If Palin Runs for President
Twitter and Facebook won't help her in the debates.
It turns out Sarah Palin left the governorship of Alaska for a better position. She's become king—King Midas, to be exact. Everything she touches turns to gold.
Her memoir, Going Rogue, was the best-selling hardcover nonfiction volume of 2009. She's got a TV gig with Fox News that reportedly pays $1 million a year. She commands $100,000 for a speaking appearance.
But it's not all about the money. Palin has also become the fairy godmother of the Republican Party. In the Aug. 31 primaries, all five candidates she tapped with her wand came away victorious—including Joe Miller, who upset incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Those she passed over turned into pumpkins.
"Sarah Palin has special medicine," wrote John Dickerson of the liberal online magazine Slate after the primaries. "The Palin brand now grows ever stronger because other Republicans will want to access that magic."
All that looks like the perfect prelude to something even bigger. After steadfastly refusing invitations for political gatherings in Iowa, site of the first presidential contest in 2012, she's going to Des Moines Sept. 17 for the Republican Party's annual Reagan Day dinner. To run for president, one local GOP official was quoted saying, "she needs to be here—and she's doing that with a big, high-profile event."
If she enters the race, Palin will have the inside track. A recent Gallup poll found that among Republican voters, she's more popular than Abraham Lincoln, with a 76 percent favorable rating—higher than any other potential GOP presidential candidate listed by Gallup. The nomination is starting to look like it's hers for the asking.
But appearances are deceiving. Palin would more likely be one of those outwardly formidable candidates whose campaigns peak on the day they announce. The qualities that have made her a media star threaten to make her a dismal candidate.
It's obvious that Palin would have serious weaknesses in a general election campaign, starting with her raging unpopularity among swing voters. In a new Harris Poll, 47 percent of independents say an endorsement from President Obama would make them less likely to vote for a candidate—but 62 percent would be put off by a Palin blessing.
What is overlooked is that she would have big handicaps in a Republican presidential contest as well. Palin has made her name railing against Obama, congressional Democrats, mosque-builders, the news media, and other conservative targets. In a GOP primary, those positions would make her stand out about like one Cheerio stands out from the others. So other considerations—competence, experience, temperament, judgment, electability—would dominate, not to her advantage.
Instead of making the case that she would be an improvement on Obama, she'd have to explain why she would be preferable to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, or former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, among other possible contenders.
It's one thing to Tweet your thoughts about Obama and Nancy Pelosi or endorse candidates on Facebook while hiding from skeptical reporters. It's another to match wits on issues with smart, well-informed, politically savvy conservative opponents who are determined to expose your shortcomings.
If Palin couldn't handle an interview with Katie Couric, how would she handle debates? Those come fast and furious in the primaries—and both Romney and Huckabee can draw on their 2008 experience.
In that kind of setting, winks and one-liners won't take you far. Her opponents will ask her questions she would rather not answer, such as "Why were you for the Bridge to Nowhere until you were against it?" and "If you walked away from the governorship, how can we count on you not to quit the presidency?" They will also display a grasp of substance that Palin doesn't have and shows no interest in acquiring.
This last reality is a clue that those who want her to run will be disappointed. If she were serious about a White House bid, she would have spent the past two years making herself plausible as president. All Palin has done is make herself a major media phenomenon, as well as a wealthy woman.
Right now, she's a hot commodity that has soared in value and seems destined to get even hotter. But the same was once true of housing. Palin is another bubble, which a race for president would soon burst.
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Good morning reason.
Jesus, for somebody so many people claim to not take seriously, there’s an awful lot of noise about her.
So how about handicapping Huckawas or the Big Mitt for us sometime, Steve Chapman?
You can tell that she’s a threat to someone just by the volume of poor reporting. Why do they fear her if she’s so stupid, etc.?
She is a threat to this country. If she is nominated, the idiot Obama will serve a second term.
I don’t know. If I had a choice, it certainly wouldn’t be another term of Obama.
I would vote for Obama without a second thought if Palin was his opponent. Aside from being completely unqualified for the presidency, I really have doubts about her mental stability.
Obama would veto repeal of Obamacare etc… I’d take my chances with Palin. No way she could be worse than Obama. No way!
Oh yeah she could. She’s not just unfit for office, she’s precisely the kind of person who should never be allowed near position of power.
Elaborate please.
http://www.vanityfair.com/poli…..rentPage=1
Had to stop after reading the first page since it reads like a bunch of hyperbole written by someone suffering from PDS not an objective journalist.
Palin is in the private sector now so if she wants to be secretive and such there is nothing unreasonable about it and it obviously won’t fly if she decides to run for POTUS next year. The Vanity Fair hit piece is a big FAIL.
So you stopped reading because you didn’t like it?
Finish the article. Consider the possibility its not hyperbole.
No! I stopped reading because it reads more like a diatribe of someone suffering from PDS, not objective journalism. Stop thumping me with YOUR Bible!
As opposed to Obama?
Read back over this thread. How many actual arguments against Palin do you see here and how many baseless opinions such as “should never be allowed near polisitons of power”? Odd, how she is supposedly so “unfit,” yet no one ever says why. Again: Why use facts when you can ad hominem her to death? Toxic, yes you are.
you left out the word ‘again’.
Ah, the famous “call ’em nuts and sluts” attack, originated by defense attorneys with femaile plaintiffs. Why give a logical argument when one can ad hominem her to death?
Obama is qualified? Obama is mentally stable?
I don’t think Palin has a chance, but if that is your reasons not to vote for Palin, those same reasons should be used not to vote for Obama.
Good point. And true.
Spot on. I abstained in 2008 because I couldn’t in good conscience put such an unstable vindictive demagogue a missed heartbeat away from the presidency. Not to mention 2008 McCain was a total 180 from 2000 McCain.
The name “Palin” on the GOP ticket in 2012 would guarantee my no-vote. And I am a registered Republican.
The truth is the only thing Palin will be doing in 2012 is voting. The only thing she currently cares about is watching the money trail from her high-priced ticketed events disappear behind an impenetrable wall of PACs, “citizen” groups, LLCs and NFPs. She’s all about the Benjamins baby — a fantastic media manipulator who quickly learned how to financially capitalize on her strange and unexplained popularity.
“She’s all about the Benjamins baby — a fantastic media manipulator who quickly learned how to financially capitalize on her strange and unexplained popularity.”
Yes, Palin’s *so* incompetent.
Meme FAIL.
When she stepped down from the governor’s position she instantly became an infotainer.
Those two pale in comparison to your gal Sarah.
(Get it? Pale in comparison…)
Agreed! I am not a Palin fan, but I am amazed how folks can’t stop talking about her
Reason always aligns with the craziest elements of democrat media right before an election.
If Palin couldn’t handle an interview with Katie Couric, how would she handle debates?
Indeed, the only “debates” (and interviews) she does these days are with her employer, FOX News, in a tightly controlled environment. She isn’t a serious contender, and if she’s smart (a very big if) she won’t run. But who in the Republican Party will rise up and squash her before she gets it in her pea-sized brain that she could win?
Are you kidding? She is a serious contender! That any Republican can take their candidates seriously is a sign that substance really doesn’t matter in that party. When’s the last time the Republicans floated a statesman for any office at all? Gingrich has been married three times. W was a draft dodger and a drunk. Conan the Barbarian is governor material? Dick Cheney shoots his friends. John McCain is a “rogue”.
Of course the Republican’s main appeal is to evangelical Christians at this point. These are people who believe that they are “saved by faith”… in other words: it doesn’t matter what you do, it’s what you say in church on Sunday morning that counts. Not one “small government” Republican has ever actually decreased the size, scope, or impact of the government. Their whole family values schtick is just hot air. The entire Republican platform is a basic “fuck you” to humanity. Yet the populus eats it up because most of these people really do believe that Jesus saves them because they say they love him once in a while.
