"If you are one of those people who think this person cannot become president of the US,think again"

[jefferson_dem]

One Last Word

If you are one of those people who think this person cannot become president of the United States, think again.

Two lines stood out for me. The first is a sign that she believes and her followers believe that she has a divine destiny. She is Esther, with a touch of martyrdom:

"I will live, I will die for the people of America."

The second was the Dolchstoss attack on the duly elected president of the United States:

"We need a commander-in-chief not a professor of law."

These two potent messages - delegitimizing Obama as "the other" and as a weak-kneed traitor to the troops, and casting herself as the avatar of the real America, ready to die for its survival - are political gold. Most politicians in liberal democracies she somewhat from stating them so obviously, because they clearly invoke certain, shall we say, non-democratic forms. Not she.

The media, too scared be tarred as elitists, will never demand policy specifics from her; there is a huge constituency out there (rightly) outraged by Washington corruption and she now has the critical mantle of the rogue outsider; she can channel Christianism and fuse it with the slogans of phony "fiscal conservatism"; she will blame every lost job on Obama; and she will accuse him of betraying the troops and befriending America's enemies. Behind her are the Cheneyites.

Above all, she is capable of generating a personality cult - much, much more so than Obama, because she can harness Christianism to her divine destiny. The power of this kind of appeal - of a charismatic, beautiful woman, an icon of the pro-life cause, persecuted by the evil elites, demonized by libruls, and commanding the biggest military on earth - should not in my view be under-estimated.

Know fear.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/02/one-last-word.html

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Sarah's Dominionist tendencies

and the fact that her followers quite literally see her as the modern-day Queen Esther are the scariest things about her.

[EFerrari]

33. Yep. It's also the funniest thing about her sometimes.

This person who can't be bothered to memorize her own material is going to lay down her life for the people? Right!

[Mojambo]

2. I hope she does run

Because there's not a single motherfucking person in this country even a shade to the left of center (and a few that are to the right) that wouldn't work incredibly hard to see that she loses.

Obama's gotta be praying that she's in the mix. She totally cinches his re-election, either as Republican nominee or a 3rd party candidate.

[JVS]

11. Don't count on it. Rallying a base that's been shit on is going to be hard, and Palin's base will..

be fired up as all hell.

[OHdem10]

3. The NeoCons Darling.

[xxqqqzme]

43. And don't forget the unlimited corporate$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$,

funding her every step, writing her speeches, buying her wardrobes, outfitting her family; offering up corporate jets, residences - all the 'stuff' the 'queen' demands.

[AlinPA]

44. This is a very important point that many (most?) people are ignoring.

[LeftyAndProud60]

4. Never underestimate the stupidity of some parts of the country. NT

[FrenchieCat]

5. We know Sarah Bush Palin could become President....

Cause that's how stupid we are,
Which is why so many can't figure out
how good we actually have had it for the
last year, far as leadership is concerned.
Guess they'll have to be forced to remember. :shrug:

[BlueJazz]

6. Well...America...We did vote Bush in for 8 years. I NEVER thought that would happen.

[diane in sf]

15. we didn't, it was stolen by the supremes in 2000 and then by Diebold, Rove et. al.

[BlueJazz]

25. What you say is true... but...Bush was such a Dullard that the vote....

..should not have been close enough to steal.

[Hamlette]

31. I never thought Reagan would be elected....twice!!!!!

People who hope she runs and gets the nomination are playing with fire. As Sullivan said she is "a truly Coughlinite movement, headed by an Eva Peron figure, eager to use the Dolchstoss card to bring out the kind of voters Rove always believed could eventually crush even the most mobilized democratic GOTV operation."

[GCP]

48. Me neither

:(

[otohara]

7. She's Got The Fear Factor Down

and is a pro at using her kids.

[Gman2]

8. What horseshit, Fox poll said, be a homemaker.

[iceman66]

9. I swear, if Jesus Christ came back to Earth . . .

and took one look at Sarah Palin, he'd probably try to exorcise her!

