The American Spectator

Liberal Reader| 7.3.09 @ 8:12PM

Sanford could've gotten himself out of the headlines days ago by just slinking off somewhere, like most self-respecting philanderers. Instead, he tried to turn his life story into a midweek made for television movie.

Palin -- I have to admit -- has way more class than that.

She's probably just getting out of politics. Who can blame her?

Bill Pearce| 7.3.09 @ 9:31PM

GOP Terminal Decline?
The GOP has been circling the drain since Bush 43 bet the farm on Iraq.
Sarah Palin was the GOP's brightest hope and now she is gone. The GOP can still turn their fall around but it will be harder now.

Sean| 7.3.09 @ 9:58PM

The big problem for the GOP is not Sanford or Palin. The problem with the GOP are the critics of Sanford and Palin. You know those big spending, big government loving "conservatives." All the people that were on the Bush-McCain bandwagon can be blamed for the decline. I wish we had Sanford in office instead of Bush. At least he knows how to veto a spending bill.

Mary| 7.3.09 @ 11:06PM

She's young; nothing has to be over for her if she doesn't want it to be.

She's the last of a dying breed of Protestant Ethic candidates. That's both a compliment and a disadvantage.

It's a compliment in that that Ethic, as Weber pointed out, is not lacking in piety and it is responsible for a dynamism that has fed untold numbers of people. It's a disadvantage because we're at a point in history where surfeit and entitlement have distorted that Ethic, and there is no cultural milieu buttressing and preserving that old piety.

The minute John McCain lost the election, my support for Palin all but disappeared. She might get it again, but not now. And not because she bowed out. I don't think I've ever seen a candidate so savaged as her. It must hurt like hell to see your kids savaged too, especially a sweet little boy like Trig.

If it were a just world, Sullivan would have been flogged a long time ago. Problem being, he'd like it.

For the other side of it; the emails between her and Steve Schmidt concerning her husband's membership in the Alaska Independence Party showed her greasy side. It was pure "politics as usual."

Her die-hard supporters are every bit as rabid and brain-dead as Obama's. I don't like the crowds that gather around him, and I don't like the ones that gather around her either. As John Adams said: whether the mob is for or against you, it's still the mob.

Kingsmill| 7.4.09 @ 8:50AM

She's no worse a quitter than Stepford Mitt Romney. As a conservative in Massachusetts I watched as that opportunist cut bait but not before getting in bed with a corrupt moonbat legislature to concoct a socialized health care system that is on the way to bankrupting the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Once Mitt realized he couldn't lead he headed for the exit like a beaten cur.

Old Texican| 7.4.09 @ 10:17AM

AmSpec Readers
According to the bunch of idiots you will hear and read over the next few weeks...by their lights...

Jesus Christ was ALSO DERELICT IN HIS DUTIES!
My goodness, he "quit" his ministry when he was only 33 years old.
He did not defend himself at trial.

He did not call down a legion of Angels to strike Rome down into the gutter of history and usher in His Kingdom.

What a wimpy "quitter".

NOT!

Foxy| 7.5.09 @ 5:09AM

Who is this Christ person you speak of?

Patriot| 7.5.09 @ 5:32AM

No one you'd know, loser.

Basil Plumley| 7.5.09 @ 6:12AM

@ Mary

With all due respect as you are a good poster but you are missing the boat on all of this. From what I can tell, Palin is not very well liked among the GOP elites. She is loved by the base.

I have to admit, I had a hearty laugh at your citing of Steve Schmidt. Let me ask you a simple question: who made the fateful decision to suspend the McCain campaign in September 2008? Palin or Schmidt?

Schmidt deserves a lot of blame for running a terrible campaign. Of course, it is now easy to deflect blame on the national pinata, Sarah Palin.
I seem to recall when Schmidt made the call to pull out of MI, it was Palin who wanted to stay and fight. When Palin was being savaged, where was Schmidt? Probably feeding the sharks.

Well, you did say politics as usual.

Palin isn't perfect but compared to Steve Schmidt, she's got a lot more on the ball than him. Some men can't handle a woman like that; just ask Bob.

Kingsmill is correct. Romney was/is considered a joke in MA. You could say for the last 2 years of his term, he was MIA.

Patriot| 7.5.09 @ 6:47AM

Mary, it sucks for you to compare Palin's supporters to Obama's mobs. What have SoCons done to earn your wrath? Are they part of a para-military thug group like ACORN? Who have they bullied and threatened?

Talk about braindead--you've earned the prize!

Patriot| 7.5.09 @ 6:52AM

Sean, stop defending Sanford! If he'd been able to keep it in his pants, perhaps he could have been a contender. I'd like to slap him upside the head for his puerile recklessness.

Visitor| 7.5.09 @ 7:44AM

I agree with Antle. Sanford, the Luv Guv, is representative of the doctrinaire, money worshipping, bloodless aspect of the GOP. Palin, the diva who likes to dish, is representative of its racist, xenophobic and ignorance embracing aspect. Both aspects are symptomatic of the Republicans' terminal decline. Most Americans have had enough of the two-headed hydra.

