The American Spectator

Martin| 12.23.08 @ 6:39PM

That looks about right. Ms Palin may or may not be the real deal, and I would personally vote against wasting her in 2012, when Obama will be like FDR in 1936 -- no solution to the downturn, but adored by the little guys for his rhetoric. However there's no question that in Bush, Bush, Dole, Bush,Bush,McCain the GOP gave us six lousy candidates in a row, and McCain was the worst of the lot.

katie| 12.23.08 @ 8:08PM

Sarah Palin is just what we need, someone who makes Washington scared! Come on Sarah lets shake things up!! Every day I look at my Sarah Palin calendar and I am inspired to fight! She will make it to the White House! (the calendar by the way, is on amazon, and is GORGEOUS!! it also makes a great gift!!) SARAH PALIN 2012!!

Robert Rowley| 12.24.08 @ 12:54AM

Sarah Palin didn't scare Washington, Washington and the American people just found her scary! If the woman had any less synapse firing in her head she would be medically brain dead. The only way Caribou Barbie will ever make it to the White House is on a public tour.

Sarah Palin, McDonalds Mgr., 2012!

Captain America| 12.24.08 @ 1:21AM

RSM,

Since when do we permit the popular media to vet who will be our next presidential candidate? If such is the case, would Reagan have won? I don't think so.

A Politico piece was very informative as to why Gov. Palin is so popular amongst those that actually matter, conservatives.

The piece describes how the Obama campaign reacted when Palin was announced as vp candidate: scared. They ran focus groups that concluded that Sarah Palin was "just like us."

Gov, Palin has a visceral appeal. An appeal that no other 2012 candidate possesses.

Former LT, USN| 12.24.08 @ 3:53AM

Sarah Palin wouldn't know the difference between a main steam stop valve and an engine order telegraph. Neither would Obama and Joe Biden. Instead of their taxpayer funded junkets, let them earn honest money by swabbing decks for four weeks every year.

Bob| 12.24.08 @ 9:48AM

All of the Palin supporters think most of us are scared (quaking in my boots) of Sarah. The proper word is not "scared", but EMBARRASSED!!!! Perhaps by running her own media, she can have more of those shots in front of turkeys being slaughtered. Yes, she really knows how to use the media....

The thing that does scare me, however, is the lemming nature of her supporters who talk more about how she looks than how she thinks.

Interested Conservative| 12.24.08 @ 11:13AM

Former LT USN - I don't doubt she doesn't know the difference in the equipment you recite, nor do I, nor I suspect most readers and almost certainly not the PEOTUS/VPOETUS, BUT, she has run fishing boats, and likely knows the difference bewteen boats and ships, and what each can and cannot do.

And knowing what things can and cannot do is an essential governing skill which VPEOTUS Biden hasn't particularly displayed and sometimes even confirms his ignorance of (partition Iraq anyone?) let alone PEOTUS Obama and his now well-established lack of governing or management experience of any sort - good or ill.

Let's hope for the changey best!

Dai Alanye| 12.24.08 @ 5:08PM

In terms of worthwhile governing accomplishments, out of the four contenders for Pres and VP Palin and only Palin has anything significant to show. Oddly enough, her critics always pass by this aspect of her candidacy.

Of course her accomplishments occurred on the state and local levels, while the others' lack of accomplishments occurred primarily on the federal level. To give Obama credit where it is due, however, he also lacks any meaningful accomplishments in state government.

bluecollarbytes| 12.24.08 @ 5:21PM

Capt. Amer.-"Since when do we permit the popular media to vet who will be our next presidential candidate?"

Seems to me "we" already do and have.
This is a real problem going forward. Some Republicans, certainly many loud ones, seem to think it's a matter of adopting Liberal-speak, which requires adopting Liberal-anointed problems as well. Obama unified Liberal policy concerns and PopMedia. Whether that was the WAR or just a huge battle, who knows? It looks like the end of the war to me, with small random skirmishes here and there going into the future.

Stuart| 12.25.08 @ 8:46PM

The Democrats- well, the mean-spirited among them- have two nasty labels to put on Sarah Palin.
One says she's stupid, the other that she's an intolerant religious bigot.
Sad to say, but her coming onto the national scene as she did, in the cause of a sputtering campaign, means she now has to work hard to disabuse non-partisan voters that neither of the two things liberals say she is.
In that cause, I would hope that she focuses on governing Alaska, amassing accomplishments there as she already has, and is very selective in her national media appearances.

Vincep1974| 12.27.08 @ 2:23AM

The Democrats ALWAYS call someon on the GOP ticket stupid. That they did it to Palin should surprise no one. And the only reason why they did it to her is because she's a woman and a Christian.
For every specific point she was attacked on , Hussien was even worse.

ruth| 12.27.08 @ 3:03AM

What about the 'other' VP candidate, Biden? Every time he opened his mouth he spewed another idiocy. Why was that jackass given a pass? Disgusting.

Stuart| 12.27.08 @ 10:36AM

Vince and Ruth, you're definitely right. She got a bum deal, while Joe Biden, pompous, misinformed, and wrong on almost every major foreign policy issue of the past three decades, is treated as a sage. The McCain team did a miserable job of pointing out Biden's defects.
Still, Palin has to convince a good number of Americans-not the kind that will always hate her- that she's informed and tolerant. I still think that doing a great job in Alaska for a whole term and then perhaps running for Congress will do her a ton of good. She's only 44- what's the imperative about running for president in 2012?