[HopeOverFear]

10. He's right, unfortunately

[CoffeeCat]

12. She could win Iowa...I know that...

I live in Iowa, and since we are first in the primary caucus process--winning our state is important.

We have a lot of Progressives here. We gave Obama a solid win--when other Dems were favored to in. Caucus goers
take their politics very seriously and if the politician isn't genuine or if we smell bs--those politicians are
severely punished.

On the Republican side--we have a large, politically active contingent of right-wing lunatics. It's the Fundies meets
the tea baggers meets the Reagan lovers. Pat Robertson won the Iowa Republican caucus one year, so did Mike Huckabee.

Palin could easily win Iowa. That won't give her the nomination, but it gives her some early steam.

I find it all incredibly terrifying.

[Gman2]

29. She is being groomed, just like vacant headed Reagan, it remains to be seen

whether we will fall for that again, and again, and again.

[JoeyT]

13. If the other branches of government were willing to do their jobs

I'd say it wouldn't matter. She'd be impeached within a year because she doesn't have the faintest idea how our government works and would start ordering all sorts of illegal and unconstitutional crap on the first day.

[classysassy]

14. Pity us all

if she set her feet in the whitehouse,other than as a visitor.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

16. I take her seriously.

There is no way we can let her be the nominee of the Republican party.

NO WAY.

She must be stopped.

Recommended.

[Hekate]

17. What he said. I don't underestimate either her ambition or those around her. nt

[SanchoPanza]

18. Perhaps

I will concede that someone who makes Richard Nixon look magnanimous and George W. Bush look like an intellectual is not to be underestimated politically. But she still has to win the GOP primary, and that's not likely.

Reporters may be loathe to question her on matters of policy or ability, but every other Republican in the race will be in it to win and they will do they're best to define her as ill-equipped for the job. Once she enters, every ex-staffer of the McCain campaign with an axe to grind will fan out among her rivals with the sole intention of destroying her, bringing with them first-hand knowledge of how to bring her down.

And she can't enter late, because the GOP primaries are winner-take-all so early voting states are critical. So she either delays to avoid the onslaught and risks losing the opening contests because everyone else has a more stable ground game, or gets in at the same time as everyone else and tries to fend off the retribution. Either way, it won't be pretty. For her, anyway.

Other than that, Sully has to get over his obsession with her. She's a gimmick. Gimmicks don't deserve that kind of attention.

[Kdillard]

19. Well polls say otherwise but I would definitely be wary of her particular brand of crazy.

[akbacchus_BC]

20. Are you joking? Let her run! In the first debate with the current President, she

would be crying for Rush to help her. Is this a joke question? I refuse to put President Obama to debate this Nerd, what an insult to PBO, my ******!

[Sebastian Doyle]

38. Unfortunately, there are no actual debates anymore

Just scripted whore media circuses, with rehearsed answers. And even then when the idiotic Republican stooge can't help but look like a dumbass, the media whores will say she won anyway.

Don't believe me? Ask any media whore who "won" the presidential debates in 2000. Then ask any ordinary person who actually watched them. You'll get two different answers.

In a REAL debate this dumb Wasilla meth whore wouldn't have a prayer. But a REAL debate isn't likely. :(

[LoKnLoD]

21. She's just in it for the money....

She makes more money pretend writing books, reading speeches written by someone else, blabbing on Fox News than she will make as President. Besides being president is hard work and she can't quit that job.

[Sky Masterson]

22. I understand but disagree

Sarah would never get the independents who actually pick our leaders.

[secondwind]

23. This would be a stretch...the Republican Machine would never endorse her, and she would need a

gazillion dollars to run.....that's number 1.

No. 2, almost 15% of Republicans do not favor her.

No. 3, most Independents, in my opinion, would run from her.

No. 4, -- and my favorite -- SHE'D GUARANTEE ANOTHER 4 YEARS FOR OBAMA.

[DCBob]

24. She is probably the most polarizing person in politics right now..

Even more than our President. The only way she could win if vast numbers of Democrats dont show up to vote.

