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The Spectacle Blog
Does Sarah Palin have a secret Nixon strategy?
Last night on Hannity (as seen here in Part 1 and here in Part 2) former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin dropped into the Iowa State Fair to say that she is indeed considering a presidential run….and the place went nuts. Calling for an “American Restoration” her appearance drew noisy cheers from the surrounding crowd when she suggested among other things (and here she pointed to the crowd) that it was the job of Americans to be “holding those liars accountable” who insist big government is the answer.
Time moves quickly, and what was interesting in Palin’s appearance was not just the crowd response. It was almost that in her long absence from the presidential campaign, leading many to suggest she was in fact not a candidate, rank-and-file Republicans had scanned the potential candidates and suddenly realized it was Palin they had loved all along.
If in fact Palin finally jumps into this race, there is an interesting historical precedent for the idea that a self-enforced absence from the political scene makes the public’s heart grow fonder for the missing candidate.
In 1967 Richard Nixon, rejuvenated by the GOP success in the 1966 elections (like the GOP 2010 victories a stunning GOP comeback) and wanting badly to have a second shot in 1968 after his narrow loss to JFK in 1960, had an interesting strategy. He believed his biggest problem was the belief by many that, in his words, “Nixon can’t win.” How to get around this? While privately telling his closest friends he wanted them to move ahead with plans to run, publicly he announced that he would spend 1967 in a self-imposed political “moratorium.” Nixon later wrote:
… I considered the ability to remain officially undecided for as long as possible to be one of my greatest advantages. Not only would this allow me more independence, but the speculation about my intentions guaranteed far more media attention than I would have if I announced…
Here’s another interesting coincidence. The front runner of the day in 1967 for the GOP? That would be the popular Republican Governor of Michigan - Mitt Romney’s dad, George. Nixon said the risk in letting Romney have all the attention in 1967
was carefully calculated. George Romney would be out front taking the heat from the press and the pundits while I continued my quiet planning.…
In the end, Romney did step in it, saying he had been brainwashed while in Vietnam by the LBJ folks. Nixon, on the sidelines, suddenly looked very responsible — and electable. Palin is decidedly not Nixon. Still… a famous old strategy for someone dismissed as not being able to win can still be a good one.
And based on her Iowa appearance and the response from the crowd watching her newsworthy re-emergence on Hannity, Palin may suddenly be a serious threat not just to Romney but every other GOP candidate as well.
Palin will make her decision by the end of this month or early September, she has said.
Stay tuned.
View all comments (29) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Jeffrey Lord
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/08/13/palin-to-hannity-i-may-run
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aaron fleszar| 8.13.11 @ 11:56AM
If she "runs" it will be on our tax dollars.
Sarah Palin is a spy. A Coup d'etat began with Sarah Palin's run for office in the 2008 presidential election.
She was planted as McCain's running mate for a reason. Everything about her is a total fabrication. If you think McCain and Sarah planned on "reforming Washington" by getting elected you're wrong. In addition, when a Coup happens the military doesn't announce it on the front page of the news. They try and keep a lid on it.
Whether you believe it or not it's the truth. Obama is not the president, he’s the acting president. He disappeared for 2 weeks after his election win only to reappear looking exhausted sitting next to John McCain, with a bad poker face, for a press photo shoot. Obama is now a Pentagon puppet.
Here’s what Obama, Osama, Biden, Bin Laden, the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists, and Sarah Palin had to do with the last presidential election and the military’s overthrow of our government.
http://ElectNoMoreSpys.blogspot.com/
Margie| 8.13.11 @ 1:08PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b5aW08ivHU
Brian72| 8.13.11 @ 7:02PM
Good grief, this one of the most insane, stupidest things I have ever heard of, and it keeps popping up all over the place.
What the hell is the deal with these crazy people?
martin j smith| 8.13.11 @ 12:10PM
PALIN AS PIT BULL--and in the role of presidential candidate. I think the Republican Party needs to do something that the leadership is afraid of but should be doing. That means laying out cleanly and clearly the voters essential choice: A European style Welfare State with the results in London seen on TV lately or bringing us back from the brink thru and true free Market economic expansion policies ? Another way to put this is this: Do You want a nation that looks like London under fire or do you want the US back again ? That is how it should be put and on this general basis the campaign should run. Specifically attack not Only Obama's economic and national security policies but the class warfare and hatred ginned up by the LEFT.
