The GOP sacrificed Sarah Palin’s future
Bill Kristol just won’t let Sarah Palin go quietly. In a new column at the Washington Post, he makes a number of startling claims about the soon-to-be ex-governor, including the following comparison to Barack Obama:
“He gave a good speech at the 2004 Democratic convention, was elected to the Senate that fall, and immediately started running for president. He didn’t accomplish much in his four years in the Senate (nor could he have been expected to). But that didn’t seem to hurt his standing. Isn’t Palin about as well positioned for the GOP 2012 nomination as Obama was in 2005 for the 2008 Democratic one?”
Uh. No Bill, she isn’t.
Kristol also claims that the “the panic among mainstream media commentators and the GOP establishment suggests real worry that if she does (run), she might pull off an upset. Why else the vehement assertions that she’s clearly made a terrible mistake? Why else the categorical insistence that her political career is finished?”
Well, maybe people are vehemently asserting that she’s made a terrible mistake because she’s made a terrible mistake. Maybe they are saying her political career is over because, well, it’s over. Maybe the GOP establishment expresses real worry about a Palin candidacy because unlike Kristol, it recognizes pending disaster.
While we’re on the subject, I want to address another point as well. The media have taken a lot of criticism for being mean to Palin and for driving her out of office. The truth is, it comes with the territory and always has. Nothing said about Todd Palin, for example, exceeds in viciousness or imagination to the attacks on Michelle Obama (remember that alleged “whitey tape?” The ape references?)
If you can’t handle it, don’t volunteer for the duty. Politics is not like shooting wolves from a plane. Politics requires that you get in among the wolves for hand-to-hand combat.
Furthermore, if conservative Republicans want someone to blame for ruining the once-promising career of Sarah Palin, they should look in the mirror. They’re the ones who plucked the poor woman out of Alaskan obscurity and fed her ego and dreams until her head all but exploded; they’re the ones who pushed her out onto the stage like some political Susan Boyle, totally unprepared for what was about to hit her.
Baseball managers, for example, know better than to bring that heat-throwing 19-year-old phenom pitcher from the single A’s straight up to the majors. Yeah, the kid might have talent, but they understand that the game as it’s played in the bigs is a whole ‘nother game from the Alaska League. They know that if you throw the kid into the lineup too early, you can ruin his confidence and force him try things he’s not ready to handle yet and all of a sudden, in your haste, you’ve turned a phenom prospect into a wreck.
But the ‘08 Republicans were desperate. They had no bench. So in a moment of panic they reached down into the deep minor leagues and brought up an inexperienced rookie who proceeded to get rocked every time she took the pitcher’s mound. They put her into a situation in which she was bound to fail, and for that failure they should blame only themselves.
And Kristol deserves more blame than most for Palin’s fall.
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287 comments Add your comment
John
July 6th, 2009
5:39 pm
C’mon, you call that journalism? Exposing a midget like Kristol is like fishing with dynamite.
Normal
July 6th, 2009
5:39 pm
Palin will do all right, she’l take over Coulters gig on FOX…
Paul
July 6th, 2009
5:40 pm
What does Palin have that Obama didn’t have?
Baggage. Lots of it.
Sure, Palin and the Republican establishment brought it on themselves. But an awful lot of people have just a bit of an impression that maybe, just maybe, the attacks on her were just a tad harsher than they were on any Democrat in the campaign.
Actually, I rather hope she doesn’t run for the Senate. Might prod the Republican strategists to start thinking (I’ll just end this sentence right there).
Besides, Sarah needs to make some real money to pay off those legal debts. No wonder Democrats block tort reform – they make a cottage industry of frivolous ethics complaints as a political weapon.
Maybe Alaska can pass a law that says if you file suit and lose in such cases, you automatically pay the defendant’s legal fees….
getalife
July 6th, 2009
5:42 pm
Willard will win the gop.
Gomer and the drama queen will split the con vote.
Obama will get his second term.
Mrs. Godzilla
July 6th, 2009
5:43 pm
Bravo Jay!
I Report (-: You Whine )-:
July 6th, 2009
5:44 pm
Furthermore, if conservative Republicans want someone to blame for ruining the once-promising career of Sarah Palin, they should look in the mirror. They’re the ones who plucked the poor woman out of Alaskan obscurity and fed her ego and dreams until her head all but exploded; they’re the ones who pushed her out onto the stage like some political Susan Boyle, totally unprepared for what was about to hit her.
