work passing an individual mandate while Governor of Massachusetts:

Palin just ripped apart Romneycare at Bunker Hill. Said Mitt will have problems with tea party folks

Alexandra Moe of NBC News has a precise quote in her tweet:

@SarahPalinUSA on Romneycare: "Health care plan in my opinion any mandate coming from govt is not a good thing so obviously"

This isn't terribly surprising, though I do wonder what sort of standing Palin has to question anyone's accomplishments as Governor on any issue, as she has none of her own and quit when her administration's dubious behaviors started to receive too much scrutiny from the Alaskan public.

Eddie Vale of the liberal health care organization Protect Your Care put a statement out based on the Hamby tweet while Palin was still talking.

It’s insulting and demeaning that half-term Governor Sarah Palin would attack Mitt Romney’s leadership on health care policy. While she has a record of filming reality shows and driving around in a bus he has one of actual policy work passing a law in MA – including pioneering the use of the individual mandate – that laid the foundation for passing the Affordable Care Act.

Burn, though in this case, it probably burns Romney just as much as it does Palin...which surely is Protect Your Care's intention.

(Updated with Moe's tweet quoting Palin directly) Read More......

Palin's dangerous mystery tour

Apparently Sarah Palin's decision to make life hard for the LAMEstream media who covers her every move with bated breath is actually creating dangerous traffic conditions for the convoy of reporters and tv crews following her on the road. The Palin team (dare not call it a campaign!) has refused to tell the press their schedule, as a normal campaign would to ensure that the media arrives in the right place at the right time. This childish blackout comes while up to fifteen cars from national outlets and TV networks follow Palin around the east coast. Not shockingly, this behavior isn't making the press happy:

It adds up to a dangerous situation, says CBS News Producer Ryan Corsaro.

"I just hope to God that one of these young producers with a camera whose bosses are making them follow Sarah Palin as a potential Republican candidate don't get in a car crash, because this is dangerous," he said.

Sarah Palin has spent her entire tenure as a national figure attacking the press. In that regard, this hostile behavior isn't shocking. But it is somewhat dangerous and not likely to earn her any friends in the press. Read More......

The Undefeated?

Via Mediaite, Hannity has a preview of the new Palin sponsored documentary, "The Undefeated." Here's the clip:

Not to be a nitpicker, but how can a film about Sarah Palin be called "The Undefeated" given the following:

Or this:

Honestly as someone who lived in Alaska while Palin was governor and has a special appreciation for the level of egotistical crazy she espouses, I actually can't wait to see this feature-length Palin ad. I think it is going to be a laugh a minute and regardless of whether or not Palin decides to pursue the Republican presidential nomination, will provide us all with enough joy through mockable material to last a whole election cycle. Read More......

Romney leads in NH while Pawlenty drops 5 after he announces

The newest WMUR Granite state poll is out and it shows that Mitt Romney is maintaining a big lead in his adopted home state. Meanwhile former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty who posted a respectable 7% showing before he announced in February is now at 2% (PDF) in the latest poll behind fringe candidates Donald Trump, Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann.

Pawlenty has been hitting the trail and meeting voters for about a month and his standing in the granite state has only deteriorated. Could he be the first serious candidate to drop out?

WMUR Granite state poll
May 4, 2011

Mitt Romney 36%(40%) -4
Donald Trump 11%(3%) +8
Rudolph Giuliani 7%(10%) -3
Mike Huckabee 6%(7%) -1
Ron Paul 6%(5%) +1
Sarah Palin 4%(6%) -2
Newt Gingrich 4%(6%) -2
Michelle Bachmann 4%(Wasn't polled previously)
Tim Pawlenty 2%(7%) -5
Mitch Daniels 2%(0%) +2 Read More......

Republican 2012'ers avoid any nice words about Obama over bin Laden's death

Many of the potential 2012 Republican nominees have statements out about the killing of Bin Laden. Only Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty were classy enough to give any credit to President Obama though Pawlenty goes out of his way to give credit to George W. Bush.

Facebook post from former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney:

"This is a great victory for lovers of freedom and justice everywhere. Congratulations to our intelligence community, our military and the president. My thoughts are with the families of Osama bin Laden's many thousands of victims, and the brave servicemen and women who have laid down their lives in pursuit of this murderous terrorist."

Written statement from former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty:

"This is terrific news for freedom and justice. In the hours after the 9/11 attacks, President Bush promised that America would bring Osama bin Laden to justice — and we did. I want to congratulate America's armed forces and President Obama for a job well done. Let history show that the perseverance of the US military and the American people never wavered. America will never shrink from the fight and ultimately those who seek to harm us face only defeat. Today, justice is done, but the fight against radical Islamic terrorism is not yet over."