Mary| 7.5.09 @ 9:16AM

Basil,

I wasn't trying to defend Schmidt; his disloyalty is well established. The email exchange between them showed Palin shading the truth. Schmidt's replies were both smart and honorable. I've noted that Palin was savaged. To say one thing about either Palin or Schmidt is not to say everthing.

Patriot,

Sorry to have offended you. Maybe I should have broken down diehard a bit more. I don't know if you fall in to that group of Palin supporters who will hear no criticism of her at all. If you do, you are exactly the person I'm talking about. If not, again, I'm sorry to have offended you.

Roy| 7.5.09 @ 12:19PM

Truthfully I think the Left, following their spiritual master, Vladimir Lenin, executed an absolutely masterful campaign to split the opposition, and we fell for it like a bunch of idiots.

Palin was not originally a "social conservative" champion. What she was was one of the very, very, very few politicians who has actually managed to make a popular cause out of limited government(anybody who disagrees that there are very few politicians like this, go ahead. I'm waiting...) She was a reformer and a person who took the magic out of big government, deflating the leftist pretensions that government is just too big and complicated for somebody like you, you should just shut up and let your betters think about it and not worry your pretty little head about it. This is absolutely crucial if we want to see spending cut, because if people continue to believe this the Left will bamboozle them forever, dazzling them with Ivy League doctorates that just happen to believe that total control and lots of juicy perks should be handed to people with Ivy League doctorates.

Palin could have deflated that. When Paulson came bleating that we had to give him $1 trillion with no strings attached, she would have said in the immortal words of Charles Barkley, "You can't have my shoes, you can't have my jersey, you can just get beat, and go home." We would be in $2-3 trillion less debt. There would have been no GM bailout, no second tranche of TARP, no "stimulus package"...no "Cap and trade", no nationalized health care, NOTHING. Maybe some feel-good programs to help disabled kids. Oh noes!

Yes, she was a Christian with a big family who was anti-abortion, but so are plenty of other people. What was unique about her was her popularity and the strength of her commitment to "reform"(which means to shrink, in practice) government. She could have united the wings of the GOP like nobody has since Reagan.

The left's counterattack was masterful. First, paint her as nothing but a social conservative champion, and then endlessly harp on the intellectual superiority of those who condescend to them. This is actually an appeal to raw bigotry, but it worked, and it works. A lot of people who would like to cut spending are filled with such raving bigotry against Christians that the Left only has to push that button and they jump like a pack of puppets. The social conservatives then took the bait, and instead of defending her substantively started blathering on about how people out in "flyover country" despised "coastal elites", which of course caused the "coastal elites" to reward themselves with even more unjustified feelings of intellectual superiority and dig themselves in yet further. End result, an excellent politician who could have kicked the crap out of the Left is out of politics, and the divisions are worse than ever.

David Brooks may be annoying, but the real problem, whether you don't want to pay $2 trillion we don't have to useless union workers or whether you don't want to see babies vivisected, is Democrats belonging to the Democrat party pandering to Democrat constituencies with Democrat programs, running up Democrat bills and imposing Democrat morals, to ensure total Democrat control till the end of time. Kick Democrat butt and the finger-in-the-winders will come back. Posting the 8 Republicans who voted for "cap-and-trade" over and over on Michelle Malkin's website may be fun, but 211 Democrats voted for it, and they are the real issue.

Basil Plumley| 7.5.09 @ 12:55PM

@ Mary

I have a nit about your take on the e-mail exchanges. I think there may have been a reasonable explanation for her husband and that political party. If Palin were right, why not defend her from outrageous attacks. If she were wrong, where was the evidence that she was wrong.
If Schmidt gets kudos for the response, he should take the heat for doing nothing.

@ Roy
Good post. I am keeping it for future reference.

Liberal Reader| 7.5.09 @ 1:34PM

Why do you all feel the need to defend absolutely every action Sarah Palin has ever taken.

The idea that in a few short years she could go from being the mayor of a small Alaska town to being the center of national attention in a presidential race and not make a few missteps is just bizarre.

I'm neither defending nor attacking Palin. I just think it's weird that many of her supporters think that every criticism of her is an attack and that everything she did was perfect.

Folks, Palin is an attractive, inspiring woman. No question. But that campaign thrust her into a political league she was not prepared to compete in.

No one -- no matter how smart or well-educated -- could go from being the governor of a sparsely populated state to being vice president in so short a time. And yes, because of her vanity and lack of experience, she accepted a nomination that never should have been offered to her. Who could blame her for wanting out?

Her speech the other day was weird and incoherent: more proof she just isn't cut out for national politics. She's resigning because she's not a quitter; she's resigning because she doesn't want to waste tax dollars; or because of David Lettermen; or the media; or because of a "higher calling". None of this makes sense.