[Jester Messiah]

26. Is it too much to ask that she just fall in a hole and die? [nt]

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

27. Sully has fucking DISGRACED himself with this essay. The real reason she might be President is

Sully has fucking DISGRACED himself with this essay. The real reason she might be President is that a certain class of assholes who think they're God's gift to us ignorant people have a way of supporting people like Sarah Palin.

The only real evidence that exists that Sarah Palin might be President is the past election of insane, ignorant quasi-fascists.

All of whom were endorsed by Andrew Sullivan!

Palin doesn't meet his standards... unlike Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and all the other really cool people Sullivan has worked to elect.

Sullivan has incredible contempt for women, with Margaret Thatcher being the notable exception. He has gushed over any number of male Sarah Palins.

For fucks sake... Sullivan was attracted to the Obama band-wagon in the first place because he is a long-time Republican Hillary-hater. (And a player in the defeat of healthcare in 1993)

It's sick that people continue dragging this disgusting man's tripe into DU.

[Hamlette]

30. You seem to agree with him but go to great lengths to trash him anyway.

It always surprises me how much DU loves it some Media Matters and Huffington Post, both started by people who were even more rabid GOP wing nuts but trash on Sully at the mere mention of his name.

If you read Sullivan everyday, as I do, you'd know he was not attracted to Obama because of Clinton. (If that were true, why did he not support McCain or Bush in 2004?)

I have an honest question: is there anything Sullivan could do that would cause you to give him some credit?

Is there anything anyone who once supported republicans do to cause you to give them some credit? If so, what?

If not, do you believe that people can't change their minds about politicians?

And for those of you who think Bush was so bad, anyone who supported him is forever out, on the eve of Reagan's election we thought he was FAR worse than Bush. Bush, on the eve of the 2000 election looked tame, innocuous, more like Poppy, harmless.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

41. whatever

Andrew Sullivan's crimes are so deep and his 'salvation' so comical... whatever. You have this thing that you like that monster and that's what it is. You don't know him, you have some idea about him formed because he was a booster of Obama (utterly missing that he supported Obama because he recognized/hoped that Obama would destroy the left, which is always Sully's actual enemy.)

Cool. You're entitled to a shallow reading of the man and his history.


"I have an honest question: is there anything Sullivan could do that would cause you to give him some credit?"

Yes, retire completely from public life... that's what a decent person would do in the same circumstances.


"Bush, on the eve of the 2000 election looked tame, innocuous, more like Poppy, harmless."

To idiots he may have looked that way.

[Hamlette]

49. calling me an idiot seems uncalled for, Bush presented differently in 2000 than he was.

my father was a Goldwater republican who changed. People should be allowed to.

It wasn't just Obama, he supported Kerry. But, for reasons I don't understand you think his sins too great to forgive. Is that all former Bush supporters or just gay ones? What do you think of Media matters and huffington post? Should Brock and Huffington retire from public life? Explain to me how Sullivan's sins are worse than Brock's. After all, Brock wrote a whole book calling Anita Hill a slut. Anita Hill is not and did not deserve it and he now admits he did it for money. What a guy! But now, Media Matters is a god to most (as it should be). You too?

Whatever.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

28. She spoke to 600 people....

Six hundred.

Obama fills football stadiums.

Palin stopped being a viable candidate the moment she quit as Governor of Alaska. NOBODY (at least in siginificant numbers) is going to trust her with the Presidency or with being anywhere close to it.

She's a freak show attraction.

Point. Laugh. Move on.

[Hamlette]

32. Obama didn't charge $349 per person to attend those football stadium events

and Palin wasn't speaking to the grassroots. She was talking to the powers that be in the GOP. The grassroots couldn't afford the entry fee.

I think it might be dangerous to underestimate her. I underestimated W and Reagan much to my regret. Remember too that 60% of Americans don't believe in evolution! We are a nation of uneducated idiots! Who better to lead us?

The real issue is, will she find someone like Rove to keep her in the game or will she drop out, like she did in Alaska?