Tweet from former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin:

"Thank you, American men and women in uniform. You are America's finest and we are all so proud. Thank you for fighting against terrorism.

Written statement from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee:

"It is unusual to celebrate a death, but today Americans and decent people the world over cheer the news that madman, murderer and terrorist Osama Bin Laden is dead. The leader of Al Qaeda--- responsible for the deaths of 3000 innocent citizens on September 11, 2001, and whose maniacal hate is responsible for the deaths of thousands of US servicemen and women was killed by U.S. military. President Obama confirmed the announcement late last night. DNA tests confirmed his death and his body is in the possession of the U. S. It has taken a long time for this monster to be brought to justice. Welcome to hell, bin Laden. Let us all hope that his demise will serve notice to Islamic radicals the world over that the United States will be relentless is tracking down and terminating those who would inflict terror, mayhem and death on any of our citizens."

Written statement from Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann:

"I want to express my deepest gratitude to the men and women of the U.S. military and intelligence community. Their persistence and dedicated service has yielded success in a mission that has gripped our nation since the terrible events of 9/11. Tonight’s news does not bring back the lives of the thousands of innocent people who were killed that day by Osama bin Laden’s horrific plan, and it does not end the threat posed by terrorists, but it is my hope that this is the beginning of the end of Sharia-compliant terrorism.”

Written statement from former Sen. Rick Santorum:

"This is extraordinary news for all freedom loving people of the world, and I commend all those involved for this historic triumph. Americans have waited nearly ten years for the news of Osama bin Laden's death. And while this is a very significant objective that cannot be minimized, the threat from Jihadism does not die with bin Laden. As we were vigilant in taking him out we need to demonstrate we will continue to be vigilant until the enemy has been subdued."

Read More......

Trump tied for lead in national poll

CNN has a new national poll out which puts Donald Trump tied for the lead in the Republican presidential primary. In other words, there's a good chance that the Republican Party will be as dead as whatever it is that is glued to The Donald's head.

Donald Trump is now tied with Mike Huckabee for first place when Republicans are asked who they support for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, according to a new national poll.
...
Nineteen percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents questioned in the poll say that as of now, they'd be most likely to support Trump for next year's GOP presidential nomination. Trump says he'll decide by June whether he runs for the White House. An equal amount say they'd back Huckabee. The former Arkansas governor and 2008 Republican presidential candidate says he'll decide by later this year if he'll make another bid for the White House.

Twelve percent say they'd support former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, who was the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee, with 11 percent backing former Massachusetts Gov. and 2008 White House hopeful Mitt Romney and the same amount supporting former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Seven percent say they are backing Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, another 2008 presidential candidate, with five percent supporting Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who enjoys strong backing from many in the Tea Party movement. Everyone else registers in the low single digits.

The running order is Trump, Huckabee, Palin, Romney, Gingrich, Ron Paul and Bachmann.

Trump has done a great job getting his name in the news over the last month, largely through an outlandish foray into Birtherism. Combine that with his reality tv show celebrity and I find it hard to believe that most of this isn't just about whose name GOP primary voters have heard the most often. Of course that doesn't diminish the challenge Trump poses to the professional political field (nor does his statement that he will likely run as an independent if he doesn't win the GOP nomination). Read More......

On Fox News Sarah Palin agrees with birthers about Obama's birth certificate

There's very little dog whistle going on in this clip. Sarah Palin, giving trump some "verbal support" for his fake investigation into President Obama's birth place and certificate. This ran late into the night on Fox News which begs the question, why in the world would Sarah Palin destroy any stature she already has to follow the less popular Donald Trump off the birtherism cliff at a show that doesn't even run in prime time. If you're going to commit political suicide by coming out as a birther, why not just do it on a popular show that conservative birthers actually watch?



The myth (smear is actually much more accurate) is so prevelant that among Republican activists and politicians that the state of Hawaii actually has a website up providing a copy of the birth certificate and debunking common smears. Read More......

Sarah Palin wants Iraq to pay the US for invading

Yet another indication that Donald Trump is actually the main voice in the Republican presidential process. On Fox News she says that she agrees with Donald Trump and that countries we've "liberated" like Iraq should pay the US for the invasion.

Read More......

