*sigh* Is it bad that I love Sarah Palin so much? I don’t support her “politics”, her “values”, or her “fancy pagent walkin’”, but there is just something about the woman that I can’t get enough of.
Oh yeah… it’s because she’s a trainwreck.
I was browsing through the CNN Political Ticker for some comic relief and the newest post was McCain: I’d like to see Palin compete for 2012 WH bid. Like hell you do, Johnny. You’re probably just like me, and hope she is a contender so that you can watch Keith Olbermann make funny faces as he reads off her headlines. It would keep Tina Fey working.
I digress… Palin bashing wasn’t the intent of this blog.
McCain got asked how he thought the Republicans would pull themselves out of the rut they are in. After two election cycles of losses and the last Republican president having such a high approval rating, the party isn’t exactly flourishing. I thought he gave a very enlightening answer.
We have to become “the party of ideas, party of inclusiveness,” McCain said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press. “Outreach to other ethnic aspects of the American electorate; in my part of the country especially, Hispanic voters. We have to recruit and elect Hispanics to office. We have to welcome new ideas. … [A] lot of people complain about divisions within the Republican Party. That’s good right now. Let’s let a thousand flowers bloom. Let’s have different clashes of ideas, sharing the same principles and goals.”
I wonder, what happens when those “flowers” bloom? Will the Republicans start straying away from their religious base? Are we looking at 2010 or 2012? How will this play out for Sarah?
Although Obama won the election and gained support with his grassroots movement in ways we hadn’t seen, that little Governor from Alaska also won out in many ways. Sure, she didn’t become Vice President, but she got the attention as though SHE were the one running for the highest office. McCain’s losing was Palin’s big break. She has her own political action committee, keeps her names in the headlines, and is the first person many think of when you say Republican. You can be damn sure she’s planning on running in 2012.
Depending on what happens between now and then, Palin has the potential to be a front runner for the Republican ticket. If she learns to pick her words, and stops being so “folksy”, she could be up. Granted, the cleaned up version of Palin wouldn’t make for good “Countdown” moments, but it would be great for her. Republicans and women don’t have a history of going together. The party picking a woman as their nominee would show that they are indeed a party of inclusiveness.
On the flip side of this, should the Republican party ditch the “uber Conservatives” for the more mainstream ideas, Sarah would be lost in the shuffle. She speaks to the part of the country that is still afraid of terrorists winning. The religious right would have a hard time dealing with mainstream conservatism, and probably break off in to their own party. That would leave this Palin standing in the shadows with Ron Paul. Could you picture Sarah Palin standing in the shadows? Yeah, didn’t think so either. She’d find a way to adapt.
Politics is just like picking homecoming queens – and Sarah Palin has experience in that front. Could Mike Huckabee compete in the talent portion of the debates?