Margie| 8.13.11 @ 12:11PM
Sarah says, "We're telling Congress to cut the crap and balance. Please!"
Love it. Sarah's gonna run, and she's gonna brighten and enlighten the scene.
Zbigniew Mazurak| 8.13.11 @ 12:20PM
"If in fact Palin finally jumps into this race, there is an interesting historical precedent for the idea that a self-enforced absence from the political scene makes the public's heart grow fonder for the missing candidate."
Not really. This is 2011, not 1967. Most Republicans have already settled on a candidate. They will not choose someone else now. Conservatives will vote for Bachmann or Cain, liberal Republicans will vote for Romney, libertarian loons will vote for Paul, and the final race will be won by one of these candidates.
BTW, Mr Tabin, Sarah Palin said clearly that as of yesterday, she STILL hasn't decided whether she will run or not. That alone tells me that she is not qualified to be President. With less than 6 months of time remaining before the first GOP caucus, and with less than 15 months remaining before the presidential election, Palin cannot even decide whether she wants to be President. Or why. There is nothing Nixonesque and Reaganesque about that. Nixon was clearly planning to run for President as of August 1967, he was just refusing to say that publicly.
farmboy| 8.13.11 @ 3:18PM
She has decided just not willing to announce at this time . I' m guessing because of her contract with Fox if she said that she has decided she would have to quit Fox in effect announcing her decision.
Brian72| 8.13.11 @ 7:04PM
"Nixon was clearly planning to run for President as of August 1967, he was just refusing to say that publicly."
How do you know she isn't doing the exact same thing herself?
Oh, that's right. You don't, you are just talking out your backside as if you know any more than anyone else does, which you clearly do not.
Jake| 8.13.11 @ 1:06PM
Palin's dithering makes Obama look positively decisive.
She's been dithering about running for years now.
Palin is either using the prospect of running to keep money coming into her PAC ,
which she can and has used for personal expenses
or she is woefully naive and
unprepared for such a momentous campaign.
Palin didn't hesitate to quit her last elected job
or in fact , to accept McCain's offer of VP.
She hasn't done bupkus to lay the groundwork
for a run.
Zip , zero, nada.
The 2012 election is too important to be treated like a joke.
And that's exactly how Palin is treating it.
Margie| 8.13.11 @ 1:10PM
I'm seeing a couple of jokes in the room, but they sure aren't Sarah.
Wayne | 8.13.11 @ 1:20PM
Palin makes the other candidates especially Romney look pail and effete. She is the heavy weight the GOP needs to turn Obama into that whiny, petulant, girlish wimp that starts blaming everyone buy himself for his failures. She will not give him an inch unlike Mc Cain.
Rick V.| 8.13.11 @ 1:25PM
Mr. Lord - what is/are your source/sources for the Nixon quotes? I'm not saying I don't believe them, they are completely credible and somewhat familiar, just please tell me where they come from. Thank you.
Westie| 8.13.11 @ 2:28PM
Palin is running her usual asymmetrical campaign, the uniquely brilliant and successful in getting her elected several times. Very likely she would have been successful in 2008 if she had not had the dead weight of McCain and his traitorous campaign staff working against her. Remember the only time McCain ever led was when Palin was barnstorming, taking the attack to BHO and drawing increasingly enormous crowds. I think she is running w/o the corrupted GOP and it's failed campaign advise and she will finish off both of the slackers Romney & Perry as little more than bumps in the road. Hide and watch the trolls screaming in anguish!
RayH| 8.13.11 @ 3:44PM
The minute Palin announces she becomes the candidate to beat. Or, if you prefer, it becomes her race to lose.
Occam's Tool| 8.13.11 @ 4:04PM
I like Palin, but THE MAN who should run is Allen West, Warrior and Philosopher. Now there's a man who would chop O up like Thor, god of Thunder.
Margie| 8.13.11 @ 4:37PM
If Allen West ran, Sarah wouldn't have to. It seems to me that the women are stepping up to the plate for lack of men with a strong spine. I admire them for it.