Bullshit.
Voters are given a choice between Democrats who keep their promises to grow government, and Republicans who fail on their promises to shrink government.
Many of those who vote for Republicans are hoping that each time they’ll actually keep their promises.
Your tirade against Christians only shows that you have a big chip on your shoulder (what’s the matter, did Mommy drag you to Sunday school against your will?), and nothing more.
It’s almost as if you’ve never listened to a GOP speech. They always pad their promises of smaller government with assurances that they are for the correct type and amount of faith. Which of these gets them elected may be debatable, but they’re both there and they are both total bullshit.
The fact is that voters are not “given” a choice. They make them. That they continually fall for the false promises of Republicans must be explained. When the Republicans say “smaller government” it is obvious they don’t even mean it in the first place. The better part of the Republican platform is filled with government intrusions into private matters. So how to explain that they get elected so often? It must be something. From my perspective it seems obvious that they get elected through the support of evangelical Christians. A group who is used to thinking that saying the right thing is more important than do it.
What is funny is that you characterize the Democrats as keeping their promises. Not last time I checked.
The GOP has never had anything like small government tea partiers bucking the establishment candidates. I’ll take my chances since the odds are much better this time around.
Good luck with that. It won’t happen. You might get a small tax break and a couple of chump change social programs will get cut, but government power will continue to grow and centralize. Nothing Palin or Bachmann or any other Republican hoping to ride the Tea Party coattails has said has indicated otherwise.
The “tea party” might as well be renamed “Koch Enterprises Inc.” It’s a ruse– the next farce to sucker the next generation of small-government proponents into once again voting for a group of lying hypocrites. Don’t be so easily misled.
As compared to the Soros socialist, no thanks! Give me Koch any day of the week.
TEH KOCHTOPUS!!!!!
Well, there are loads of self-described Christians like that, particularly the ones who don’t actually read the Bible and just “put in their two hours a week” out of pure habit. I call them churchians, and if anyone should have a chip on their shoulder about their existence then it would be actual Christians who are given a bad name by them. It’s like how MNG, Chad, or Tony don’t defend Max around here when he delivers his slobbering rants, even though he claims to be a liberal.
Of course, considering Mike’s argument, Democrats’ main appeal could also be to churchians if they wanted–they’re no less deceitful scum themselves. I’m glad they choose not to play up the faith element, though, since that at least gives us a chance for gridlock.
Two hours a week going to church, I’m talking about.
Yes.
We get it, wegie. You hate religion. You’re on record. Now let the grown-ups talk.
Well say something shithead!
When’s the last time the Republicans floated a statesman for any office at all? Gingrich has been married three times. W was a draft dodger and a drunk.
When’s the last time any party floated a statesman for public office? While I’m not fond of Dubya, I have to say he wasn’t any more of a draft dodger than the thousands of other guys who joined some another branch of the military to avoid being drafted into the Army or the Marines. If you want an example of an actual draft-dodger, perhaps you might want to look up Blow Job Clinton’s Selective Service record.
…in other words: it doesn’t matter what you do, it’s what you say in church on Sunday morning that counts.
Not a whole lot different than one of those good, devout Catholics, I think – except the Catholics do their shtick on Saturdays at the confessional.
It all depends on what the definition of “draft dodger” is…
Criticism of one group is not an implied endorsement of another. But just for the sake of argument: did Clinton run against W? No, Gore did. And Gore served in Vietnam. Indeed, in 2000 the Republicans had a chance to run McCain, an actual war hero, and didn’t. Why not? In part because he offended evangelicals. As for Catholics: when it comes to the ballot box, they vote pretty even-handedly. The exception being JFK. Evangelicals tend to be steadfast Republicans.
But just for the sake of argument: did Clinton run against W? No, Gore did. And Gore served in Vietnam.
No one accused Gore of being a draft-dodger, but he wouldn’t have gone either if his daddy hadn’t insisted. Besides, how much action do you figure he saw sitting at a desk? I don’t understand your point there.
As for that son-of-a-bitch Clinton, he’d have nothing at all against a military draft or compulsory national service as long as it was for the “right” war and he himself wasn’t subject to it.
So what if Catholics do vote both Republican and Democrat – doesn’t make them any less hypocritical when it comes to their religion than Evangelicals are. I think both groups are a bunch of psalm-singing phonies – I always have.
i would say gore “served” in vietnam, in that he finagled a cushy non-combat posting as a journalist
bush was in more danger as a fighter pilot stateside
much as i don’t care for him, kerry was braver than either of them
You’re right but she would get so destroyed in a debate forum that even the evangelicals would have trouble supporting her. They would say she was no longer “blessed” or some shit.
As I recall, George W. Bush didn’t do very well in a debate forum either during his first campaign; he seemed virtually tongue-tied. He got by with it because the crap coming out of Gore’s mouth was even worse. Yet Dubya got elected, didn’t he? Palin, at least, can express herself.
Yeah isn’t that what many of his supporters liked about him? That W. was as inarticulate and uncomfortable on camera as a “regular” guy would be? I just wanted to have a beer with him so he’d shut the hell up.
I’d pay to see Palin debate Obama. Obama doesn’t take criticism very well, it be worth the $100.00 to watch him implode. Frankly though I don’t think we’ll ever see it because I doubt Palin runs and I doubt Obama gets past Hillary in his primary. Hillary can win the primary with a simple “I told you so” message.
Hillary will beat Obama in the next primary? What the Sam Hill are you talking about?
“I doubt Obama gets past Hillary in his primary. Hillary can win the primary with a simple “I told you so” message”
Um no, Hillary Clinton is not dumb enough to pull a Ted Kennedy. First off, she’d probably lose, liberals might not like what Obama’s doing right now (civil liberties, foreign policy etc.), but there not gonna abandon him in a primary or a general election. Second, Hillary Clinton is ideologically no different from Barack Obama. And if she ran she would have no real path to the nomination. For one thing, she certainly wouldn’t run to the left of Obama (she’s not Kucinich!), and there isn’t a real “conservative” base in that party for her to win the nomination. So what would be the point? She would be a Center-lefty trying to replace another center-lefty. It would be redudant to vote for her when there is zero ideological disagreement between her and Obama.
Next, why would she? She and her husband appear to have gone all in with this Administration. She’s Secretary of State. It’s not like she’s in exile, nor is she like Ted Kennedy was, looking to reclaim the throne for Camelot.
No, Hillary Clinton isn’t gonna run in 2012. Such a move would more than likely be a disaster for her, and she isn’t gonna take that risk.
Actually, it is like she’s in exile. Has she done anything while at State? Essentially, no. Has she been pretty much neutered by having to tow the Obama line? Essentially, yes. Does she plan to stay loyal then exit gracefully and mind her own business? Highly unlikely.
Bill has already started campaigning for different people than Obama does. They are signaling their comeback.
After the rout in November, she’ll find a high-profile reason to leave the administration. Most likely it will be a disagreement over military strategy.
She will run as a military hawk, fiscal conservative, social liberal. The strategy will be “better than Obama on foreign policy, better than the Republicans on social issues.”
She will get the nomination, but she will lose.
She will take the risk because she is motivated by power and little else.
And if you really think Obama is a “center-lefty” you have not been paying attention.
The incumbent Prez of a party is the one that pretty much gets the automatic nomination.
Hillary will be too old in 2016.
Palin ain’t gonna run either.
W the fighter pilot draft dodger? Now there’s some funny!
You’re right. I misremembered. He showed when he felt like it.
Why do they fear her? Every time she speaks they scream like little school girls.
Keep it up Sarah.
http://www.suckitupcrybaby.com
^
A blog-whoring so great he named it twice!
What makes you think it’s a “he”? It’s probably one of Sarah’s web sites.
