SOME BRITISH VIEWS OF PALIN IN 2012

Just thought it might be interesting to flag up some British takes on Governor Palin. The first one is a post to a right wing blog called conservativehome. On the whole this is a pretty lively site that reflects a wide range of Tory opinion but tends to lean to the right rather than the centre – hence my disappointment at this post from Daniel Hamilton. It’s a brief survey of the possible Republican runners for 2012. Overall it does not lack insight although there is some meaningless rubbish about Rush Limbaugh. However when I reached the end I had to read it through again to see if my senility had blocked my fading memory…but my brain cells were still fortunately present so I sent this polite message to Mr Hamilton…

mmmmmmmmm…. I wonder which of these has been invited to make the keynote speech at the big RNC fundraiser in June…now that’s a difficult one. Surely with your in depth research and your chats with DC insiders you were given a clue since whoever is invited must be considered a very important figure in the Republican firmament. After all the event is scheduled to signal the rebirth of the Republicans after last years debacle….and to raise money for the 2010 campaign.
I’ll make it easier for you – it’s the one person you didn’t mention in your post – Sarah Palin….now was that just a lapse of memory or just a Freudian slip?

Frankly I would expect that sort of thing from James Forsythe at the Spectator’s Americano site as he is so far into Frum, Brooks, Noonan and the rest of the Republican elite that he can be safely ignored when it comes to discussing the real world of Republican politics…..but from someone posting on conservativehome we should deserve better.

Why has Palin been invited to give the keynote speech? Because she is the only Republican who can guarantee a full house and a full bank account. She is also the only Republican who is worth anything in terms of endorsement for those Republicans hoping to break into Congress in 2010. Now that is the reality – after all the mudslinging from the Democrats, the muckraking from the media and the disdain of the RNC elite they still need her.

Now for another view from The Daily Telegraph……

Simon Heffer has never been the most refined of hacks (note his rather tasteless comment about Levi) but he does have a knack of sniffing out the realities of politics from the people at ground level.

“Even if none of them has, this early on, declared an interest in fighting in 2012, it is assumed there are three likely contenders” he wrote recently in the Daily Telegraph. “One is Sarah Palin, far more popular in middle America than the liberal media here or anywhere else wish to give her credit for. Because of her vice-presidential candidacy she has a higher profile than almost any other Republican, something that counts for much in a country where brand recognition on television seems to outweigh almost any other consideration. …
Mrs Palin, meanwhile, is throwing herself into her job as Governor of Alaska, but maintaining high-profile links with her colleagues in Washington. She has been asked to deliver the keynote speech at the Republicans' biggest fundraising event of the year, in the capital in June. How she plays that evening will have a considerable bearing on 2012”

Then something from Rupert Murdoch’s Times which earlier this year ran an article about the Governor also bucking the trend from the British media.

“Two months after she crashed to defeat as John McCain’s accident-prone side-kick in the 2008 presidential race, Palin remains a prime source of national hilarity. Yet the “hockey mom” who cracked jokes about pitbulls and lipstick and focused world attention on Wasilla enters 2009 as a key figure in Republican plans for political revival.
Palin ended 2008 with a striking run of personal successes in high-profile popularity polls. According to a poll by Gallup she was the second most admired woman of the year, after Hillary Clinton. Time magazine chose her as the world’s fourth most influential person, behind Barack Obama, Henry Paulson of the US Treasury and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.
Last week she triumphed in an annual poll, commissioned by a property website, as the person Americans would most like to have as their neighbour. She finished ahead of Oprah Winfrey, the television chat show queen, and Michael Phelps, the Olympic swimmer.
For all the abuse she endured as an underprepared vice-presidential candidate who knew more about skinning moose than resolving Middle Eastern conflict, Palin continues to excite Republican voters enthralled by what they see as a unique political style that could one day put paid to Obama. She has not returned to the Alaska governor’s office to lick her wounds.
An internet campaign is already under way to promote Palin as the Republican party’s best choice to challenge Obama in the presidential elections of 2012. More than 60,000 people have joined TeamSarah.org, an umbrella group that unites numerous pro-Palin fan clubs such as Catholics for Sarah, Texans for Palin and Small Business-Owners for Sarah.”

And another thing, Mr Hamilton…

Remember that while Sanford, Jindal, Romney and co. have edged themselves into the Republican limelight over the last few weeks. Palin has deliberately concentrated her efforts in Alaska and taken my advice about going de Gaulle (well, can you prove she didn’t do it because of me…..lol…)
Michael Steele, as you indicate, is under a lot of pressure from certain elements in the party. That pressure will evaporate if Palin defends him at the fundraiser such is her strength amongst the grassroots.
The accepted wisdom is that she would only appeal to the base, The Times dares to question that assumption. Of course she might not decide to stand in 2012 – but any candidate who does will not get anywhere without her endorsement, such is her power in the Republican Party. I am surprised you have not grasped that…