What’s the Mama Grizzly Up To?
When Sarah Palin, in a rambling lakeside announcement last July in Wasilla, said she was quitting as governor of Alaska because of the abuse she and her family were taking from petty politicians and a feral press, she was written off as dead by the pundits.
"A quitter, can't take the heat," was the Beltway consensus.
Yet, it seems that was no more the end of Sarah than it was the end of Richard Nixon when, after losing to Gov. Pat Brown in California in 1962, he spat at the press: "Just think how much you're going to be missing. You won't have Nixon to kick around anymore because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference."
Six years later, Nixon took the oath on the Capitol steps.
And though the media have painted Palin as a ditz, no politician in memory has conducted a more brilliant pre-presidential campaign, if that is what she is about, than the lady who calls herself "the Mama Grizzly."
Consider Tuesday. Palin had gambled big by going into South Carolina to endorse Nikki Haley, a state legislator running last for the GOP nomination for governor—against the lieutenant governor, the attorney general and a congressman.
Haley instantly vaulted into the lead, taking 49 percent on primary day, and is headed for the governor's mansion—in a Palmetto State that holds what is often the decisive primary in presidential nomination runs.
Nikki was Sarah's kind of conservative with a populist touch.
But Terry Branstad is not. This ex-governor of Iowa, who served four terms ending in 1998, is a moderate. Yet Palin endorsed him in his comeback bid over a conservative backed by Dr. James Dobson and Mike Huckabee.
After his victory Tuesday, Branstad, too, is headed for the governor's mansion in a state that hosts the first big battle of 2012—the Iowa caucuses.
By bringing conservatives to Branstad's camp, Palin can claim some credit for returning him to office, though Mitt Romney backed Branstad earlier and his and Branstad's staffs are said to be wired.
The endorsement of Branstad suggests Palin, a politician of principle, has a pragmatic streak. She acts not only out of instinct but cold calculation. How else to explain the Branstad endorsement over a social conservative than a decision to befriend a future GOP governor in the first battleground state of 2012?
Other interventions this cycle reveal Palin to be far more savvy than the caricature drawn by the left.
Gov. Rick Perry of Texas, a colleague of Palin's in the GOP Governor's Association, was facing an uphill battle against Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who had the backing of Dick Cheney—Mr. National Security and the most visible national Republican of 2009.
Cheney went to Texas for Hutchison. Palin went in for Perry, who had scrambled to the Tea Party right, even raising the specter of secession. Perry won in a walk. Palin 1, Cheney 0.
Perry will lead the second-largest bloc of delegates to the GOP convention in Tampa, Fla. The largest will come from California, where Carly Fiorina—another one of Palin's mama grizzlies—won the GOP Senate nod on Tuesday. Palin had endorsed her over the more conservative Chuck DeVore.
In Kentucky, where the establishment backed Mitch McConnell's handpicked successor to Sen. Jim Bunning, Trey Grayson, and Cheney went in for Grayson, Palin endorsed Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, who has a loyal libertarian following.
With Palin and Tea Party backing, Rand won. The Pauls, too, owe a debt to Sarah. Palin 2, Cheney 0.
In Arizona, Palin, who is closer in her politics to J.D. Hayworth, came to campaign for embattled Sen. John McCain, who chose her as his running mate and made her a star.
McCain's aides have been anonymously trashing Sarah as an airhead who had caused the ticket's defeat. She repaid their disloyalty with unqualified loyalty to McCain, who is unlikely to forget what she did, at some cost to herself.
But it was Sarah's first intervention, in New York's 23rd Congressional District, where she showed a boldness that marks the better politicians.
Liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava was handpicked by the party to face Democrat Bill Owens in the Republican district. Doug Hoffman, endorsed by the Conservative Party, jumped in. Newt Gingrich urged Republicans to stand by the pro-choice, pro-gay-rights Scozzafava.
Palin went rogue and declared for Hoffman, who surged past Scozzafava, who fell to third, bowed out and endorsed Owens, who won by two. That was the first manifestation of Palin Power. Palin 1, Newt 0.
Looking over Palin's endorsements—McCain over J.D., Fiorina over DeVore, Branstad over Bob Vander Plaats and Rod Roberts—the lady is not running for Mrs. Conservative. The one explanation that makes the most sense of all the seeming inconsistencies in endorsements is that Mama Grizzly is thinking about moving the Wasilla brood into the big house.
COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM
Entries(RSS)
I just don't understand Buchanan's obsession with this woman.
God help us.