I think it’s Ann Coulter
Not enough vitriol.
when will tea partiers accept the fact that this woman is a Neo-con and only favors a different flavor of big government from Obama?
She thinks the War in Iraq was a good thing…yet I’ve heard her refer to herself (maybe others) as a kind of libertarian.
Her kid served so at least she’s put her sonny were her mouth is.
I think the kid probably made that decision himself.
“only favors a different flavor of big government from Obama”
*completely untrue*
what is your evidence for this bizarre assertion?
Mitt Romney passed a state equivalent of ObamaCare when he was governor even though spending five minutes of research would have predicted the resulting disaster. He is the true lightweight.
Federal spending is the biggest threat to the Republic. Sarah Palin would make budget cuts a priority. Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee would not, nor do they have any free market grounding.
The Katie Couric thing is not fair. She was antagonized by that witch for two solid days. How could Katie NOT come up with some gotcha’s?
What newspapers do you read, Sarah?
So, not reading the New York Times is a bigger sin than foobarring the entire healthcare system?
She couldn’t name a single paper. But the Times retort is a nice talking point. “Real people vs. Teh Lib’rals!” It works with imbeciles, and it works for Caribou Barbie.
I’ll take that as a big yes and you must be right if you insult people. It’s logic! Like, oh, my God! Maureen Dowd said so! (Chomp, Chomp, Chomp, Pop!)
It’s you who seems to have a New York Times fixation, not me. Personally, I think Dowd is an angry, untalented cunt.
Just like Sarah.
+1
Where did you pull New York Times from, Fred? All she had to do was name one newspaper and she wouldn’t have looked stupid (at least in her response to that question).
Palin seemed (in her subsequent explanation) to take umbrage at the question itself, as if keeping up with current events is somehow “elitist” and “liberal.” She has a shockingly incurious mind for someone who has decided to remain in politics.
Because if she said anything but the NY Times she would have been attacked for reading dumb hick newspapers.
Bull. But I give you credit for your ability to parrot Rush and Laura and Sean.
When did Rush, Laura, or Sean make that argument? Name one paper within 1000 miles that would have satisfied you and the rest of the left.
I can’t speak for the “left,” but here in the rational right, any newspaper at all would have “satisfied” me, not because of its editorial policy or general quality of reportage, but because she could name it without having a mental meltdown. Or she could have said, “I don’t have time to read newspapers.” That would have been lame, but it would have been preferable to her actual response, which was to dodge such an easy question. If she does indeed (or did at the time) read newspapers, why the apparent shame at naming them? Because she was afraid people would make fun of her? She, Sarah Palin, who wears her “hick pride” on her shirtsleeve and goes out of her way to publicize her rustic virtues?
So she could have said the Anchorage Daily News and that would have been the end of it? Forgive me if I don’t believe you.
It’s pointless to live one’s life in the hypothetical world. I prefer reality. And the reality of the situation is that she couldn’t answer a simple question. Reasonable people wouldn’t have psychoanalyzed a “Anchorage Daily News” response. And who cares about the unreasonable ones? The world is full of them. They are irrelevant.
Visits to the hypothetical world make the real world hurt a lot less.
Visits to the hypothetical world make the real world hurt a lot less.
She very likely doesn’t read newspapers. I don’t. Nor do many people. Newspapers have been dying for quite some time.
The left loves questions like that because it makes them seem ‘informed’.
Many people read the internets.
But, here’s a clue–if you’ve made a final judgement based on one of Palin’s first interviews, you, like Couric, are anything but informed.
She also couldn’t name a supreme court case.
Just in case you forgot.
I wouldn’t be hard on her for not remembering a particular case title. Kelo something something etc.
I’m going to go with Occam’s razor on this one. The simplest reason she couldn’t name a paper she reads is that she doesn’t read one. Or anything like one. She could have said “fark.com” or “the Drudge report” to at least say something.
She coulda said “Le Monde” or “L’Humanit?” since she quotes French philosophers in her book. BwaHaHaHa!
Why does it have to be Romney, Huckabee, Gingrich, Palin, Giuliani or any of these morons? None of them speak to true conservative values and all of them just seek to continue the status quo and get what’s in it for them. We need a true conservative statesman, not a moron, not a preacher, and not a Twitter celebrity.
And for what it’s worth putting a “Sarah!” sticker on your vehicle is almost as impressive as an “I’m an moron” tattoo on your forehead or a “Keep Gobernmant off My Medicare” sign in your yard.
I really hope she doesn’t run. She might be the last Republican on Earth who could actually lose to Obama at this point.
She’s certainly at the top of the list
Her soul-mate, the despicable Gingrich, is trying awfully hard.
Yes, a battle royal.
You’re a foul one, Mr. Gingrich.
You really are a heel.
You’re as cuddly as a cactus,
You’re as charming as an eel.
Mr. Gingrich.
PaulRyanPaulRyanPaulRyan…
VotedForARPGMChryslerBailoutVotedForARPGMChryslerBailoutVotedForARPGMChryslerBailout…
“VotedForTARP>>>”
FuckFuckFuck….
How do you get the text to run past the border like that?
Just type it with no spaces…like thissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Not a Republican.
He talks too much redistributionist crap for me.
You’re absolutely right. Palin would definitely lose to Obama. Gingrich has a great chance of losing to Obama.
Chapman, have you seen the raw footage of the Couric interview, or are you relying on what was aired?
I was a victim of editing! I’m really very smart!
Why are you laughing?
I’m voting for Palin. The Democratic Party, which has jettisoned its best inclinations and indulged its worst for the last four years, richly deserves exile from the White House.
Sound familiar?
Well what do you think about xFIP?
She won’t run.
She’s too busy ca$hing in on her fifteen minutes.
This is the longest 15 minutes I have ever seen.
Well, in her version of reality, the Earth is only 6,000 years old, and cavemen rode dinosaurs like horses, so 15 minutes = 2 years, give or take.
The only version of “her reality” I care about is will she sign the Bill repealing Obamacare etc…
I think a lot of the Palin Derangement Syndrome around here stems from homos that fear she might call them sinners. What ever happened to sticks and stones…?
The only difference between Palin and Obama is that Obama makes incompetence look really good.
“The only difference between Palin and Obama is that Obama makes incompetence look really good.” That’s not the only difference, one has a dick….I’ll leave it up to you to decide which!
Remember, the overwhelming statistical likelihood is that anyone making cheap Palin cracks voted to put John Edwards a heartbeat away.
Hell, voting for John Kerry ought to be enough to teach a little humility, let alone Rielle’s baby-daddy.
So true.
Chapman is dead wrong here.
A new pattern has emerged in politics with Palin. She is uniquely positioned to turn her weaknesses into strengths.
It’s like in A Canticle for Leibowitz where after the nuclear war and the anti-science pogroms and book burnings the title “Simpleton” becomes a badge of honor.
Palin has the great good fortune of having the right enemies. She could walk out on stage and fail a 3rd grade multiplication test and say that she thought Abraham Lincoln fought in the Revolutionary War and Jonas Salk signed the Mayflower Compact and her supporters would sigh breathlessly and talk about how refreshing it is that she’s “just herself” and not a “corrupt elite”.
Because unfortunately some people [cough! cough! John] have internalized the liberal critique of right-wing thinking as bovine and provincial – and so now when some weathergirl who can barely spell her own name shows up, they take all of the booboisie elements of her personality as proof of her right-wing bonafides.
Bingo. Any point that can be demonstrated by sci-fi reference gains +2 on credibility saving throw.
Well,
The political establishment of both parties and the leftwing punditocracy engage in never ending attacks on her.
Those are the same people that have driven the US into a new great depression, ill considered imperial adventures and put us on a path to Weimar levels of disfunction.
At this point I’ll take my chance with a literal retard if that person can slap down those assholes.
