Jack Kingston: Sarah Palin should ‘butt out’ of state races

On the nationally syndicated “America’s Morning News” – an FM/AM talk show – U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston was drawn into a Wednesday morning discussion of Georgia’s Republican runoff for governor.

Would you have preferred that Sarah Palin butt out of it, Kingston was asked? “I wish she will,” Kingston said. But never mind the grammar – it was live radio. He continued:

“Because what’s she’s doing is dividing the Republican party at a time when we don’t need to be divided.

“Because in a case like this, really what people were saying – ‘Well, she’s endorsing Karen Handel because she’s a woman.’ [Palin] got up on stage on Monday and said, ‘I’m not doing it because she’s a woman – although she is a sister.’ You know — wink, wink.

“And I understand that. But what it does is, it makes Republicans say, well, maybe we do need to rethink Karen Han – I mean, Sarah Palin, as somebody who does shoot from the hip a little bit too much. Because I think Karen Handel is a very decent candidate, but she’s clearly the more moderate person in the race….”

Listen to the entire eight-minute clip here.

Kingston was a Deal supporter – after his first pick, Eric Johnson of Savannah, finished third.

The congressman’s comments were made before Handel’s concession, and before the curtain of healing was drawn over the Republican contest. Kingston did not mention Mitt Romney’s endorsement of Handel, nor Mike Huckabee’s backing of Nathan Deal.

But reader Clay Grant of Virginia-Highlands, not a Palin fan, sent in thoughts similar to those of Kingston, also as Wednesday began:

As of this morning moment, Deal is winning by 2,489 votes out of roughly 579,000 votes cast. There were 2,895 precincts.

So I’m wondering: Were there enough “anti-Sarah” votes made (like ours) to have probably given this primary to Deal over Handel?

Since that would require less than one anti-Sarah vote per precinct, I’m thinking the answer is probably “yes.”

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