Are Republicans Turning On Sarah Palin? Should They?
Are Republicans Turning on Sarah Palin? Should They?
Sarah Palin has had some pretty interesting answers to some seemingly easy questions. [See her interview with Katie Couric here, and the SNL parody here]. Some are questioning her experience, and whether she could be a good president. What do you think? Even some conservatives are beginning to turn on Palin.
Kathleen Parker – Palin Problem…
If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream — away from Sarah Palin.
To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president — and possibly president — is to risk being labeled anti-woman.
Or, as I am guilty of charging her early critics, supporting only a certain kind of woman.
Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick — what a difference a financial crisis makes — and a more complicated picture has emerged.
As we’ve seen and heard more from John McCain’s running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn’t know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.
From Marc Ambinder – The Great Palin Panic of 2008…
Gov. Sarah Palin has lost control of her public image, several top-level McCain advisers said this weekend, and even a baseline performance in Thursday’s debate with Joe Biden may be too late to recover it.
The decision to sequester Palin from the national political press corps was made with the assumption that the afterglow from her convention speech would last; a month later, even some Republicans are beginning to have a less favorable opinion of her.
Her knowledge of policy has seemed at times no more than inch deep, and even admirers have complained that her penchant for returning to talking points sounds artificial. Several times the campaign has had to clean up her remarks for her, such as on Saturday, when she hinted at a view of U.S.-Pakistani relations that was closer to Barack Obama’s.
Huffington Post – George Will: Palin Is Not Qualified…
Famed conservative columnist George Will told a gathering of Senate aides on Monday that Gov. Sarah Palin is “obviously” not prepared to assume the presidency if necessary, two event attendees told the Huffington Post.
Appearing at a Senate Press Secretaries Association reception at the Cornerstone Government Affairs office, Will offered a harsh assessment of John McCain’s running mate.
Palin is “obviously not qualified to be President,” he remarked, describing her interview on CBS Evening News with Katie Couric as a “disaster.”
Is Conservative Support For Palin Cracking?
Parker’s criticism of Palin is qualitatively different from the consistent “Palin derangement Syndrome” we’ve seen from the left. That opposition is both reflexive and ideological. The feminist opposition to Palin in particular is rooted in the pro-choice orthodoxy that would have made any pro-life woman unacceptable — though the venom hurtled at Palin by those in the women’s movement was far, far more vicious than it would have been had the selection been someone else — a Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas, for example. Palin’s five kids, her blue collar roots and her frontier persona is tremendously appealing to many. But it has bred much vitriol among the left’s intelligentsia (an oxymoron, I know).
Kathleen Parker’s views, however, are potentially far more damaging to John McCain. Should this be the first of many respected conservative voices who turn against her, it will dampen some of the enthusiasm among the base.
From News Busters…
While talking to CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric about her interview with Sarah Palin, on Wednesday’s Early Show, co-host Harry Smith asked: “…there is a — I won’t say growing — but there are a number of Republicans and conservatives have started to question whether or not she’s good for this ticket. What — what is the feeling in the McCain camp about that?” Couric actually defended Palin: “Well, you know, she has helped the McCain campaign raise $30 million. Helped them double their get-out-the-vote effort. And as you can see, she’s energized the crowds.”
Concerns About Palin’s Readiness…
“I think she has pretty thoroughly — and probably irretrievably — proven that she is not up to the job of being president of the United States,” David Frum, a former speechwriter for President Bush who is now a conservative columnist, said in an interview. “If she doesn’t perform well, then people see it.
“And this is a moment of real high anxiety, a little bit like 9/11, when people look to Washington for comfort and leadership and want to know that people in charge know what they are doing.”
Ms. Palin, of Alaska, continues to draw large crowds, is helping Mr. McCain with fund-raising and drawing volunteers, and is drumming up support among base Republican voters who were once skeptical of his candidacy, party leaders said in interviews. Yet these rough two weeks have led some Republicans to reconsider their initial assessment that she would sharply increase Mr. McCain’s appeal among women and independent voters.
Her halting interview with Katie Couric on CBS News alarmed many Republicans and gave fodder for a devastating parody on Saturday Night Live.
Also See:
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Wall Street Journal – Game Plan for Palin is Retooled
First they were upset because Sarah Palin hasn’t been invited to appear on Oprah Winfrey’s program, even though the latter has openly stated that she supports Barack Obama. Several Republican women’s groups have asked viewers to boycott Oprah’s show.
Now they’re upset because PBS’ Gwen Ifill, who is scheduled to release a book in January which analyzes the new era of black political leaders (obviously including a section on Barack Obama), is moderating tomorrow night’s Vice Presidential debate.
They want Sarah Palin to appear on Oprah. They don’t want Sarah Palin to be questioned by Gwen Ifill.
Comments
Comment from Regina Varolli
Time: October 2, 2008, 12:47 pm
Great article! It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who thinks it’s sexist to treat Sarah Palin like anything other than the Republican Vice Presidential nominee. It’s simply not right to accuse her critics of being anti-women. Sure, questioning whether she can be a good VP and Mom at the same time IS sexist, but challenging whether she would make a good VP based on her knowledge and experience is NOT sexist. Rather, it’s called Equality.