This, along with the Shannon Love piece John references below, are pretty much the heart of the matter. I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter how smart or educated or stylish or articulate a politician is: if their instincts and bias are wrong, they will likely be terrible. E.g.: Obama.
While I’m not really a Palin fan (except for the way she generates mouth-frothing insanity in the correct people), my gut sense is that she has the right gut sense, more or less, about government. She knows that more bureaucracy and more spending does not necessarily produce better results. The liberal Democrats currently in power do not know this. That alone would likely make her a better President.
ill considered imperial adventures?
and you think *lefties* are to blame for those?
newsflash: Sarah’s onboard the NeoCon foreign policy train. The same people who brought you Iraq and now want war with Iran.
You are right that she has managed to pull the jedi trick of “the more you attack me the stronger I become”. But I think you just miss the reason for it. It is not her defenders who have internalized as much as it is her attackers.
Shannan Love at Chicago boys had a great post on this. She is a direct attack on liberals sense of entitlement and status. They have internalized her as an attack on their status. And it is not so much the left as the entire chattering class. That insecurity and internalization explains the over the top attacks on her by both party establishments.
http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/15616.html
Read the Love piece. It is the best thing I have ever read about Palin.
No, John.
Through a series of institutional and political accidents, leftist thinking became significantly entrenched in academic and cultural circles as well as at major foundations, etc.
But rather than disestablishing this establishment [which I suppose strikes lazy people as too much work] conservatives seem to have decided to embrace the leftist slander that right wing = stupid.
“Hey, that lady’s stupid! That must mean she’s a great conservative!”
Look, it’s an understandable sentiment. But there’s got to be somebody out there who would be a better candidate than Palin. There’s got to be.
If you met the college-age version of Palin, half of what you have to say on these pages regularly would fly right over her head. Maybe more. I’m not talking about just the political and philosophical stuff, I’m talking about the off-topic things you post, too. If you said them to 20 year old Sarah, her eyes would glaze over and she’d be thinking about whether or not her tanning salon coupons had expired yet or something. The only reason you’d keep talking to her is to fuck her. That’s who she is, and on some level you know it. We’ve got to be able to find a better candidate than her.
I have never met Palin. So I think your assessment of her is as much wishful thinking as anything else. It has been two years now and all Reason can dig up is the Coric interview. How long are we going to beat that dead horse? If she were anything like you believe she is, Reason wouldn’t trolling two year old stories to discredit her.
Ironically she as a Reason favorite until she was nominated. Odd that Reason couldn’t figure out how horrible she was before then. What happened was she became part of the culture war and Reason considers that more important that substance.
And I think someone like Kristina Romer is dumb not Palin. I don’t care that she teaches at Stanford, the woman is a fucking menace. Romer made more stupid and untrue statements in her speech to the National Press Club than Palin has made in her entire career. Yet, people like you insist on telling the wold that fools like Romer are smart and Palin is stupid.
Sorry but I am not buying. It is not that I embrace stupid. It is that you and people like you have lost sight of just what stupid is.
And I don’t know that Palin is the Republicans best candidate. She is a lot better than Romeney. I was kind of sold on Mitch Daniels. But last week he came out for a bunch of bullshit “temporary tax cuts”, which tells me that he doesn’t get it at all. Honestly, the only person I would say right now is a much better candidate than Palin is Christie. He seems to really get it. And I might trust him not to sell out to the Republican establishment.
Ironically she as a Reason favorite until she was nominated.
I’d never heard of her till she was nominated. Could you point to any Reason love before then? I don’t recall any.
Before McCain named his choice, Reason gave a rundown of possibles. At the bottom of the list was Palin with the quote “it is too much to ask that he would make an unexpected choice of the quirky libertarian friendly Alaska governor” or something like that.
the only person I would say right now is a much better candidate than Palin is Christie
Yeah, but unlike Palin, the more he opens his mouth, the more I like him.
Ironically she as a Reason favorite until she was nominated. Odd that Reason couldn’t figure out how horrible she was before then.”
Cough, Ron Paul, cough. Really funny when you remember that many of the powers that be at Reason knew all about the newsletters—some might even have had actual copies of “the Survival Report”. When that New Republic piece came out though, Reason was all “Who Farted?” and dumped Paul like he was on fire. So it’s not unknown. We won’t speak of Mark Sanford anymore either.
Really, the candidate the GOP needs to be thinking about is Mitch Daniels. Term limits are going to end his Governorship just in time to step into the Oval Office. If only he’d stop this Toranaga-esque act about not wanting the job.
Oh, and if the Republicans can’t find anybody better than Palin, they’ll deserve their utter ass-kicking.
Ironically she as a Reason favorite until she was nominated. Odd that Reason couldn’t figure out how horrible she was before then.”
Cough, Ron Paul, cough. Really funny when you remember that many of the powers that be at Reason knew all about the newsletters—some might even have had actual copies of “the Survival Report”. When that New Republic piece came out though, Reason was all “Who Farted?” and dumped Paul like he was on fire. So it’s not unknown. We won’t speak of Mark Sanford anymore either.
Really, the candidate the GOP needs to be thinking about is Mitch Daniels. Term limits are going to end his Governorship just in time to step into the Oval Office. If only he’d stop this Toranaga-esque act about not wanting the job.
Oh, and if the Republicans can’t find anybody better than Palin, they’ll deserve their utter ass-kicking.
Squirrels. What can you do?
I think the right has seen way to much of what the left considers ‘smart’–and let’s be honest here–these people can’t find their own asses with both hands–and their heads buried firmly in their respective rectums.
So if the left is calling someone stupid–given the lefts’ general inability to think–one might want to take a careful look at that person, no?
Carter–very smart.
Clinton–extremely smart
Gore–smartest prez candidate evar
Obama–smartest president evar
That’s the two worst presidents ever right there.
And Reagan and the Bushs’ were, of course, nearly insensate with stupidity. As is Palin.
hmmmm….
Whaaa? Clinton was one of the worst Presidents ever? He was a prevaricating slimeball, with the morals of an alley cat on Spanish Fly, but to say he’s one of the worst ever is to take bread from the mouths of the truly deserving like Wilson or LBJ.
Idle thought: would the country have been better off with no 22nd Amendment and eight more years of Bill? Discuss. I tend to think it would. Clinton at least knew to stop digging when he was in a hole.
Carter and Obama.
Um…
“That’s the two worst presidents ever right there.”
He means Carter and Obama.
I thought El BJ was Clinton.
Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, & Bush II are all extremely intelligent individuals.
W’s biggest strength was that people underestimated him.
People need to stop crapping all over Carter particularly his post-presidency work. “Ronald Reagan ZOMG” and “Carter…worst president in history” seem to be the dominant memes of the GOP. You can disagree with his politics or his presidency all you want but the man has done a lot of good behind the scenes ever since he left office and he deserves some respect for it. Even from (gasp!) a Republican.
I don’t think the people knocking Palin are underestimating her. I think they are estimating her spot-on. An idiot is an idiot. Palin is an idiot. This is not a “partisan issue.” It’s a “2+2 = 4” or an “ice is cold” issue — i.e. a statement of fact.
And, by the way, Obama’s administration has continued, furthered and supported a huge number of the Bush-era policies. I no longer see much difference between the legislation enacted by the two major parties– the only remaining differences are for political rhetoric purposes. They fight like gladiators on the 24 hour news networks then screw like rabbits behind closed doors.
We need to end the vicious partisan warring happening on TV every day and end the disgusting bipartisan sleaze fest happening behind closed doors in Congress. There has to be a middle ground in there where people can respectfully disagree with their political opponents while still treating them with respect. In 2000 GW suggested via flyers on cars that McCain fathered an illegitimate black child. It’s been ten years and I feel like we’ve only gone backwards from there.
Carter is a fucking loser
There has to be a middle ground in there where people can respectfully disagree with their political opponents while still treating them with respect.