S.L. ,
Not sure he is obsessed with her, he just sees her as positioning herself as the GOP nominee,which should be easy in a rather lackluster field of choices thus far. Newt and the boys just don't excite anyone. Ron Paul is too old and although I would vote for him like I did in 2008, he has zero charisma, so his chances are zilch. What this shows me is that Palin is playing the morons in the Tea Party as the fools they are. They are voting moderate neocon hacks into office just because Sarah Palin endorses them. Americans are such lemmings,led by any new "superstar" politician that comes there way and tells them what they want to hear. The fact that America is so devoid of leadership, that some two bit poltician from the Artic Circle is going to probably be the GOP candidate for President in 2012 tells us how far down we have descended as a natio. The voters will be faced with yet another no win situation in the voting booth. We will have Obama(or Hilary if he choses not to run again) or the neocon puppet Palin, with Cheny as the VP to control her.
Here on this web site, some bloggers predicted that the Tea Party crowd would be manipulated by the Republicans into becoming useful GOP stooges, and thus would be made devoid of any real power or significance. I never argued because you cant argue with truth. Now we see the proof.
A particular columnist, R. Emmett Tyrell Jr., was angrily proclaiming, "Liberals hate the middle class. There, I said it."
Why? He remarked that when Sarah Palin said in her folksy tone, "How's that hopey changey stuff workin' out for ya?", people made fun of her.
Well, of course they made fun of her! What do you expect?!
Did Romans, in their togas, stand in a forum, elegantly point towards the Caesar, and say to their comrades, "How's that hopey changey stuff workin' out for ya?"
I expected better from the American Right, by the way. I expected better than this class warfare angle that it has started. I expected better than this simplistic characterization of "Ivy League elite" ruling the administration, while "conservative middle class people" are oppressed under their rool. Ha! And when you make such simplistic characterizations, then no doubt will you get up in arms at defending a buffoon like Palin.
Class warfare is not only rotten politics, it betrays a hint of even rotten character that is inherent in even better people. It's also a very stupid and outdated approach to understanding people and society. Particularly in this age when a man can be hand-to-mouth today and living fabulously tommorow, or vice versa.
This is a disappointing effort by Mr. Buchanan. He will periodically issue forth an article such as this, in which his presuppositions are exposed in an embarrassing, cringe-worthy manner. He still loves the Republican party in the same way some dads love their profligate, drunken, and rapacious sons; "Yeah, I know my boy has his problems, but by golly I still think he's the best kid in the world! He'll get his act together any day now." Sarah Palin gave up a real job (gov. of Alaska)in order to be a celebrity in the lower 48. I don't think that she has any noble principles, and Pat Buchanan knows this in his heart of hearts. So why does he let the rest of us think that "moving the Wasilla brood into the White House" is even a remotely good thing? I just don't get this man, but I'll still read him (I guess).
I think we should look behind the curtain and see who really is pulling the levers for Palin. What Pat is primarily saying is that her Republican team is making some very intelligent decisions about the upcoming election cycle and she is making lots of friends in high place.
She is a pragmatic social/cultural liberal. In other words a very typical political opportunist who wouldn't mind moving her "Wasilla brood" into the "big house."
Lord help us if this woman is President come 2013. From where I sit, she is ethically and morally unqualified to hold ANY sort of public office.
Prayer-and-fasting time, people.
I think she is the cinch to be the GOP nominee in 2012. Kissinger vetted her, so she is a globalist lackey at best, or actually one of them, but given her background that is highly doubtful. Bottom line is this will just ensure that another globalist is elected to oversee the final collapse of US sovereignty. Palin has another book coming out in November so stay tuned for that.
I think we should look behind the curtain and see who really is pulling the levers for Palin. What Pat is primarily saying is that her Republican team is making some very intelligent decisions about the upcoming election cycle and she is making lots of friends in high place.
Indeed.
The politics that she is playing do not require all that much "savvy"; she was already in a good spot and there were people willing to tell her what she could do to make herself an even better one. It matters not one bit that she knows nothing of the global international order. Her rough-and-tumble good girl image ensures grassroots support from people who just don't care; her friends will take care of the cosmopolitan bit. Of course these "advisors" will continue onto her presidential administration and receive their rich rewards in the form of high-level posts at U.S. taxpayer expense.
My, 'tis grand not to be a U.S. taxpayer.
Sarah Palin had to choose between standing for what she loved and getting into power, and she has opted for the latter. I do not, however, believe it is fair to pin her as "rotten to the core"; in my mind, she may actually just be too naïve to realise that once in power she will be too indebted to the forces of darkness to implement any of her "principles." In fact, chances are that she, like almost every other American "conservative," simply does not understand the dark side of American politics and the Republican Party in particular.
Not sure that that deculpabilises her one bit, but it's a shame, watching her and 90 percent of Americans. They could all really be so much more.
'In fact, chances are that she, like almost every other American “conservative,” simply does not understand the dark side of American politics and the Republican Party in particular.'
Quite true I think. Americans are too caught up in thinking highly of their country to think she could possibly be ruled by knaves. It's taken me some time to realize the role that blackmail can play in U.S. politics.
I'll never take Buchanan seriously again. He's allowed his hormones to override his good sense. Shame!
@12:
...