Ryan's budget & the primary

David Brooks writes of Paul Ryan's budget & proposed privatization of Medicare:

The Ryan budget will not be enacted this year, but it will immediately reframe the domestic policy debate.

His proposal will set the standard of seriousness for anybody who wants to play in this discussion. It will become the 2012 Republican platform, no matter who is the nominee. Any candidate hoping to win that nomination will have to be able to talk about government programs with this degree of specificity, so it will improve the G.O.P. primary race.

While I was inclined to agree with Brooks about Ryan's budget being picked up by the 2012 Republican field, it looks like it isn't actually going to be the case just yet. Ben Smith has a statement from Tim Pawlenty which puts distance between himself and Ryan's proposal:

Thanks to Paul Ryan in Congress, the American people finally have someone offering real leadership in Washington. President Obama has failed to lead and make tough choices his entire time in the White House. While the budget is going to be debated for several months to come, the more immediate issue we face is President Obama’s plans to raise the debt ceiling next month. That's a really bad idea. With over $14 trillion debt already, we should not allow Washington’s big spenders to put us further in the hole. We must get our fiscal house in order with real spending cuts and with real structural reforms that stop the spending spree before it bankrupts our country.

Pawlenty is essentially saying that Ryan's budget is serious, but isn't buying into it fully as his message vehicle for talking about the debt and spending cuts. Of course, Ryan's budget aims to solve the problems Pawlenty is saying, so this may be Pawlenty seeking to have his own brand with no substantive difference in policy. If you look at what little substance there is in Pawlenty's statement, it reads awfully like Ryan's premise.

I think the way to assess David Brooks' assertion about the coming ubiquity of Ryan's budget proposal within the GOP primary is to look for the actual substance and not for candidates' issues pages saying, "I will implement Paul Ryan's budget." Campaigns have to grow their own candidate's brand and that's harder to do when you're merely a cipher for a colleague's ideas.

Update, 2:46pm:

Both Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum have made favorable comments in response to Ryan's budget proposal. Read More......

Conservatives: The presidency is beneath Palin

Benjy Sarlin at TPMDC has a post up about the fascinating effort by movement conservatives to spin the idea that the presidency is actually beneath Sarah Palin and being elected would be a waste of her time. This is a remarkable idea and it's being floated by conservative media figures like Andrew Breitbart and Ann Coulter. Somehow appearing with fringe Republican groups, nodding along on Fox News and posting the occasional Facebook rant is more important than being the leader of the free world. On the one hand, this spin clearly seems to be an effort to proactively protect Palin's relevance in the event that she either fails to win the GOP nomination or fails to win the White House. It can't be such a loss if it'd be a step down for someone as iconic as Palin...right guys? Right?

But on the other hand, this narrative demonstrates a sickening lack of regard for the institution of the presidency and the American project. This goes well beyond conservatives wanting to shrink government to a size where it can be drowned in a bathtub. Breitbart and Coulter are pushing a narrative that says the office of the President of the United States of America is not worthy of a fellow Fox News contributor's time. It is a public assault on patriotism and national service (what would Reagan say?). It is an attack on the Constitution and the vision of the Founding Fathers for three coequal branches of government (what will the tri-corner hat wearing, Gadsden flag-carrying Tea Partiers say?). That this spin is being put forth in order to hedge the relevance of a marginal political intellect who poses a limited grasp of anything beyond the politics of resentment just makes it even more reprehensible. Read More......

Palin's favorability dropping among Republicans

Via Steve Benen and Jon Terbush at TPM, a recent WaPo/ABC poll shows that Sarah Palin's favorablilty numbers are falling among Republicans, while her unfavorables are on the rise in the same cohort. Here's the splits on Palin and three other national Republicans:

1. Mike Huckabee -- 61% favorable, 18% unfavorable
2. Mitt Romney -- 60% favorable, 21% unfavorable
3. Sarah Palin -- 58% favorable, 37% unfavorable
4. Newt Gingrich -- 55% favorable, 26% unfavorable

Terbush writes:

For a while, it seemed as if Palin's biggest obstacle to a run for the presidency would be the general election. But now, it looks like the GOP primary may be a big challenge in itself.

I think that's probably right, but misses the point. Nothing we've seen from Palin suggests she's about to catch fire with the GOP base, especially the non-Tea Party GOP base. But her favorable number is still essentially on par with Huckabee, Romney and Gingrich. The only thing out of whack is her unfavorability. This is directly connected to having 95% of Republican voters having an opinion of her, compared to 79% for Huckabee, 81% for Romney and Gingrich. People have formed opinions about Palin. For many Republicans, they are at a point where they will likely just process whatever new information they get about Palin without forming a new opinion. On the other hand, her main opponents have to convince a lot more voters one way or the other that they are likable and good candidates.