You are too douchebag.
It is as much a statement of fact as “up is above down” and a clear sky in the daytime is blue.
Sure she has her clique. They might be able to get her nominated. But they can’t elect her by themselves.
But I have this file in my head. It’s at the DNC headquarters. In it is the work product of dozens of opposition researchers going who have been digging into Palin since 2008. In that file is documentation of every petty lie, video tape of every stupid thing she’s said, affidavits about every dirty deal she ever did. It’s a big, fat file. It’s more than enough material to electrify the base to vote for Obama. It’s plenty to convince the suspicious independent voters that voting for this woman would be worse than picking a name at random out of the phone book. The guys making the TV ads won’t even know where to begin.
The woman isn’t just ignorant and inexperienced, she’s a pathological liar, vindictive, and insecure. It’d be like electing a lobotomized Richard Nixon.
Andy Sullivan, is that you? Jesus hyperbole much?
Have you read the articles about her? She’s a pathological liar. I mean beyond your standard politician. I’m positive they have a mountain of stuff on her they are keeping under wraps.
Hell, if I were conspiracy minded I’d think the reason the media is giving her a pass is because they’re hoping she does get the nomination. A lot of Democrats would ride her coat tails into office in 2012. It would be a truly brutal demolition. The Democrats would have to nominate Caligula’s horse for her to have a chance.
At least I hope so.
By saying crazy and obviously untrue things about her you are helping her. The woman is not dumb. And they are going to coach her up well. So when she does go out on the campaign trail and do debates and doesn’t look anything like you paint her out to be, it is going to make her look very good.
She really is fortunate in her enemies.
But even her uterus tells crazy lies.
Her husband is pretty cool — anybody who races snowmobiles is cool.
The Democrats would have to nominate Caligula’s horse for her to have a chance.
Hillary?!
The woman isn’t just ignorant and inexperienced, she’s a pathological liar, vindictive, and insecure.
Sounds like Obama or either one of the Clintons.
It’d be like electing a lobotomized Richard Nixon.
Even Nixon would be preferable to what we have now.
and so now when some weathergirl who can barely spell her own name shows up, they take all of the booboisie elements of her personality as proof of her right-wing bonafides.
Whatsamatta, Fluff – doncha like titties?
I meant booboisie in the Menckenist sense.
The fact that Palin’s endowments make that a nice double entendre is purely a bonus.
Well her endowments are a nice double something anyway. 🙂
“Palin has the great good fortune of having the right enemies. She could walk out on stage and fail a 3rd grade multiplication test and say that she thought Abraham Lincoln fought in the Revolutionary War and Jonas Salk signed the Mayflower Compact and her supporters would sigh breathlessly and talk about how refreshing it is that she’s “just herself” and not a “corrupt elite”.”
The best thing about a paragraph like this is that you could have substituted Obama for Palin at a certain point and it would have worked fine, too.
President Palin, here we come.
Fluffy, sorry to actually request reason in a Reason comments oolumn, but can you give me the proof that Palin can “hardly spell her own name”? Links, please. Again: if there are su many arguments against her, why do so many people use vicious, ad hominem attacks?
“She’s become king?King Midas, to be exact.” But she can’t buy a brain. As the great sage, Ron White, says “ya can’t fix stupid”!
You jest, but her unofficial campaign song is indeed If I Only Had a Brain.
I could wile away the hours,
Conferrin’ with the flowers,
Consultin’ with the rain.
And my head I’d be scratchin’
While my thoughts were busy hatchin’
If I only had a brain.
I am josting…not jesting.
Or better yet jousting.
Keep it up Quixote.
That’s Quixote Coyote to you.
And how did that turn out….hmmm…let me think….
Oh, yeah–the guy everyone thought was smart turned out to be a con man–and the Scarecrow turned out to be really smart.
Go figure.
Nice analysis!
Obama is supposed to be a ‘smart guy’ so I think I’ll take my chances with a so called ‘dumb broad’ next time around, since we appear to be living in bizarro-world.
I agree that Sarah needs to step up her verbal game. Like it or not, people equate articulateness and intelligence. Obama says nothing but gets away with it because it sounds intelligent. Sarah says smart things but sounds childish. She needs to go back to school and get this done if she is to be considered seriously.
Sarah says smart things
I’ll be needing a citation or two.
Death Panels…
Read her old facebook postings. Her creation of the phrase “death panels” for example, was masterful.
Obama is the Prof Irwin Corey of our time.
Try talking to a twentysomething and hearing the word like over and over again.
Like if you didn’t have those like nice tits, I wouldn’t like be listening to you.
SP is riding on a platform of personality, not some ability to articulate on the issues. These are the values that “values voters” value and no amount of logic or political analysis will convince them otherwise.
But hey, if she manages to get elected and then does a 180 degree shift from her stated positions in the same way BHO did who knows how things might pan out? “I was against Sarah before I was for her”.
no amount of logic or political analysis will convince them otherwise
It’s no accident that she appeals mostly to theists.
+10
Perhaps that is because most of the population are theists.
But only a fringe minority of them are buying into Saint Sarah’s schtick.
See, this is what I mean–the guy telling us how stupid Palin is understands neither ‘fringe’ nor ‘minority’, and yet we’re supposed to accept that ‘gotcha!’ is smart?
Most are fair weather theists and part time theists. They don’t really give a shit they’re just covering their ass. They are not true thumpers!
The only thing that matters with a President Palin is will she sign repeal of Obamacare etc…
Well that…and the expression on Hillary Clinton’s face when she is hit with the realization that someone else has become the first woman president of the US. I fancy it would be akin to the look of that witch in the Wizard of Oz that had water spilled on her.
The wizard was a dude.
Uh, yeah, the Wizard was a dude – but the witch is the one who got wet, and she was a she.
Wouldn’t that be something to see? For Hillary to be outmaneuvered by someone younger, hotter, not as smart or accomplished. Ouch. Prepare to dodge the flying lamps!
or the flying monkeys.
You cursed brat!
By the way, that photo of her is priceless. No alt text needed. Is says everything you need to know about her. Somebody said, “Tell us what you know,” and that was her response.
“What, me worry?”
Obama, more, has the ears for that.
I don’t see the picture(s) that people comment on. Anyone know why?
I am still convinced that the only reason Palin is popular at all is that she drives so many liberals nuts. It is fucking hilarious how worked up some people get about her. If they would just ignore her, she would probably go away.
Sure, she has that effect, but that’s no reason to take her seriously. If you ask any of her supporters what, specifically, they admire about her, they cannot answer with anything but platitudes, or–more commonly–with further attacks against “the liberals.” Conservatives see in Sarah Palin a nostalgic image of their Sunday-school teacher.
I wish my Sunday school teacher looked like that.
Sorry I didn’t look more like Palin, sweetie.
I think a major reason why liberals get worked up about Palin because she doesn’t talk down to people.
Liberals want to be talked down to.
They want to feel inferior.
They like it when they are treated with contempt by their elites because it makes them feel like that person is better than them.
They don’t want leaders, they want rulers.
I laugh when people laugh off Palin as inexperienced when all the while they support Obama. I don’t think she will run for president, nor do I think she should in 2012. With that being said, if I only had a choice between Obama and her, I would go with her. I think the best move she made was to leave the governorship in Alaska. She obviously has done a pretty good job of supporting her family. I also think she would have done just as good of a job as Biden. Biden is a joke. If Palin had said half of the dumb things Biden has said, no one would be interested in her at all. But, you know, he has a penis, so he gets a pass. Just like Obama didn’t finish out his Senate term, but, he also has a penis, so he gets a pass too.
Man those penises are dynamite!
Let her be a target for the left media for next year then suddenly spring a serious libertarian/Republican from the wings after most of the media ammunition has been expended. A nice fantasy, but it looks like a possible Obummer/Palin race. I hope by that time my emigration will be completed.
the qualities that have made her a media star threaten to make her a dismal presidential candidate.