Maybe her "I quit as governor" speech was so vague so that she can say, in 2012, that she quit that to lay the groundwork for a run for president.

[Bluenorthwest]

34. Listen, people pay that sort of money all day, every day to

attend events. This was not 'powers that be' this was 600 people in a hotel banquet hall.
This was a for profit event, and 600 people showed up. The ticket price was for the 'convention' meaning more than one event, and many speakers. And 600 people showed up. Some for the 'tea' some for Palin. Some of 600 people.
Let's just say that at that price, any number of celebrities could draw thousands of people in any city in America. Let's also remember that politics is the world of the thousand dollar plate, the 20 thousand dollar table. For a dinner. With one speaker. A good one, sure. But they pack in many more than 600 for such events.
So. No one showed up.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

35. The powers that be?

Who was at this convention? Any of the potential condidates for 2012?

Boehner? Bueller? Anybody?

And these chumps can afford $349 to attend a convention, especially if there's a chance to see their Goddess in person. Seen the price of tickets to a NASCAR event recently? They can afford it.

This is a non-event and she's a non-entity. If we could get the MSM to give her the attention she deserves (none) she'd fade away quietly.

[Hamlette]

39. I used the wrong term, I should have said GOP operatives.

And my point was this is no grass roots movement, it is fox viewers doing their overlords' bidding. Against their own interests.

[win_in_06]

40. She drew 6000 in Kansas the Friday before

...giving basically the same speech.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/1467827.html

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

42. October 18, 2008

Obama rally draws 100,000 in Missiouri



Sarah's still playing in the bus leagues...

[win_in_06]

50. Absolutely!

[woo me with science]

36. She won't do it again.

It was too hard the first time.

[frazzled]

37. Just take a look at who people voted for Lt-Gov in the recent Illinois Dem primary

A sleazy pawnbroker, with a spousal abuse record, hundreds of thousands in tax delinquency, and illegal steroid use, who messed up his prostitute girlfriend with a knife .... that had never done a day of public service and no one had ever heard of before

But he ran ads about "job fairs" and, unbelievably, won. Now the party is stuck with him on the ticket and he will probably bring Governor Pat Quinn down.

If you never believed that voters could be this universally stupid, believe it now.

[Drunken Irishman]

47. The voters didn't know that, though.

The information about him came out after he had won. That's why he won. He won because he spent far more in the primary than any Democrat. And in that regard, name recognition played a role. It generally does in local politics. People almost always vote incumbents and names they hear because they rarely know much about the candidates. He had done a media blitz and probably got his name out there to the point where most voters walked into that voting booth, looked at the ballot, didn't have a clue who any were and went with the one they only somewhat knew.

Presidential elections are a different animal. A) Obama will have a shit-load of money on hand. B) Everyone knows who Obama is. And C) We already know Palin's dirty secrets. She's not an unknown and what we do know, we don't like. Polls show this. Polls show that Americans DO NOT LIKE PALIN. It's not going to change.

[Drunken Irishman]

45. She doesn't hold credibility.

She isn't Ronald Reagan. People need to stop talking her up. Just because she has a built in support does not mean she has anywhere to go. Ron Paul has a core group of followers that would die for his cause and yet, he barely made an impact in the Republican Primary. Remember when he had that huge summer in 2007 and the media kept comparing him to Howard Dean (and the Summer of Dean from 2003)? Where did it get him?

I'm not suggesting Palin has the similar disadvantages that Paul had. She certainly is on better footing than he ever was. However, polls suggest there is no hidden support there. Americans just do not like her. Sure, Republicans might - but average Americans (the voters who count the most) do not like her in the least.

It might help her with Republicans, but it won't deliver her anything in way of an election win. Especially over Obama. Who, even with some softer support today than a year ago, remains extremely popular in terms of likability.

[BeyondGeography]

46. The Morning Schmoe crowd was actually pretty tough on her today for the lack of specifics

Maybe the MSM has its limits with Teh Stupid.