Yeah, really, we should have been total sycophants like bookman and propped her up no matter how much lying we had to do.
Is that what you are getting at, toady?
ByteMe
July 6th, 2009
5:45 pm
Paul: you’re conveniently forgetting the millions in legal fees the Clintons’ ran up defending themselves from frivolous charges, right?
ByteMe
July 6th, 2009
5:46 pm
There you go again with the name-calling Whiner.
It’s soooo “junior high school” of you.
josef nix
July 6th, 2009
5:46 pm
Normal–you jest, but it’s not a bad idea…Sarah a lot smarter, better looking and is not nearly so mean and full of herself…
Normal
July 6th, 2009
5:46 pm
Whiner: Sometimes you make no sense at all…
Normal
July 6th, 2009
5:48 pm
Josef, I just calls ‘em like I sees ‘em…
Jay
July 6th, 2009
5:49 pm
ByteMe, Whiner can call ME all the names he can get past our automated censor. But overall, he’s taken a different approach and I appreciate it.
However, I did get a kick out of him writing that “we should have been total sycophants like bookman and propped her up no matter how much lying we had to do,” because that describes to perfection his defense of Palin until now.
I Report (-: You Whine )-:
July 6th, 2009
5:51 pm
normal- Perhaps I’m speaking over your head on purpose, ever thought of that?
ByteMe
July 6th, 2009
5:52 pm
Jay, I just think he needs to take his game up a notch if all it’s going to be about is silly name calling. I know 12-year-olds who are better at it than he is and he professes to be an adult.
Paul
July 6th, 2009
5:52 pm
ByteMe
No. It’s not the dollar amount, it’s the volume of separate charges. And the type. Palin’s had at least 13. I don’t remember, but did the Clintons have ethic complaints filed through Arkansas, or were theirs of a different nature, necessitating something other than an ethics board inquiry? It also would be more comparable if there were a dozen or so complaints about Hillary’s legal practice. Or complaints during Pres Clinton’s time as governor.
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/05/28/costly-ethics-complaints-pile-up-against-palin/
y’know, such complaints could even provide fuel for the conspiracy theorists “of course they file all these baseless complaints. They know she really could win if she weren’t bogged down with legal fees and smear campaigns….”
In other words, the tactic may have outlived its usefulness and become counterproductive.
josef nix
July 6th, 2009
5:52 pm
Normal–would you care to define your usage of the term “sometimes?” Jus’ askin’
josef nix
July 6th, 2009
5:54 pm
Hey, JAY–he can call you a dyke? Hmm, do tell…thass a joke…:-)
Mrs. Godzilla
July 6th, 2009
5:54 pm
Paul,
I don’t think the media treated her any harsher than Obama or Biden although I admit it may look that way because the necessary vetting for the job a heartbeat away from the Presidency had to be done and in a hurry.
We knew Obama, and those who claim not to have were too damn lazy to do their homework. The same is true of Biden and McCain. We knew what we were getting – whether you liked them or not.
Obama will get his second term.
I wish Mrs. Palin well.
I Report (-: You Whine )-:
July 6th, 2009
5:55 pm
This isn’t the hardest thing in the world to figure out here, Republicans do criticize one another, perhaps that is part of normal healthy debate, so for bookman to take advantage of something he would never even consider doing, he is after all a full fledged democrat party stooge, to point out the other side’s self exposed faults, well, they call that junk journalism where I come from.
Paul
July 6th, 2009
5:55 pm
getalife
You might have nailed it at 5:42. But if the economy’s still horrible and Dems have bungled health care, well, Romney may look a bit more of a look to many.
And against my better judgment I’m gonna ask, what’s the derivation of ‘Willard’?
josef nix
July 6th, 2009
5:58 pm
“Automated censor..” Get yours today! No clergyman necessary!
Tallulah Bankhead in a stage whisper to Cardinal Spellman, “Francis, dahlin’, your dress is beautiful but your purse in on fire.”
Been trying to get that one in ever since Debbie quoted her earlier…
ByteMe
July 6th, 2009
5:58 pm
Paul: not in AK, but in the White House. Lots and lots of investigations… none of which really went anywhere until Monica’s dress showed up. Legal bills were in the low seven digits. Basically, the equivalent of a couple of good overseas speeches.
