Sarah Palin:Crazy Like a Fox
Her supporters say that she is the leader of a revolution, her opponents say that she is crazy. It seems now, ever so clear that Sarah Palin is crazy; crazy like a fox. Consider these recent moves; her resignation, her farewell speech, and her facebook takedown of Obamacare. In all of these instances Sarah Palin has had the last laugh.
When Sarah Palin left the governor’s office early, many suggested her political career was over. Many could not understand how leaving office early would help her in a presidential run. The move was unique in American politics, because we have never had a President come directly out of Alaska or Hawaii. Attempting to travel from Alaska to Iowa or New Hampshire would have been daunting at best, impossible at worst. If we ever have a President that resides in Hawaii, he or she will likely face the same hurdle. She has a record as governor and as chairwoman of a major energy commission before that, and if one wants to be technical, our current President has been in public life since 1996, Sarah Palin has been in public life since 1992. Far from being politically irrelevant, Sarah Palin has proven that her resignation has not spelled the end to her relevancy in American politics.
Former Huckabee campaign manager Chip Saltsman has commented that Sarah Palin’s farewell speech sounded much like a stump speech for a presidential candidate. Even her critics had to admit that it was a good speech. She highlighted her accomplishments as governor and went after the prevailing Washington insider mentality.
This brings us to the most recent move by Sarah Palin, her policy statement on Obamacare. While many liberal and conservative elites continue to denounce her reference to “death panels,” it would appear that her comments moved public opinion. The provision that she went after was stripped from the bill, and President Obama has now moved from suggesting that a public option is necessary, to saying that it was a part of, but not essential to his plan.
Pollsters can fix the outcome of a poll depending upon how they ask a question, the surest way to determine the political reality is to observe how politicians react and what their maneuvers are. The public reacted positively when Sarah Palin led the charge against the end-of-life provision, and the politicians reacted accordingly. That demonstrates, more than any poll, the political reality.
Category: Catch-All
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Marist 2012 Political Survey
If the 2012 presidential election were held today, whom would you support if the candidates are:
Barack Obama 56%
Sarah Palin 33%
Among Independents
Barack Obama 49%
Sarah Palin 34%
Among College Graduates
Barack Obama 62%
Sarah Palin 30%
Among Those Age 18-29
Barack Obama 69%
Sarah Palin 27%
Overall, do you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of Sarah Palin?
Favorable 37%
Unfavorable 43%
Among Independents
Favorable 36%
Unfavorable 37%
Among College Graduates
Favorable 33%
Unfavorable 56%
Among Those Age 18-29
Favorable 31%
Unfavorable 52%
Among Men
Favorable 43%
Unfavorable 40%
Among Women
Favorable 31%
Unfavorable 46%
Do you think Sarah Palin’s decision to resign as governor of Alaska before her term was up will help or hurt her running for president in 2012?
Will help 15%
Will hurt 61%
Among Republicans
Will help 20%
Will hurt 51%
Among Independents
Will help 17%
Will hurt 61%
Among Those Age 18-29%
Will help 5%
Will hurt 81%
Among Men
Will help 18%
Will hurt 59%
Among Women
Will help 13%
Will hurt 62%
Survey of 854 registered voters was conducted August 3-6. The margin of error is +/- 3.5 percentage points. For the survey of 310 Republican and GOP-leaning independents, the margin of error is +/- 5.5 percentage points.
GeneK, a lot can change in three years. Do you think that Barack Obama was even on the radar in 2005 as a contender in 2008?
I’m not going to try to be a prophet and suggest that Sarah Palin will be president in 2012, but I think it is clear that you cannot simply put up some numbers and let that stand on its own. Certainly, Hillary Clinton knows a little something about another candidate sneaking up on her.
GeneK,
That same poll had Obama’s approval ratings at 55/35 approval. Roughly the margain of an Obama v. Palin matchup. This poll is clearly oversampling those who approve of Obama.
Anyone bloviating that Alaska Spice is crazy like a fox is themselves crazy. And not like a fox.
This….
“Even her critics had to admit that it was a good speech.”
… is absolutely hilarious.
Run Sarah Run!
The question is can she stay relevant for 3 more years? The other problem is when she is not scripted to a T she looks like an idiot, i.e. Katie Couric interview.
I like Palin, but in now way do i think she is the future of this party.
She is a good cheerleader for the party, but should not be running it.
Have you seen vicious comments and biased articles in the Anchorage Daily News as of late? Have the Alaska bloggers been chronicling and stalking every move of Sarah Palin as of late and spinning it in such a way that MSNBC can’t but help to buy into it? Have we read any stories lately about new ethics complaints being filed or complaints from state legislators because Sarah Palin may want to go speak at a dinner out of state?
No. She’s not the governor anymore.
Half the PR battle was won with her resignation. By taking herself out of the spotlight of the governor’s office and acting in the privacy that it afforded regular citizens without title, she literally pulled the plug on most of what the smear campaign was trying to do to her.
It’s a brilliant move considering that she presents well researched pieces on her Facebook page which ultimately requires detractors to shift from personally attacking her to having to take her on about the issues. In this arena, the arena of ideas, Palin wins hands down.
Her well documented dissection of Obamacare took down the “death panel” provisions. She has created a fire storm that has focused positive attention on the issue even if her detractors are still spewing hatred toward her.
Instead of poking fun at her for being “Caribou Barbie,” they are now genuinely angered and anguished over the fact that their malcontent messiah is hitting a rough patch because of her. Suddenly there is an actual policy disagreement with her now from the left instead of the silly clothing barbs.
She is a major threat to liberalism. Their unhingedness is allowing her presence to cause them to expose their philosophy for the morally and intellectually bankrupt ideology that it really is.
In conclusion, she is a one woman “death panel” for liberalism.
Vote for Bob McDonnell and let’s take Virginia back!
RTM, you are on target with the resignation. She is no longer tied to defending her tenure against trumped up charges that end up nowhere. She is no longer being Gilmore’d and is actually going on offense.