I don’t know that there’s much difference between a media star and a top-tier Presidential candidate. Exhibit A being in the White House right now.
Now, would the qualities that make you a media star make you a dismal President? Exhibit A, etc.
Empty suit, empty skirt.
You say potato…
I’m telling you that skirt isn’t empty at all. I’ve trapped a lot of beaver in there.
Republicans generally are strong on defense, they do not want someone who will quit halfway. I would be surprised if Palin won the R primary. The other republicans will use the we don’t need a commander in chief that will quit when the going gets tough line.
If she thinks the dems have wacked her around, wait until primary time when the republicans take their turn.
She quit when the going got ridiculous and was tapping into her wallet. Her successor did exactly what she said he would do. The move was not only prudent from a financial standpoint on her part it was brilliant politically. You underestimate her wits.
You don’t think other republicans will beat her up on the quitting?
Should she decide to run, Palin is teflon in the GOP primary.
…and that Teflon will turn into Krazy Glue in the general election. I don’t think independents and swing voters will look too kindly on quitters, especially those with lame excuses for quitting.
Instead of making the case that she would be an improvement on Obama, she’d have to explain why she would be preferable to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, or former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum,
Dear God. Is that really the list of early Republican front-runners?
Yes, but only because Bob Dole declined.
Universal health care Romney, Nanny Huckster, and Mr. we should use federal power to keep one person on life suppport Santorum.
Great line up.
So Pawlenty it is then.
John McMaverick is full of festering douche, but he has inadvertently helped create a situation where a small portion of America is starting to realize that a a big government that does what they want is still a big government, and not really good for them. He also dangled a sufficiently shiny object in front of Palin to get her to not be my horrible governor anymore. Sometimes, people do good things, even if it’s purely by accident. Which is not to imply that he’s not still a douche.
I truly hope that I never again in my lifetime see both houses of Congress and the White House all controlled by a single party.
Funny, but I’ve never yet to meet a guy who was a Palin hater who wasn’t 1) wildly gay or 2) a straight guy who couldn’t get laid in a Thai whorehouse with $20s stapled to his stomach.
Palin brings out, not the political hate, but the personal hate.
But don’t believe me. Poke around. Do your own research.
Palin was the most Libertarian in the 08 election, based on her past record, but go ahead, True Libertarians. Take a nice hit off Joe Biden’s c^%k. Idiots….
Palin brings out, not the political hate, but the personal hate.
It’s always like that with lefties.
That’s why they accuse anyone who disagrees with Obama’s policies of being racist. It’s because they can’t imagine judging ideas based upon anything other than the source, so the only explanation they can come up with for opposing Obama’s policies is hating him for his race.
Ask the average Palin hater about specific policies that they disagree with and you’ll get a blank stare.
Liberals are not worthy of being called human beings because they do not use their mind.
They’re no better than animals that react based upon emotion.
I’m not a “lefty” but I’m definitely not a fan of Palin. Want to know exhibit A and B of why I don’t like her? One, she said the Iraq War was a task from God. Not that you should even need another shining example after that, but secondly, anyone who rails against the evils of Government but then says we can’t cut the military budget is a person who has zero credibility. The military budget is larger than every other nation in the world combined. It’s also the largest chunk of federal spending, is it not?
Call me crazy, but I am not at all enamored with someone who will advocate continuing a costly and disastrous foreign policy, and invoke the name of God while doing so. Religion should never be used as an excuse for destruction. Period.
I’m not a fan of Palin either, though I don’t hate her.
If given a choice between someone who plays lip service to smaller government, or someone who openly declares that government is the solution to every problem, I’d heave a heavy sigh and vote for Palin.
“”If given a choice between someone who plays lip service to smaller government,…””
Like Bush did in 2000?
You need to listen to the full speech that ‘task from god’ memee comes from. It doesn’t say what you think it says.
Perhaps I am missing something, but I just watched her interview with Charles Gibson. It starts out with a clip where she tells her church it is a task from God. Then she says she’s using Lincoln’s words and asking for prayer that we are doing what is right and are on God’s side, rather than Him being on our side. Then she says, when asked about her son going to Iraq, that she “doesn’t know” if it’s task from God, and then praises her son’s decision for serving something bigger than self. Ok. But now I’m just confused. Looks to me like she’s changed her mind 3 times in the same conversation. Maybe SHE knows what she’s talking about, but I’m not sure.
I suppose ABC could have taken liberties with the editing, but methinks Sarah Palin either doesn’t know what she’s talking about, or is completely unable to communicate it to the public. Either way, not someone I want as my President.
Sigh.
Asking that we are on the ‘side of god’ is exactly what she said–and is consistent with her comment about not knowing–i.e. praying that we are ‘with god’ in this.
As far as her son being part of something bigger than himself, joining the military is “being part of something bigger than oneself”
She said the same thing twice, and the third thing that so confused you was about something entirely different.
It’s also the largest chunk of federal spending, is it not?
Larger than entitlements?
Well, I think you are oversimplifying a bit an using a caricature of the left that live in your head, but you are right on about the personal hate thing. The only rational objection I have heard to her from my lefty friends is that she might start a war with Iran (which Obama seems just as likely to do as anyone).
My opionion is that she totally sucks. But there are about a million other politicians in this country who totally suck, many of whom suck even more, so I can’t/won’t get worked up about it and try to have a good laugh.
By implication, then, you’re suggesting that Palin love by males is directed to her boobies?
If by libertarian you mean pork loving christofascist idiot, then yes, she’s libertarian.
The “poor me” routine by Palin and her sycophants is getting really tired.
“…directed to her boobies?” You mean her tits…her jugs???
You know….sometimes I wonder if Tony isn’t actually a girl and we’ve only just assumed otherwise.
Don’t be silly. There are no girls here.
Just girlie men!
The correct spelling is “juggs”.
I’ve never yet to meet a guy who was a Palin hater who wasn’t 1) wildly gay or 2) a straight guy who couldn’t get laid in a Thai whorehouse
Palin has such witty defenders! And it’s all “personal.” It has nothing at all to do with her alleged ideas. Funny, but it’s always the haters who resort to hate speech while accusing others of hate.
Why is that hate speech?
Looks to me like nothing more than an apt observation.
Stapling $20 bills to your stomach is probably one of the few things that would stop you gettign laid in a thai whorehouse.
Quit disparaging your fellow gays and come suck me some more, Holy Cow! You were divine yesterday!
I have to continue this at the bottom of the thread because the page isn’t rendering properly and the threaded comments feature isn’t working for me.
Ironically she as a Reason favorite until she was nominated. Odd that Reason couldn’t figure out how horrible she was before then. What happened was she became part of the culture war and Reason considers that more important that substance.
I assume that they knew little about her other than the fact that she was a youngish female governor who made free-market-sounding noises and didn’t have the extensive record of big-government accomodationism that every major GOP figure nationwide had at that time.
Then she became McCain’s VP candidate and swore her allegience to the Bush record and the National Greatness Conservative agenda.
All I knew about Palin in early 2008 was what had appeared on the pages of this magazine. I kinda liked what I heard, too. But it’s not early 2008 any more. She has made no bones about who she is, and it’s not who Reason tried to tell me she was, back in the day.
And dude, it’s not just the Couric interview. I can listen to a person for ten minutes and know beyond a shadow of a doubt if they’ve ever read a book in their lives. And I know you can, too. You’re just making excuses for her because you don’t like to back down.
You’re maybe on the right track when you say “Maybe too much of that book learnin’ will make you into Romer,” but I know you don’t believe that. You’ve got plenty of book learnin’ yourself and you didn’t turn into Romer.
