Tag: Campaign 2012

Sarah Palin Just Won’t Go Away

Buck Banks

sarahpac.jpg

Former vice presidential candidate and governor of Alaska Sarah Palin has created a political action committee named — are you sitting down? — SarahPAC. On the Web site, which features some beautiful panoramas of Alaska’s snow-topped mountains and a kind of disturbing image of Palin who, by the look on her face, is up to something, Alaska has been moved from the neighborhood of Russia to the center of the Lower 48. Indeed, the entire Midwest is obliterated by an Alaska-shaped hole.

What’s that message? That Midwesterners and Alaskans share a common vision that is Palinesque? Or does it say that Palin is in charge of a state that’s a third the size of the rest of the states put together? Or is it just a weird, unsettling graphic?

Although the site is slim on info about what SarahPAC is up to, indeed, it seems t be aimed mainly at capturing e-mail addresses and contact info, it probably won’t surprise you that SarahPAC is anthropomorphized into a thing that believes stuff:

SarahPAC believes America’s best days are ahead. Our country, founded on conservative principles and the fight for freedom, must confront the challenges of the 21st century with integrity, innovation, and determination.

SarahPAC believes energy independence is a cornerstone of the economic security and progress that every American family wants and deserves.

SarahPAC believes the Republican Party is at the threshold of an historic renaissance that will build a better future for all. Health care, education, and reform of government are among our key goals. Join us today!

Overall, my takeaway from the site was: CREEPY!

Please, someone, make SarahPAC go away …..

Did Jeb Pass on Senate to Run for President?

Trish

Florida’s gain, America’s loss?

That whooshing sound the rest of the country is hearing is the collective sigh of relief from Florida, upon receiving the joyous news that Jeb Bush will not be running for the Senate in 2010.

According to self-proclaimed insiders, Jeb did a mental calculus and decided not to try to succeed one-term Sen. Mel Martinez because a) his family needs him too much, b) he enjoys being the decider, not a team player, and c) he’s making crazy money in the private sector.

A Jeb/Palin ticket in 2012 is every Republicans’ wet dream.

The mere idea that Jeb might throw his hat in the ring “froze the field” on both sides, according to former House Speaker Marco Rubio, who was and is thinking of vying for the office himself.

Such speculation also fueled a round of Jeb-Love, starting with the arrogant asshole’s father, George H.W., who thinks his son is suited to the family calling. No, I’m not talking about screwing things up, I’m talking about the Bushes’ other calling — being president.

Why everyone thinks Jeb is the smart one or the capable one is beyond me. Let’s take a look at Jeb’s illustrious life.

  • Family: Wife Columba was fined by U.S. Customs when she attempted to smuggle $19,000 in clothing and jewelry purchased in Paris; daughter Noelle was arrested for forging prescriptions for Xanax and while serving court-appointed rehab was discovered with cocaine; son George P. broke into his ex-girlfriend’s house in the wee hours and after arguing with her father (who called police), returned 20 minutes later and tore doughnuts in their front lawn with his Ford Explorer; and son Jeb Jr. and an unknown female were discovered by police in the parking lot of a Tallahassee mall having sex in the back seat of his Jeep Cherokee. Like former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Junior had removed his pants but continued to wear his socks.

    • […]

2012? Run Sarah, Run!

Trish

Before you go over this Gallup Poll of the top contenders for the 2012 Republican ticket, we should review the caveat provided by psychics before a reading: This is only what the future looks like if nothing changes from the way things are today. And of course, that never happens.

Republicans and Republican-leaning independents were asked whether they would like to see the following candidates on the ballot in the next presidential election.

Want to see run (%) Don’t want to see run (%) No opinion (%)
Sarah Palin 67 30 3
Mitt Romney 62 32 5
Mike Huckabee 61 33 6
David Petraeus 49 39 12
Rudolph Giuliani 48 47 5
Newt Gingrich 47 48 5
Bobby Jindal 34 36 30
Jeb Bush 31 61 9
Charlie Crist 23 46 31
Lindsey Graham 21 53 25

Scary as the prospect of Palin at the top of the list is, there are two pieces of good news. First, Jeb Bush is way down there. Second, Obama’s administration is looking pretty damn strong so far, and he’s not even in office yet. Whoever runs against him in 2012 will likely be the Bob Dole/John Kerry throw-away.

So, O.K., let’s get Palin over with. Left on her own, she’s bound to screw up like even she hasn’t yet, and to alienate entire new segments of the electorate. Bring her on.

Palin Drops the Ditzy Act at Governor’s Conference

Trish

O.K., lord knows I don’t want to make anyone have to watch more Sarah Palin than they already have. BUT. Take a look at about a minute or so of Palin’s address at the Republican Governor’s Conference:

Whoa! She forms complete sentences. She drops that faux-Fargo-Frances McDormand accent. She even tosses out the word, “plenary” as if she’d used it before.

