It’s time for Republicans to throw Sarah Palin under the bus
August 10, 2009 at 6:44 am by Tom Bortnyk
By Tom Bortnyk
PoHo correspondent
There is no doubt that Sarah Palin has every intention in the world of running for higher office. You could see it in her twinkling eye as she made the announcement that she was stepping down as governor of Alaska.
Will she host her own talk show? Will she get a book deal? Speculation has run rampant, but the consensus among the political news commentators seems to be that she is gearing up for a run for president in 2012.
Oddly enough, this news is exciting for many Republicans. To quite a large sect of the conservative base, Palin is a rock star. She is the answer to their prayers, and the savior of the Party.
Such an analysis is misguided, at best. More accurately, it could be described as delusional.
The media went out in full force to destroy any credibility she had at the beginning of the race. They successfully painted her as dumb and uninformed, with limited oratory skills; certainly a stark comparison to the smooth-talking Obama, whom the media worked hard to characterize as a godsend.
Some of it was propaganda, and some of it was not. Facts were distorted and myths were created, and it didn’t help that Palin’s gaffes ingrained her buffoonery into the minds of the average voter.
But Palin’s problems aren’t all rooted in the malpractice of the media; to the contrary, Palin herself has done more than enough to destroy her own electability. One of the most notable problems is her Peggy Hill persona that she can’t seem to shed. Americans have trouble viewing her as the leader of the free world when all they see in front of them is a slightly dim hockey mom. Her “Joe Six-Pack” rhetoric may have earned her a few fans among the red-state working class, but most people just roll their eyes; Americans don’t want to be patronized.
I’m rather surprised that more Republicans haven’t turned against Palin. The Republican Party is supposed to be the party of ideas and innovation, yet Palin supporters seem content listening to her regurgitated rhetoric.
Another disturbing trend is Palin’s constant pandering to the base. Republicans should reject pandering and start listening to new ideas, or better yet, returning to tried-and-true conservative principles. Rovian politics may have worked wonders in the past, but Obama’s campaign victory was a game changer. In order to win, Republicans have to adopt new tactics and leave liabilities like Palin behind. Don’t worry about social conservatives and the “family values” voters; they’ll vote Republican anyway, even if they do so begrudgingly.
In the end, however, it doesn’t matter if Palin were as brilliant as Milton Friedman and as charismatic as Reagan; at this point, she has become a toxic asset. If the GOP wants to win, they’re going to need to do better. It’s nothing personal; she’s a very nice lady. Americans just can’t shake that image of Tina Fey whimsically saying “I can see Russia from my house!”
Tom Bortnyk is a student at Florida State University.