The point is what someone says and thinks and what ideas they believe. You can have a large IQ, which I am sure Romer does, and still be dumb as a post. We should be calling people stupid because they hold foolish ideas not because they may or may not be clever at dealing with Katie Couric.
I don’t care what kind of interview Palin or anyone else gives. I care what they actually plan to do in office. I would vote for Forrest Gump if I knew he would actually do something about spending and save us from bankruptcy. We are well passed the days of benighted experts coming to Washington to save the world. That is what got us here. Frankly you don’t have to have a 180 IQ to understand the problems and the solutions to them. You just have to have convictions and guts. Maybe Palin doesn’t have that. I don’t know to be honest. But whoever becomes President in 2012, what matters is their values (not moral values but civic values and views on the role of government) and whether they get the problems we face. And that has nothing to do with their ability to play junior Olympics with the fucking root weevils in the media.
I’ll take common sense and principles over a high IQ and contempt any day.
That’s what people with low IQs say.
Since you have such a low IQ Tony, I guess you speak with some authority on the topic.
You wouldn’t mumble so much if you removed my dick from your mouth.
You put it there. I find the fact that you have Sarah Palin on the TV in the background kind of insulting, but oh well.
Your closeted gayness is showing through. Insecure right-wingers are so transparent…
Closeted gayness??? Right-winger??? Tony???!!! You must be really new around here, Eric.
Silly faggot. Dicks are for chicks!
Ooohhh good one….hey aren’t you suppose to be in school?
“”I care what they actually plan to do in office. “”
Shit John, they would have to be honest with themselves about what their power allows, and be honest with us about what they can do within those constraints. Which they rarely do. It isn’t a winning strategy. They tell us what they would like to do but often they don’t have the authority to do so, it’s up to Congress. The example I like to use is Ron Paul on the Cobert Show. Cobert asked if Paul would get rid of the IRS. Paul said the President couldn’t do it but he would work with Congress to get rid of the IRS. A correct, but apolitical answer.
Point being, you never know what they will do in office, campaign rhetoric is just that, it’s not reality based. Look at the difference between what Bush jr. said on the trail in 2000 and what he did. Obama is an example also.
As you’ve said many times. They will just disappoint us.
We in the United States and also in other countries around the world have turned our national elections into student council elections. Many voters care less about experience; they want someone young, cool and attractive. This has given us Bush Jr, Obama and maybe President Palin.
This probably started with John F Kennedy. It seems ever since many Americans as well as much of the press has dreamed of a second Camelot. So we end up with Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Edwards, Martin O’Malley and Barack Obama. It has even caught on in Great Britain, where both the Liberal Democrats and the Tories chose Kennedy clones as their parties leaders. And let’s not forget Tony Blair.
Back in 1999 the Republican establishment knew the older (but more experienced) John McCain could not beat the younger and more handsome Al Gore. So the Republicans went out and got an inexperienced but handsome cowboy with Bush Jr. Much of the 2000 campaign seem to focus on which candidate was cooler and which one you would rather sit around and have a beer with.
In 2010 John McCain chose Sarah Palin to add some sex appeal to his campaign. That was Palin’s only qualification.
I not sure what percentage of the human population is photogenic. But if it is from this small minority we chose our leaders, then we are in trouble.
PICK FLICK 2012
Some date the looks-over-substance thing to women’s suffrage and the election of Warren Harding, who apparently held some attraction for the women of the day.
Then she became McCain’s VP candidate and swore her allegience to the Bush record and the National Greatness Conservative agenda.
You’re a fucking idiot, dude. Seriously. A moron. Did she swear allegiance to Bush’s permanent record or a 45 LP?
So again, True Libertarians really show what they are: cowards. It’s all because Palin has a kid in the military and doesn’t piss all over the wars in Iraq/Afghanistan.
Seriously, no one’s gonna draft your frail lily-white ass. Oh, and get over yourselves and your faux anti-war moral indignation. The country’s history from day 1 to today has been one of war. So shut the fuck, cowardly assholes.
Fuck off, cunt.
Guess what? If that stupid brain-dead weathergirl cunt actually gets the nomination, every libertarian leaner who isn’t some retarded hillbilly redneck fundamentalist fuckwad is going to abandon the stupid cum dumpster. And then we get Obama for four more years. Enjoy it.
No, Fluffy, the liberaltarians will. And, being such an influential demographic the election will shift….okay, no, it won’t.
The only ‘libertarians’ who’ll take four more years of Obama over Palin are the ones who voted for him last time(and the ones who actually want him in office).
Even if you hate Palin, and it’s Palin versus Obama, you’ve seen what Obama can do–the damage he can cause. Imagine that damage multiplied when he gets another 4 years and doesn’t have to run again.
Palin’s first year would be standard floundering, her second would, at least, have some moves away from Obamacare, and, if she’s total screwup, we can gridlock her congress.
Either way, that’s better than Obama.
Yup.
You betcha!
Not this libertarian leaner. I’d pick Palin over Obama any day. She may not be the best choice, but look at all of the supposed geniuses in power now. They can all suck it.
I’d give Palin a chance before I’d give Obama a second term.
I’d have to see who Palin chooses as her running mate before I hold my nose and vote for her. I don’t want a handpicked far-right nutjob suddenly in the Oval Office once Palin resigns the presidency over some lame reason.
This country’s history of wars has included a lot of optional wars that we shouldn’t have fought.
So you can go fuck yourself. And I would advise that you stop trying to guess people’s motivations. You are not very good at it.
+10
Somebody please get Christie to run and then we don’t have to have this discussion for 26 more months.
Please run. I’m asking nicely.
Maybe Christie. I will tell you what though, I don’t like Daniels. I can’t believe a bunch of Libertarians are in love with a former Bush Administration country club Republican.
The guy has a demonstrated competence in pulling a state back from fiscal disaster and into the black, without raising taxes (AFAIK), and doing it in a way that seemed to ruffle the fewest feathers. That’s huge in my book. If he can do that, I don’t care what administration or country club he’s been in.
He talks some sense about the government’s balance of payments, without being as radical as Paul. He’s also not tarred with the TARP brush like so many other GOP contenders from Congress. Moreover, unlike a lot of other candidates, the guy actually got his face out of the public trough once in awhile. Not for long, but better than someone who’s only been in public service.
Is he perfect? No. Do I think he’d be better than anyone else the GOP will run, and have a shot of winning? Yes. Is he a better candidate than Palin? Are you kidding?
Palin would be a better candidate than Danials in that she might actually do what she says. Daniels is a surrender slowly be reasonable kind of Republican. If you like working with Democrats and raising taxes through the roof in exchange for token spending cuts in the name of statesmanship, Daniels is your man. No thanks.
Coolidge was a country clubber, too (at least, as far as cultural signifiers go). He was still the best American president in the modern era.
I like Christie….
I’d like to see Gary Johnson run. But I don’t know how seriously anyone takes him.
Sarah Palin supports jury nullification. She is demonstrably far smarter than Obama too. Anyone inclined to support an “R” candidate for POTUS on minarchist grounds shouldn’t rule her out until after she starts to campaign.
Gov. Palin is a huge splitter – people love her, or they despise her. The worst thing that could happen to the GOP is that she might try for the presidential nomination. There’s a good chance she’d win it because Republicans love her, but it’s the independents that actually vote for the president (conservatives and liberals vote party lines and cancel each other out), and the media has done a good enough job smearing her that she’s all but guaranteed to lose the general election. Her best bet would be to replace Michael Steele as chairman of the party – since she’s proving to excel as a GOP cheerleader and getting GOP candidates elected, and that’s exactly what the party chair is supposed to do.
the media has done a good enough job smearing her
Oh please. She’s a millionaire now because of the attention the media give her. That doesn’t stop her from constantly whining though. She is an idiot fascist crybaby. For all the talk of self determination on the right it’s curious how thick Palin and her followers lay on the victimization. She gets to accuse the president of “pallin’ around with terrorists” but it’s a smear to ask her what newspapers she reads?