Now let’s review her performance here, when she mistook fans for protesters at one of her recent campaign stops.

Which is the real Sarah Palin? I suspect it’s the one we saw at the Governor’s Conference. I never thought Palin was as dumb as she would have the people she hopes are even dumber believe. Be warned.

Electoral History Puts Palin’s 2012 Chances Somewhere Between Slim and None

Jon Ponder

The 2008 election is barely a week old, but, predictably, the punditocracy has already moved on to 2012, filling the empty airwaves with speculation about the political future of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the failed Republican vice presidential candidate, whom many conservatives consider to be the next GOP frontrunner.
If history is a guide, chances are slim that Palin will survive the primaries in four years, and even if she does, her odds of winning the presidency are even slimmer.
If history is a guide, however, chances are slim that Palin will survive the primaries in four years, and even if she does, her odds of winning the presidency are even slimmer. In fact, based on past performances of losing vice presidential nominees over the last 180 years (see chart below), Sarah Palin’s chances of becoming president at any point in the future are 45 to 1, at best.

It is not uncommon for losing vice presidential nominees to run for the big job, of course. Most recently John Edwards (who lost with John Kerry in 2004) and Joe Lieberman (Gore, 2000) have run unsuccessful primary campaigns. In the 2000 election, former Vice Pres. Dan Quayle, whose ticket with the senior Pres. Bush was defeated by Bill Clinton in 1992, briefly ran against George W. Bush and John McCain in the GOP primaries.

Other losing vice presidential nominees who later ran but failed to be nominated include Democrat Edmund Muskie, who lost to Richard Nixon on the ticket with Vice Pres. Hubert Humphrey in 1968; Republican Earl Warren, the former California governor and eventual Supreme Court chief justice, who ran with Thomas E. Dewey against Pres. Harry Truman, who won reelection in 1948; and Nicholas M. Butler, running mate to GOP Pres. William H. Taft, who lost to Woodrow Wilson in 1912.

Muskie ran in the primaries in 1972. Warren’s name was floated as a rival to Dwight Eisenhower in 1952, and Butler ran unsuccessfully for the nomination in 1920 and 1928.

In fact, in the last 45 cycles, only three losing V.P. nominees have gone on to lead tickets. Vice Pres. Walter Mondale, who, with Pres. Jimmy Carter, lost to Ronald Reagan in 1980, lost again to Reagan in 1984. And Bob Dole, who ran in 1976 on the losing ticket with Pres. Gerald Ford, led the ticket in 1996 that lost to Pres. Bill Clinton.

[…]

Palin Skulking for an Opening to Run Again

Trish

Everybody! Stop what you’re doing and go check your doors! Now! Make sure they are closed and locked. And some nails would be good too.

“I’m like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I’m like, don’t let me miss the open door,” [Gov. Sarah] Palin said in an interview with Fox News on Monday. “And if there is an open door in ’12 or four years later, and if it is something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I’ll plow through that door.”

On second thought, just brick over the opening. We can’t take any chances.

Palin Kicking Off 2012 Presidential Bid Early

Trish

Palin signs, left; Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, a contender for the VP slot, beams at McCain’s choice, right

Everyone seems to agree that whether John McCain wins or loses, Wednesday, Nov. 5 will be the first day of Sarah Palin’s 2012 race for president.

Then again, maybe it’s already started.

McCain’s name is missing from the signs at Sarah Palin’s Florida campaign stops

Looking around the Fantasy of Flight aircraft hangar where the [Palin] rally took place, one could see all the usual reminders that it was a pro-McCain event. There were two large “Country First” banners hung on the walls…Many of the men and women in the audience wore McCain hats and t-shirts.

But on closer inspection, the GOP nominee’s name was literally nowhere to be found on any of the official campaign signage distributed to supporters at the event…

The other sign handed out to supporters read “Florida is Palin Country,” but those signs were neither paid for by the Republican National Committee nor the McCain campaign. In small print, the signs were stamped with the line “Paid for and authorized by Putnam for Congress” — as in, the re-election campaign of Florida congressman Adam Putnam, whose district skirts Polk City.

Putnam plus Palin is a match made in hell, and I would not be at all surprised to see the two spawns of Satan work together in the future. Palin/Putnam in 2012? Sure, why not?

Putnam, after all, is the third ranking Republican in the House of Representatives. He took his place on the national media stage after he peddled a false story about new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi supposedly demanding a larger plane than former Speaker Denny Hastert’s. Putnam’s lies about Pelosi knocked the story of Florida Republican Rep. Mark Foley’s resignation over a scandal involving teen male pages off the radar. The fact that the Pelosi story wasn’t true was to Putnam a small detail.

He’s just Sarah Palin’s type of guy.