I wish her and her family well. Frankly, I'm suspicious of anyone who can succeed in politics. All of this probably just means Palin is just a normal woman. But that doesn't mean she ought to be president, and that doesn't mean everything she did was well considered.

Missy| 7.5.09 @ 4:16PM

Liberal Reader, I agree with you: I'm VERY SUSPICIOUS of Obama, and I also agree that he's not a normal man.

But, you're so wrong about Palin--she ain't going anywhere--she's here to stay. Get used to it.

Patriot| 7.5.09 @ 4:22PM

It's not about me, Mary--you can't offend me because I don't care what you think. I just thought that it was VERY unfair of you to compare Palin's supporters to the vicious liberal thugs who worship at Obama's altar.

You made a bold statement without offering a scintilla of evidence to support it, and I thought it reeked of bigotry.

Mary| 7.5.09 @ 9:10PM

Basil,

Pick away, my friend. Iron against iron and all of that.

I don't think Palin's explanation was plausible, and she was asking Schmidt to advance the claim that the organization wasn't about secession. If she actually didn't know that it was about secession then she shouldn't have declared that it wasn't.

Here is the part of that exchange that I don't think plausible, emphasis is mine:

**That's not part of their platform and he was only a "member" bc independent alaskans too often check that 'Alaska Independent' box on voter registrations thinking it just means non partisan. He caught his error when changing our address and checked the right box. I still want it fixed.

Then Schmidt writes:

"Secession. It is their entire reason for existence. A cursory examination of the website shows that the party exists for the purpose of seceding from the union. That is the stated goal on the front page of the web site. Our records indicate that todd was a member for seven years. If this is incorrect then we need to understand the discrepancy. The statement you are suggesting be released would be innaccurate. The innaccuracy would bring greater media attention to this matter and be a distraction. According to your staff there have been no media inquiries into this and you received no questions about it during your interviews. If you are asked about it you should smile and say many alaskans who love their country join the party because it speaks to a tradition of political independence. Todd loves his country.

We will not put out a statement and inflame this and create a situation where john has to adress this.**

Not only does he offer her really good advice here, he's not willing to present her assertions as true to the world, thereby involving McCain in a matter that he's absolutely no part of, and which she should have understood was better left alone.

You may be right in your analysis, and I may be wrong. Were both trying to discern the truth, I think. And I think of you, based on so many of your posts, as a man who stands up for what he thinks is right. I hope you see that's what I'm trying to do too.

Above all Basil, I'm tried of double-talk from any and all quarters. In part, we get the leaders we deserve because we expect so very little from them.

I can forgive a statesman and a gentleman much, because I know that while the spirit really is willing, the flesh really is weak. What I can't forgive is weaselry. What I can't forgive is an insult to my intelligence.

I don't want to make more of this than I should, but the next person I vote for will have my confidence in these matters, or I won't vote for anyone at all.

Basil Plumley| 7.5.09 @ 11:52PM

@ Mary

Let's try to break this down:
he was only a "member"----- The quotation makes it sound like like the husband was a Member In Name Only.

bc independent alaskans too often check that 'Alaska Independent' box on voter registrations thinking it just means non partisan.------- Sounds reasonable enough; people make mistakes and correct them all the time. In states like MA, one can be GOP, Dem, or Independent. Can you imagine the confusion if there were a MA Independent Party? In various states, there are even greater choices. I can imagine the mistake of signing up with the Green Party instead of the GOP or the Liberal Party instead of the Libertarian Party. If Todd Palin had a Hahvard education that is one thing; but he doesn't.

That being said, Schmidt took the lazy way out; he did nothing. He checks the website instead of finding out if Todd Palin were an active member. It really isn't hard to find out Todd Palin's status. A couple of phone calls, some discreet inquiries. He does nothing and the problem festers.

You would think with all the mistakes the Bushies made in their 8 years, you would think they would have learned how to address problems and frame issues. Unfortunately, Schmidt and the other Bushies failed to learn those lessons and relied on lazy arrogance. After (and before) they were trounced, in order to save face, they throw Palin under the proverbial bus. With all the arrows Palin took from the opposition; what is one or two more.

Palin is truly a lightning rod for the Left as well as some of the old Bull Elephants of the GOP. At this point, the only political instincts she can really trust are her own. I can wait to see how this turns out. The door is open for Palin. If she plays her cards right and the chips fall in the right places; 2010 and 2012 could be great years for her. Let's wait and see before we shut the door on Palin.

Mary| 7.6.09 @ 7:55AM

Basil, I'll give you last word, but the name of the party is The Alaskan Independence Party.

Schmidt had no duty to investigate Todd's inactivity as a member. He had a campaign to run. AIP's platform is what it is. If Todd joined on an inusfficiently informed lark, the revelation of that would have only mired the campaign in something not worth the effort and designed to make all parties look stupid.

Schmidt knew that, and he gave her very good advice. In the end she had to take it, and that served McCain's interests as well as her own.