Your troll powers are weak today, Tony. Really, “fascist”? Why not add “slaveowner” and “traitor”? You’d have just as much evidence.
You know she’d lay the iron fist down on freedom of the press if she could. As Louis CK put it, she’s basically Hitler.
And this, gentle reader, is what fear sounds like.
Hahahaha. Yes, I’m so scared of Sarah Palin. Please, please don’t nominate her for POTUS!!
The media smeared me and my record and touted this guy(Obama) as the smartest man in the world.
How’s that hopey changie thing working out for ya?
Are you better off today than you were four years ago?
Do you trust the media today as much as you did four years ago?
I actually believe you could be the real Sarah Palin.
Palin’s uber-fans are good at complaining and finding fault with every Republican who isn’t her, but they are much smaller in number than they think.
What I love about this woman, truly love, it that she has become the perfect dog turd on a stick that gets so many people running around the yard screaming and crying to get away. It childish of me, I know, but I do love it so. That being said, other than catching the tenor of the vox populi she really hasn’t shown any compelling traits I’d like to see for any national public office. BUT?. I want to see you shreik around the back yard just one more time, then I’ll throw her away?? I promise.
…she’d have to explain why she would be preferable to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, or former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, among other possible contenders.
That shouldn’t be too difficult. Not exactly a sterling crop of candidates, there.
Personally, she reminds me a bit of Clinton, in that she cultivates an anti-intellectual “aw shucks” persona, and everything she’s involved with inevitably turns into a drama of some kind. In short, she’s a diva, and we’re about to see whether America really is willing to elect a diva to the highest office in the land. In our Reality TV world, I wouldn’t be too sure that mushy-minded independents will oppose her in the end.
Apart from Ron Paul, I would like to a serious non-politician run for president as a Republican in 2012. Someone who has actually run a business, hired people, and not been government mooch for years.
and we’re about to see whether America really is willing to elect a diva to the highest office in the land.
We’ve had a prima donna in there for the last two years, so maybe we are.
Someone who has actually run a business, hired people, and not been government mooch for years.
You just described Sarah Palin. Doh!
SPOILER ALERT
Oct. 31, 2011
Wasilla, Alaska (AP)
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin gave birth early Monday morning to a two-headed baby boy. The Palins have named the child Trick/Treat. Sarah Palin released the following statement through a family spokesman: “Trick/Treat are beautiful and already adored by us. We knew through early testing they would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as they entered our lives.” Sarah Palin has declined repeated requests to address the implications of her pregnancy and special gift on her presidential aspirations.
You people are all parasites, I am voting squirrel all the way down the ballot in ’12.
It would be awesome if Glenn Beck, and Sara Palin had a child together. This child would be so polarizing as to cause actual violence between the republicans and democrats.
Civil war would naturally occur, with the Chinese funding both sides, hoping to sweep in and take over the destabilized nation. The cowardly libertarians will head for the hills to grow pot in this lawless land. Which is all they wanted to do in the first place…
Really if you hate Palin that much and the guy you are arguing with likes her that much, then a battle to the death is the only appropriate conclusion. Of course the winner would commit sepaku.
Man, if Katie Couric asked me what newspapers I read, I’d tell ’em Reason: Hit & Run. Then I would look into the camera and give a shout out to all the posters here, except for Episiarch, fuck that guy he’s a dick.
Also, Katie Couric would be all over my nutz.
Katie Couric: Cap, could you name a supreme court case that…
cap: Let me ask you something first, Katie.
Katie: Okay
cap: I know you have this sweet newslady gig, but do you happen to also work for UPS?
Katie: No, why?
cap: I just noticed you checking out my package, that’s all.
Katie: *giggles* Well…(blushes)
I just need one of those damn exploratory committees.
Just slog around Iowa and NH for the next two years, and you’ll be golden!
I hate corn, but I love (drinking)ethanol, do you think I can win?
You’re already at least as qualified as the current president.
This last reality is a clue that those who want her to run will be disappointed. If she were serious about a White House bid, she would have spent the past two years making herself plausible as president. All Palin has done is make herself a major media phenomenon, as well as a wealthy woman.
I disagree with Chapman here. She has spent the last two years keeping herself in the headlines far more than her status would normally warrant. Her Q rating is off the charts. If anything, she’s a bigger celebrity now than in 2008. If she runs for president, it won’t be a traditional candidacy spent wooing the voters of Iowa and NH. She’ll conduct a higher profile run and probably attempt the same sort of caucus-driven strategy that worked for Obama.
Had she stayed in Alaska as governor and not hit the rubber chicken circuit last year, we wouldn’t be talking about her. And she wouldn’t be any more “plausible” as president for it. I’m not sure what constitutes a “plausible” president anymore in a nation that a elects non-entity like Obama.
Why does everyone assume she’d run as a republican? It seems to me that she has the best chance of a successful independent run as anyone ever has. Why not run as a Tea Party candidate? Hell the T.E.A. Party practically belongs to her. She would be able to avoid many debates (independents don’t get invited to many) all the while maintaining a huge media profile (which she’s already proved she can do without much effort).
“”If anything, she’s a bigger celebrity now than in 2008.””
I thought the republicans didn’t like celebrity candidates. Wasn’t that one of the complaints about Obama?
We mean celebrities like Will Smith, Kanye West, or Kobe Bryant. That kind of celebrity is bad. You know, that kind.
Has anyone considered that the woman may actually be “crazy like a fox”?
Her best opportunity to gain the national stage is as another VP choice. She could be an awesome fund-raiser and campaigner for the Republican nominee. If Repubs are successful in ’12, Palin would ‘season’ as VP for 8 years, then have her shot at the Presidency.
Steve Chapman: Although you had a few people believing you when you started, the “nuts and sluts” line of attack you use, along with your somewhat biased background, are now common knowledge among your readers.
Who do I have to vote for to make a pack of smokes cost $2; be allowed to smoke at a bar, and drive shit-faced without worrying about a DUI?
they got my vote, whoever they are.
Ah, the good old days!
Who do I have to vote for to make a pack of smokes cost $2; be allowed to smoke at a bar, and drive shit-faced without worrying about a DUI?
Me.
My goddamn exploratory committee’s conclusion is that I have no chance of winning. The good news is that I am still going to run for potus…That’s right you all heard it first.
My campaign slogan is:
Vote cap l, he’ll make it legal for your kids to buy heroin!
(dang I wish we still had blinky capabilities, that would look sweet)
Pretty catchy, if I do say so myself. I am moving to Iowa tomorrow, and I expect beers and giant breakfasts to be awaiting my arrival. I am the candidate you would like to have a beer with, because I got your back America.
You think Obama or Palin will be there when you “accidentally” brush up against some woman’s tit, and her giant boyfriend wants to stomp your head in…nope, they won’t.
America, cap l is the friend holding a pool cue, standing right behind that big dude that is all up in your face.
Also, the weed, we will free the weed.
Vote cap l, he’ll make it legal for your kids to buy heroin!
Kids should be able to buy heroin if they want… as long as they earned the money.
lol! Reading that just made my night a little better. Sad, I know, but the laugh was good!
Palin is entirely unfit for the presidency.
So is Obama, but that didn’t stop him.
There’s one very simple less I take away from the whole newspaper debacle: Sarah Palin can’t think quickly enough to name a newspaper, any newspaper, without prompting. I’m willing to bet being president takes more mental dexterity than remembering what the Anchorage Daily News is called.
If Palin is as bad as claimed, why does she scare the bejeezus out of the left?
Palin is a front. She is a social conservative, bigger gov., neocon. How could any serious libertarian support her?
How could any serious libertarian support Obama?
I didn’t mean in the pres race, i just think nominating her would be absurd
is good
thank u