Comment from Gen
Time: October 5, 2008, 9:22 am
I’m a Republican, and when Palin first came on the scene, I liked her and viewed her as a breath of fresh air. However, I don’t believe in media hype, campaign ads or marketing soundbytes – pro or con – and decided to research her record and get some facts. What has this governor of a state with only 630,000 residents done in the past 18 months? Not even close to what McCain’s campaign maintains:
· For starters, when Palin took over as Mayor of Wasilla, a village of 6,000 residents at the time, she boasted that the job “wasn’t rocket science,” and that she could handle it alone, as her predecessors had done. She soon created a position of City Manager and filled it with someone to handle much of the work. She also left the town with a $22 mil budget deficit.
· When she took office as governor, she hired friends and placed them in positions for which they had zero experience or qualifications. She has been a “no-show” at important legislative meetings, and has come under fire for not responding to the communications and needs of a number of mayors and authorities throughout Alaska. She insulates herself, and is often unreachable.
· When she doesn’t understand an important issue, she grandstands. She gives scripted answers and avoids questions. She appears to prefer speech/seminar formats where she controls information and doesn’t have to answer direct questions she is either unfamilair with, or won’t answer out of fear of looking incompetent. Position papers are written for her. (Any of this sound familiar?)
· Palin has a tendency to views those with opinions that do not agree with her own as a threat to her, personally. She’s been known to become angry with the individual, ridicule or attack them professionally; in some instances she has tried to get them fired. Lyda Green is a highly-respected Republican and is president of the Alaska state senate. Lyda did not feel that Palin was ready to run for governor in 2006, and declined to endorse her, preferring to remain neutral. In January of 2008, Palin was on the Mark & Bob Show, a radio show in Anchorage. During the radio spot, Bob Lester remarked to Palin that he knew she viewed Green as “a bitch and a cancer.” Palin just laughed and giggled at his comments, knowing full well that Lyda is a breast cancer survivor. What was particularly hard on Lyda is that her children had to learn about the incident by reading about it on the Internet.
· Palin takes credit for work and/or ideas that are not her own. That includes the “sweetheart deal” with TransCanada on the gas pipeline which, despite her posturing, exists only on paper. This deal is a high-risk house of cards; if a key step fails, the deal falls through and can cost Alaska a half-billion dollar in seed money guarantees.
· Palin vetoed/slashed budget programs and projects during her first months in office that had to be re-instated due to public protest and further legislative action, simply because she didn’t understand their importance. Budget spending has steadily increased, both before and after Palin took office. She was fortunate that when she took over as governor, the state coffers were relatively brimming with cash compared to other states that were suffering. This did not dissuade her from requesting more earmark funding than any other governor before her. This is how she earned the nickname, “Queen of Pork.”
· Palin deliberately lied to the American people and her own constituents by claiming that she said, “thanks, but no thanks,” to the bridge from nowhere. In truth, it was exactly the other way around. Earlier Palin interviews — as well as an article written by her own special counsel, John Katz, that ran in a March 2008 edition of the “Juneau Empire” — prove this, unequivocally. She did not become a “born again pork reformer” until Congress instructed her to significantly decrease her earmark requests. It became a matter of her political survival and a lot of negative press in the lower 48.
· Palin wants to expand oil and gas drilling in Alaska at the expense of environmentally protected areas and Alaskan native sovereignty. She’s filed several lawsuits against the Feds protesting the listing of polar bears as an endangered species, and challenged Alaskan Native fishing and hunting subsistences, as well as Native sovereignty. (Can you guess why she claims that human activity is not the major cause of global warming?)
· She also wants to take hunting and fishing opportunities away from Native subsistence villagers to enhance sports hunting and fishing. As for the issue surrounding sovereignty, both the state courts and the federal courts have struck down Palin’s policy of refusing to recognize the sovereign authority of Alaska Tribes. Nonetheless, Palin’s policy of refusing to recognize Alaska tribal sovereignty remains unchanged.
· Any Palin leadership activities or decisions with the Alaska National Guard are practically non-existent. She has given them no direction, no commands. According to General Craig Campbell, the service commander of Alaska’s National Guard, Palin gave him substantial authority to act on his own. She has given him no direct approval or disapproval of any action since she took office.
Is it any wonder why McCain won’t let anyone near Palin with a microphone for any more one-on-one interviews? There’s a lot more, but I have neither the time nor the writing space to continue. I’m not saying that Palin has done nothing while governor. It’s just that on balance, she’s not at all who she claims to be, and is most certainly NOT a viable candidate for VP — a position that is a heartbeat away from the Oval Office.
Comment from Puck You Palin
Time: October 1, 2008, 10:37 pm
PUCKYOUPALIN.COM was created for and dedicated to all those individuals (including hockey moms) who are insulted, disappointed and just fed up with Sarah Palin.