Benen goes in a similar direction with his analysis:

It may be counterintuitive, but I actually think this is good news for Palin. She's done nothing but bring shame and embarrassment to herself on a nearly daily basis for years, and she's likely dropped about as far as she can with the GOP. And at this point, she still enjoys favorable ratings from a clear majority of Republican voters.

While I hesitate to move towards a 2012 version of the meme, "Obviously this is good news for Rudy Giuliani," I don't know that any Republican who currently has a favorable view of Palin is going to be swayed away from it. It could literally be in one ear, out the other for these people when it comes to learning new, negative things about Palin.

What these numbers really suggest to me is that Palin has a real opportunity to start campaigning and start defining her opponents negatively before their campaigns can do it. She has to reach out to the fifth of Republicans who don't have a stated opinion on Huckabee, Romney and Gingrich and define them for the voters. Clearly while there is little place for her to move in either direction, her opponents have four times as much space to move. That could very well be a definitive advantage for Palin.

The one caveat I'll place on my analysis is that the WaPo/ABC poll hasn't polled likely Republican voters in about a year. The model they used in October, 2010 was registered voters and Palin performed better. So the trend line is much steeper from October 2010 to now than March 2010 to now. So yes, Palin is trending down. The question is, has she hit her floor among Republican primary voters or is there still room to fall? As an educated person who hopes for the best in America, I hope she hasn't hit the bottom yet. But I'm not so optimistic about Republican primary voters, especially in a primary that will be heavily influenced by the Tea Party. Read More......

Conventional wisdom keeps solidifying against Palin

Jonathan Martin and John Harris write a Conventional Wisdom-defining piece at Politico about Sarah Palin's penchant for playing the victim card and how it is a sign that she will not be the Republican presidential nominee in 2012.

Among those taking aim at Palin in recent interviews with POLITICO are George F. Will, the elder statesman of conservative columnists; Peter Wehner, a top strategist in George W. Bush’s White House, and Heather Mac Donald, a leading voice with the right-leaning Manhattan Institute.

...
But Palin’s skeptics said a successful presidential candidacy would need to be buoyed by genuine policy vision, not merely grievance. For now, however, Palin’s appeal is now largely rooted in the sympathy she’s gleaned from her loudly voiced resentments toward the left, the news media and the GOP establishment.

“The appeal of conservatism is supposed to be people taking responsibility for their own actions,” said Labash. “But if you close your eyes and listen to Palin and her most irate supporters constantly squawk or bellyache or Tweet about how unfair a ride she gets from evil moustache-twirling elites and RINO saboteurs, she sounds like a professional victimologist, the flip side of any lefty grievance group leader. She’s becoming Al Sharpton, Alaska edition. The only difference being, she wears naughty-librarian glasses instead of a James Brown ‘do.”

Let's leave aside the amount of sexism and racism laced through Labash's quote and notice that this is a damning critique of Palin that is echoed in more artful ways by both the left and right. Labash later describes Palin's victimization routine in a more artful way: "cocked-fist self-pity." This better reflects the Palin modus operandi. Add in the fact that she has not used one moment of her time in public life since the 2008 election to expand herself intellectually or adopt a policy to gain expertise on and you arrive at the analysis of the ultimate Beltway Conventional Wisdom maker, Mike Allen:

Playbook facts of life: Sarah Palin has shown no capacity to evolve, grow substantively, or expand her base of support. If she had spent her time studying education reform, like Jeb Bush - or developing a signature issue of any sort - a Palin candidacy would look much more promising. She resigned as governor in July, 2009 -- a year and a half that has been squandered, used only to make money rather than to reintroduce herself to the American middle.

I've been saying for years that it's pretty near impossible to identify Conventional Wisdom is, in fact, correct. But this may be a time when the Beltway prognosticators and reality in the rest of the country line up closely.

One thing that I wonder is if any of the 2012 GOP presidential candidates will start making similar attacks on Palin as we're seeing from Beltway pundits and conservative opinion writers. Whoever does so first will likely enjoy a pretty heavy dose of Palin's "cocked-first self-pity," which may be the whole point for Palin. By drumming up her victimization schtick for two and a half years, any opponent will clearly know that a direct attack on her will not be taken lightly. Palin may not be performing well in primary polls, but does Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty really want to go head-to-head with Palin while the whole press is watching? I doubt it. The flip side of this, which Allen gets at, is that being a one-trick pony clearly hasn't won Palin strong support with base voters yet. For her to become viable, she has to find a way to reach people that doesn't include victimization. She has to offer up ideas, at least in so far as any of her opponents will offer up ideas (Personally I don't think "cut taxes, bash workers" counts as an actual idea, but that's just me). Read More......

