As I tend to write essayistic posts, sometimes readers miss the main point. It seems the nature of this medium does not readily lend itself to thoughtful discourse. Some people will see one thing I say and want to comment immediately. They’ll address that one thing, but ignore the broader point.
So, here’s a shorter post reiterating two of my main points on Sarah Palin.
Palin as Reaganesque. She has some of the Gipper’s qualities, but has not yet developed them to the extent he had when, in 1968, he launched his first bid for the White House. I believe that (as I expressed in these posts) if she applies herself, she has it within her to become his equivalent as a leader. She’s just not there yet.
Palin and the supposedly well-informed. Too many who fault her as inexperienced have little or no knowledge of her record. I’m stunned at her critics indifference to that record. One reader who slammed me for my support of the Alaska Governor included this in her e-mail, “I could care less about her governorship.”
It’s one thing to oppose her because of her stands on various issues. It’s quite another to be unaware of those stands and her record.
No, I don’t think Sarah Palin is perfect. Yes, I do have some concerns about her support for certain issues. I do wish she had another term under her belt. But, on the whole I think she’s a competent woman, equally (if not more) qualified to lead as either man on the opposing ticket.
UPDATE:Â An intellectual of sorts like Roger Simon, I pretty much agree with his take on the Alaska Governor:
As for Palin, there must be something wrong with me. I’m supposed to be an intellectual of sorts. I have written a number of books (okay, mostly mysteries), I have two Ivy Leagues degrees and I’ve even been known to go to the opera once in a while (though not Wagner), but of all four candidates I find Palin, the supposed yahoo, the most appealing. When the media attacks her, I only like her better. Maybe it’s because I have no idea how to kill a moose but I suspect know more than Joe Biden about just about anything. (For example, I know FDR was not president when the market crashed in ’29.)
Her problem is, given a McCain flop, is that her enemies will do their best to destroy her in Alaska. She has a real future on the national stage as a conservative leader.
One can only hope that Obama et al. will be so busy saving their own behinds in the next 4 years, that they will have little time to concentrate on Sarah. (Gulf of Hormuz, anyone???)
Also. Perhaps in the next 4 to 8 years the wizened prunes on the ‘national’ networks will be out of jobs, and she might have a chance against the solid Leftist headwind she faced this time out.
Nobody is perfect, least of all politicians. I think you stated your case well.
I saw her at a rally and have watched many clips of her as well – she really connects with people. At this point of campaigning – we don’t need long drawn out analysis from her.
As to her experience, I think it speaks for itself – if you allow yourself to listen.
Meanwhile, it’s amazing to me how the Democrats are ‘for the little person’ until exactly such a person comes along and wants to join their club in Washington – then all hell breaks loose.
Funny, I don’t remember this same type of MSM hypoc – er, I mean SCRUTINY – of Hillary when she was running.
Regards,
Peter H.
Well put – although I can’t say that I am stunned at her critics. After all, who can compare to the Messiah? If Palin walked on water, she’d be criticized for wearing the wrong shoes.
Neither McCain or Palin is perfect (or anywhere close to it) but I cannot understand how so many people fail to see that these two are are superior to what the other side is offering (other than a personality cult).
Whatever the outcome, I hope she remains on the scene. Reagan honed his political skills through years of writing and speaking (helped by a simple core belief in liberty).
Hopefully, DC conservatives have learned a lesson over the last eight years: most liberals want to win – at any cost. They don’t want to “reach across the aisle” and they don’t want to work together; they want conservatives out of the way.
My nutshell position: one stand-up dame.
I prefer Sarah with 18 months in office and the right ideas, versus Joe Biden whose been wrong about everything for 36 years.
Those Who Know Palin, Respect Palin.
Yup, the tears of laughter just come streaming down my face as people try to make excuses for her position in this campaign.
McCain mistakenly picked her from relative obscurity as his running mate. There’s nothing in her to indicate she would have hit the national arena at any time for any reason had it not been for that. Everyone else mentioned here (Republican or Democrat, agree with them or not) has shown some kind of understanding or at least willingness to gain knowledge of issues on both a national and international level; Gov. Palin seems to have little or no understanding of issues on a national level. If her biggest talent is to incite crowds to near violent levels of response, then “thanks, but no thanks”
3: Being that Hillary Clinton has been in a national spotlight from all angles for nearly 2 decades, then what is the point of even more scrutiny at this point for people to know what she’s about? Like her or not, everyone pretty much everyone has a good idea of what they think about her.
4: LOL. For 12 years, we watched Republicans in DC say “f**k you” to Democrats, both figuratively and literally. They were bad winners from the moment they came into power in congress in the 90s and acted with that contempt for 12 years. good riddance to bad rubbish (as the folksy saying goes). And your first sentence falsely blames someone else for Palin’s shortcomings. gimmee a break.
On a related note, I simply love how y’all have latched on to the term “executive experience” 2 years as a governor after winning against a republican and democrat that everyone hated? That’s pretty darn close to the default which brought
Gerald Ford to the presidency in ’74. By the praise heaped on her for being governor for 2 years, then you would think that John McCain had no qualifications to president either.
Kevin, we’ve already seen what people like you are doing.
I cannot predict who will win the presidential campaign, but I already know who will lose big: all women.
I realized this when I saw a 20-something male student who attends a class in the community college where I teach, wearing a T-shirt that read, “Sarah Palin is a C-.” He wore it in public, in broad daylight, and without shame or even consciousness of what he was doing.
You aren’t capable of making a fair assessment of Palin. You support Obama and this sort of misogyny that Obama and his supporters like this young man push.
And here’s what gay liberals like Kevin, Erik, blakes, jimmy, and the rest of the lower-case clan are posting.
Um, Kevin, you must have missed politics in the 1990s when GOP leaders worked with Clinton Administration to reform welfare and balance the budget.
Bad winners? What about the Democrats being bad losers in 2004, refusing to work with the president on Social Security reform — or any kind of reform, including that of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
And you haven’t been reading the conservative press either where there’s been talk of Palin as a VP candidate at least since July 2007 because of the reform she effected. You seem to be dwelling on the Katie Couric interview. Look how well she has since acquitted herself on CNN and NBC. Guess you only pay attention when she goofs.
If you held Biden to that same standard, you’d have no time for anything else but to cover his gaffes.
The scrutiny is fine. We welcome it. But of her entire record, not just the insignificant details. And no, Kevin, she did not run against a Democrat everyone hated. She ran against Tony Knowles, the most popular Democrat in the state.
Please check your facts before you comment. Thanks.
Doy! I already blogged my opinion of Sarah Palin in a nutshell at this other blog where I am honored to be a guest contributor.