I too, prefer a man for the job, but if the women are stronger, so be it!
Occam's Tool| 8.13.11 @ 9:16PM
Margie:
let me know ho will vote for as the primaries roll. I think, as I have said, that this is Paul's Peak---it will get much harder for him from here. I am cheered by Bachmann, who I think IS the best POTUS candidate if Palin or West do not enter.
I think Perry may win it all, as he will certainly topple Romney.
Margie| 8.13.11 @ 9:39PM
You want to know who I'm gonna vote for, wow. I'm honored.. ok I will.
As to Paul, true that, but he has his son, and who knows who else will pop up. I don't trust any of them.
And I would like to see Romney toppled by Perry. sounds good to me. It's not that he isn't a decent person, but that he seems to be more in line w/Obama care, etc.
And Michele is truly excellent.
As is Sarah.
We have some good souls on our side, don't we?
Jrd| 8.15.11 @ 10:05AM
Allen West in my congressman. I worked my tail off for him for over 2 years. He voted for Pigford and he caved on the debt ceiling. Then he had the nerve to bash the people that got him to DC. Not only will I not support him for POTUS I refuse to vote for him for congressman again. He is just about as reliable as the snow job sisters in Maine. Get real will ya!
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.13.11 @ 6:15PM
I watched a sincere hug between Sarah and Rick Perry during our recent Governor's election. Wouldn't it be cool to have them together on the same ticket?
I still pray earnestly that Sarah runs.
I thank God that Rick Perry is running. He will engage in battle for Americans, as will Sarah.
You naysayers can kiss my butt.
Jrd| 8.15.11 @ 10:09AM
Rick Perry said that he would not run for POTUS if elected to a 3rd term as governor. So that means he has a liar problem, he has a crony capitalist problem, a Gardasil problem, a Trans Texas Corridor problem, an Immigration problem, and he increased the Texas debt problem. He talks and governs like spender GWB. The last thing America needs is George the third.
No flippin thanks, next.
Margie| 8.13.11 @ 6:40PM
"Wouldn't it be cool to have them together on the same ticket?"
It would. We certainly have plenty of good people on our side, that's for sure.
mike w| 8.13.11 @ 8:35PM
Either Palin or Perry as the nominee assures us another four years of Obama.
They are both dim, dim bulbs. Perry is a pathetic RINO and Palin is , well we all know what she is.
I am conservative Republican who despises Obama. Neither of these clowns is able to take him out.
Margie| 8.13.11 @ 9:40PM
Don't tell me.. you're for Ron Paul??
LOL.
Robbie| 8.13.11 @ 10:30PM
Sarah Palin quit her last job because she got tired of the slings and arrows. Apparently though, she doesn't believe she would receive any slings and arrows if she ran for president. Makes sense, right?
Palin is a snake oil saleswomen preying on your hopes and desires. She is not a national candidate. She is a bombastic flamethrower uninterested in the nuts and bolts of governance. She is a spotlight seeker. She is only interested in making money for herself and her Beverly Hillbilly family.
If the Republican party goes brain dead and nominates her, it will be a disaster. The House and Senate would be gone because Independents would rightly punish Republicans at the ballot box. This woman would give us a defeat just like the one Goldwater gave us.
Maybe purity is all some of you are interested in achieving, but that is ridiculous. Rick Perry gives you everything you think she has, but he's actually won three times and never quit just to get rich.
Palin is a fraud.
Margie| 8.13.11 @ 11:37PM
Say there,
Did the White House tweet you those talking points today, because they sure sound like the West Wing.
Brian Richard Allen | 8.15.11 @ 12:02PM
The Charasmatic Pathological Narcissist & his Chicago/Soros Crime Family are surely running scared of President-Elect Palin.
Darned good sign.
My guess is the pretender will do an LBJ and not nominate for 2012.
Put a fork in him!
Jrd| 8.15.11 @ 10:11AM
So are you. It takes one to know one. You are also a liar.
Brian Richard Allen | 8.15.11 @ 11:56AM
United States of America's President and Armed-Forces Commander-In-Chief-Elect Sarah Louise Ronald Wilson Reagan Heath Palin!
Hmm-Hmm! Really nice ring to it hey!