Republicans 'considering' Sarah Palin 2012 presidential campaign

[Walter Cronkite]

Republicans bracing themselves for defeat on Nov 4 are already contemplating the prospect of Sarah Palin becoming their presidential candidate against a President Barack Obama in 2012.

Conservative Republicans are talking enthusiastically about Mrs Palin as a White house contender next time, acknowledging that if a week is a long time in politics then four years amounts to several lifetimes.

"Sarah's the one," said one leading conservative who is convinced Mr McCain will lose this election. "The party is broken and only she can fix it. We need someone who comes from outside Washington and relates to the aspirations of ordinary Americans."

Mrs Palin appears to be subtly distancing herself from Mr McCain and positioning herself for a presidential run in her own right, much as John Edwards did in 2004 as John Kerry's Democratic vice-presidential running mate.

She has repeatedly stated, often on conservative talk radio, that she would be more aggressive in making the case against Mr Obama while at the same time distancing herself from campaign tactics such as automated telephone calls.

The Alaska governor, a heroine of the Religious Right for her uncompromising stance on abortion – even in cases of rape, she believes abortion should be outlawed – recently said that unlike Mr McCain she supported a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Mrs Palin has also contradicted Mr McCain on policy towards Pakistan, over drilling for oil in Alaska and on de-listing North Korea as a terrorist state. While some believe these are merely gaffes illustrating her uncertainty over policy, others fear she is deliberately undermining the Republican nominee.

She has also made clear she was unhappy with the way she has been "handled" by the McCain campaign, which kept her out of the media spotlight until it felt she was ready and then arranged a series of interviews with network anchors that turned into disasters.

Some Republicans are concerned that Mrs Palin's reputation has been irrevocably damaged among the moderate voters needed to win a general election, and that she is already too divisive a figure.

But Alex Castellanos, a leading Republican strategist said that Mrs Palin could have a bright future. "It depends if she can return to being more than someone who rallies the conservative base.

"For a while, she was much more than that. She represented Americans frustrated with failed government in Washington. She wasn't just a conservative, she was a populist. She was President Harry Truman, she was that Maggie Thatcher figure. She can become that again."

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/news...-campaign.html

[Sodomy]

Palin is a joke

If she only upset liberals, she might have a shot. Unfortunately she also upsets certain conservatives. Not all of them, obviously - just the ones who went to college.

Even with the economic collapse and Bush's spectacular unpopularity, John McCain might have had a shot at the White House. But Palin was the final component of the perfect failstorm.

So I too, beseech the the Republican party to stay the course and put Palin on the ticket for 2012. By then 5-10% of her current base will have died of old age, she'll get trounced and thus guarantee another four years of Democrat rule, and we might be able to fix this place up a little by then.

After that - well, in 2016 Piper Palin will turn fourteen. The hidden upside of being used as a campaign prop is that Piper has now seen nearly as much of the country as her own mother. This exposure to so many new ways of thinking at such a young age will cause her to grow up much more open-minded than her parents.

I predict that 'round about 2016, Piper will come out as a lesbian. Personally, I can't wait.