Fox News suspends Gingrich, Santorum

It seems Fox News is finally dealing with their presidential candidates problem. According to Huffington Post, anchor Brett Baier said this on air today:

Fox News has suspended its contributor arrangements with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, both of who have signaled possible runs for the presidency. The suspension is effective for 60 days. Then, on May 1st, their contracts will be terminated unless they notify Fox that they are not running for president. Now, this has been contemplated from the start, from the very beginning, but it is effective today.
This is Fox policy. This is the announcement being made today. It does not preclude other announcements that may be made in the future.

It's good that they're not precluding other announcements down the line, because Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee are in the same boat as Gingrich and Santorum. If I was Gingrich and Santorum, I'd be pushing Fox News executives to immediately treat Palin and Hucakbee the same.

It's also curious that in a cycle where leading Republicans have shown hesitance to formally announce, it will be the network that dishes out most major candidates' welfare checks that calls the question. Read More......

Sarah Palin's unpopular even among Republicans

Sarah Palin has remained, at least for me, shockingly unpopular among hardcore Republican primary voters in early primary states. Considering that she was the GOP's VP nominee in 2008, a candidate that brought supposedly mobilized the base and spent the next two years throwing rhethorical bombs at candidate and then President Obama she's been unable to consolidate support among the rank and file of the Republican party. From politico:

A detailed examination of Palin’s polling in the early going suggests that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, the media splash of her late entry into the presidential caucuses and primaries would barely rock the electoral boat. While her endorsement is likely to be a key 2012 prize, pollsters and Republican operatives in the three states repeat the same mantra: Unusual numbers of Republican voters actively dislike her; and among the majority who like her, few think she can serve as president.

Money quote from New Hampshire pollster Andrew Smith:

the only ‘Republican’ less popular than her is the Donald.”

Read More......

Palin punching down gives oxygen to Santorum

To follow up on Matt Ortega's post yesterday on the CPAC spat between Sarah Palin and Rick Santorum, I want to elevate a point made elsewhere about how Palin is helping Santorum with this tiff. Over at Daily Kos, Jake McIntyre makes this sound observation:

It's a basic rule of politics that you don't give oxygen to rivals with a far lower profile. By allowing herself to be goaded into a public spat with Santorum, Palin is violating that rule, and providing Little Ricky with a spotlight he couldn't dream of grabbing without her help. (And does it really hurt Santorum with the CPAC crowd to call him a Neanderthal?)

This is exactly right. But what's worse is that Palin will face this quandary every time she is baited into a fight with a potential 2012 opponent. She is the top dog in the GOP. With the possible exception of Mitt Romney, anyone she argues with will benefit from having their profile raised. Even if she wins these spats, she's hurting her cause. Read More......

Sarah Palin's gibberish

Robert Gibbs wins the day. John has more at the mothership blog but after Sarah Palin's criticism of the Obama administrations Egypt response Gibbs responded with the following statement.

"I read that answer several times, and I still really don't know what she's saying."

And he's right, you can't possibly understand what she's saying. Read the whole thing. Read More......

Hurt feelings lead to Palin canceling veteran event

The Most Sensitive Person in Politics is yet again proving her ability to find persecution in any situation. Sarah Palin has canceled an appearance in Colorado that was to be a fundraiser to benefit military families. Of course, neither Palin nor the Sharon K Pacheco Foundation cite specific personal attacks, though they are clear that there had been no direct threats to her safety.

"Due to an onslaught of personal attacks against Governor Palin and others associated with her appearance, it is with deep sadness and disappointment that, in the best interest of all, we cancel the event for safety concerns," says the Foundation's Director.

He points out that no direct threats have been made against anyone, but the recent increase in negative rhetoric against the former Alaska governor "raises concern for her safety and the safety of others despite the call for civility in America," following the tragic Tucson shooting.

Apparently Sarah Barracuda's fee fees are more important than the families of veterans who died in combat. Good to know.

Seriously: is there any national figure who is more offended by what random people think about her? I get that she has played the victim card for her entire miserable duration as a national figure, but at some point, doesn't it wear thin? Like, say, when she's canceling an appearance that would raise money for veterans' families? Read More......