I Report (-: You Whine )-:
July 6th, 2009
5:59 pm
However, I did get a kick out of him writing that “we should have been total sycophants like bookman and propped her up no matter how much lying we had to do,” because that describes to perfection his defense of Palin until now.
I never claimed to be unbiased.
Plus, I don’t belong to the side of the debate that thinks women are stupid and belong in the kitchen, how dare the try to represent the common people from which they came?
The horror!
Paul
July 6th, 2009
6:01 pm
Mrs. Godzilla
One thing in the back of my mind was the reaction of many women’s groups. Some have made the case that if Palin was a Dem nominee the counterattacks would have been immediate, harsh and relentless. But as Palin’s a conservative Rep, there was not much reaction. So the assumption is, it’s not about women, it’s about women of a particular political persuasion.
I don’t have a problem with that IF the groups don’t portray themselves as for fair and equal treatment of ‘women’ regardless of ideology.
[[We knew Obama, and those who claim not to have were too damn lazy to do their homework.]]
I was listening to Diane Rehm on NPR a few days back. A panelist made the case that Obama supporters disappointed with the force remaining in Iraq or the expansion in Afghanistan weren’t really listening to him – maybe they’d ‘done their homework’ but they saw what they wanted to see.
More irony. The Left, who has reason to be frustrated, is subdued, while the Right, who in this case has reason to be happy, aren’t.
Paul
July 6th, 2009
6:05 pm
ByteMe
Yeah, they were, by their very nature, much more expensive. But aren’t the rules on who foots the bills different? And again, it was the volume. I don’t recall there being nearly that many with the Clintons. Theirs were higher-profile, but they were by then in the White House, so each one was more of a story.
AmVet
July 6th, 2009
6:08 pm
But josef, the fundamental question for Ms. Palin is, “Is she good enough and smart enough and doggone it, do people like her?”
So what if she has a 81 MPH fastball with no movement, has a slider that barely moves and a hanging curve ball that says HIT ME REALLY, REALLY HARD!
:Republicans do criticize one another, perhaps that is part of normal healthy debate,…”
Andy, isn’t this in direct violation to sacrosanct Ronnie’s 11th Commandment? I think notwithstanding your unsupported claim, it is still LARGELY in effect…
Maybe in a few years she can start for the White Sox or Cubs. (D’OH!)
I Report (-: You Whine )-:
July 6th, 2009
6:10 pm
They’re the ones who plucked the poor woman out of Alaskan obscurity and fed her ego and dreams until her head all but exploded; they’re the ones who pushed her out onto the stage like some political Susan Boyle, totally unprepared for what was about to hit her.
It’s just a total rabid obsession, plain and simple.
She had more Executive experience than Obozo did.
Obozo- One speech, a year in the obscure Illinois Senate voting “Present,” and 173 days in the Senate.
Sounds like a single A’er to me.
josef nix
July 6th, 2009
6:11 pm
Am Vet–But josef, the fundamental question for Ms. Palin is, “Is she good enough and smart enough and doggone it, do people like her?”
To replace Coulter? Surely you jest!
Paul
July 6th, 2009
6:11 pm
AmVet
Your second paragraph – were you talking baseball? After that pic the other day I thought maybe you were still….
(emoticon’s for the newbies passing though)
Dennis
July 6th, 2009
6:11 pm
Rumor is that Rove is on this fishing trip with the Palin family.
ByteMe
July 6th, 2009
6:12 pm
Paul: the rules were the same: you can’t really raise the money to pay the bills while you’re in office taking a government salary.
And it wasn’t the volume that did in Sarah, it was the $600,000 in bills that she is going to have to pay off.
Here’s a nice timeline of the Clinton investigations: http://www.usatoday.com/news/special/starr/starr005.htm
getalife
July 6th, 2009
6:13 pm
Paul,
I think Willard will do better than McTortured but the sane Americans will not vote for another depresssion.
That one is going to hurt the gop for a few cycles.
Willard is his real name.
Willard Mitt Romney
ByteMe
July 6th, 2009
6:13 pm
Whiner: “executive experience” like how well Nardelli has done with his experiences?
ByteMe
July 6th, 2009
6:14 pm
Dennis: dough boy wouldn’t know what to do with the fishing rod, let alone the hook.
Wes
July 6th, 2009
6:14 pm
Jay,
Do you have any concerns about the level of media coverage? It basically means that only people who are remarkably self centered are drawn to politics. Cincinatus might be a myth, but you can make a case that some of our founding fathers had similar inclinations. Anyone who has even the slightest desire for privacy on behalf of their family, who only wants to do a decent job and go home is pretty much out of the running these days. Do you really think that’s a good thing?
Paul
July 6th, 2009
6:15 pm
ByteMe
Thanks. Then again, that’s what PACs are for!
getalife
Sometime’s truth’s stranger than fiction. All I could think of was some semblance to the weather guy who used to be on the NBC morning show. It’s gotta be an ancestor-honoring thing.
AmVet
July 6th, 2009
6:15 pm
As the GOP Churns, from downstairs at 5:58.
Outstanding information. Absolutely fantastic.
It SHOULD be required reading material for every Republican. And it SHOULD make every Reagan supporter alive rue their decision to coddle that crazy old man. (No not Saddam)
Normal
July 6th, 2009
6:15 pm
Report (-: You Whine )-:
July 6th, 2009
5:51 pm
normal- Perhaps I’m speaking over your head on purpose, ever thought of that?
Thought of it and dismissed it instantly…
Joey
July 6th, 2009
6:16 pm
Jay;
Yet to be determined, but I submit that 2009 is not so different from 2005 as you wish. Especially given the directions that Obama/Rahm is taking us.
chuck
July 6th, 2009
6:16 pm
Jay, I still don’t understand McCain’s rationale for selecting Palin in the first place. It was truly his biggest of MANY mistakes in his campaign. Not only did he ruin HIS chances of becoming President, he left the Republican PARTY without a front runner for 2012. ANY Republican who thinks Palin can win in 2012 is delusional. I love her positions on the issues, but I want a little more “Gravitas” from my President.
She of course, is MORE QUALIFIED than Barack HUSSEIN Obama, at least having some measure of executive experience, but she was a poor choice from the beginning. She brought nothing to the ticket as we would have won Alaska anyway. A much better choice would have been John Kasich of Ohio…a state we HAD to win to have a chance. Had he given Kasich the attention that Palin got, we would have a great candidate for 2012.
As the GOP Churns
July 6th, 2009
6:19 pm
The GOP is doing a mighty fine job of fully utilizing the altar. Palin is just one more in a long line of sacrifices for the failed cause. The only question left for her is will she really go gracefully and stay away from politics for good.
booger
July 6th, 2009
6:19 pm
Jay,
I agree that the media has pretty well left Todd Palin alone. Now lets compare the the treatment of their children.
jokerman
July 6th, 2009
6:19 pm
If Mark Sanford and his little dalliances with his Argentine lover haven’t caused the NOT so great a state of South Carolina problems….now the ACC has moved three future baseball tournaments out of South Carolina. It seems South Carolina is being boycotted for flying the Confederate flag from the state capitol grounds.
Normal
July 6th, 2009
6:20 pm
You know, it just occured to me…If Palin went bird hunting with Cheney, who’d win?…
AmVet
July 6th, 2009
6:20 pm
Paul, yep. You know me.
With apologies to my soccer friends here, there is one true religion.
And it involves bases and bats and bunts and and warning tracks and foul poles and two out RBIs and…
Tom
July 6th, 2009
6:20 pm
And what a future she had!! So downright Republicanty and mavericky, so highly intellectual and thought-provoking and patriotic and God-fearing and tongue-speaking and animal-slaughtering and heroic and bravely coexisting right next ta them Russkies and so backwoodsy hillbillyish and…well…just so NeoConish! God Bluss Murcuh!! You betcha.
getalife
July 6th, 2009
6:20 pm
Paul,
Perhaps they wanted to call him willy.
Slick willy.
Either way, the establishment will win.
They always do.
josef nix
July 6th, 2009
6:21 pm
PAUL–have you seen the a**icons?
(-x-) kiss my…
(-!-) regular a**
(-?-) dumb a**
(–!–) fat a**
(-X-) leave my a** alone
(!) tight a**
(-e=mc2-) smart a**
Normal
July 6th, 2009
6:24 pm
CHUCK: I don’t think McCain had a choice. Remember he won the GOP nomination, but he was NOT the favorite of the American Taliban (Jesus Freak Right)
George American
July 6th, 2009
6:25 pm
Just as I thought, the elitist liberal media coming after our Sarah, the Real American again. Se gonna come back in 2012 with Joe the Plummer and make the liberal media pay!
We need this beautiful queen to help America get back on track. We need her moral guidance and her executive experience in the white house.