Krauthammer and Palin
posted at 10:04 am on July 3, 2009 by Doctor Zero
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I admire Charles Krauthammer and usually agree with his take on the issues of the day, but I disagree with his recent dismissal of Sarah Palin as a serious candidate for 2012. It’s far too early in the game to declare anyone either out of the running or inevitable… well, except for you-know-who. As Allahpundit aptly noted, Krauthammer’s statement that “You cannot sustain a campaign of platitudes and clichés over a year and a half if you’re running for the presidency” is so powerfully contradicted by recent history as to be surreal. It would be a more defensible statement if he’d clarified it by adding “… without the enthusiastic support of the entire mainstream media apparatus, which Palin is definitely not going to have.” I don’t think that’s what he meant to say, however… and there lies the key to understanding his views on Palin.
Charles Krauthammer is a brilliant writer, and a very perceptive analyst. He’s also a denizen of the Beltway, which inevitably alters his perceptions. He lives and works at the very heart of the machinery of the superstate. If you’ve never been to Washington D.C., I highly recommend making the trip someday. Besides the wonderful sightseeing opportunities and museums, you’ll also gain a sense of how much pure power hums in the air, radiating from the massive government buildings, and refined by the monuments to great moments in our nation’s history. Washington has a sense of both age and modernity. You can see both the past and the future from the Mall.
Some would say that living inside the Beltway tends to make one turn into a liberal, but it’s more accurate to say that the Beltway lifestyle brings a greater appreciation of the power of government. Every Beltway pundit, including Krauthammer, sees the ideal political candidate as a brilliant technocrat, combining charisma with a vast knowledge of history, economics, and the minute workings of Washington. The ideal leader has the intelligence and vision to steer the nation into the best of all possible futures, and Washington is the helm of the American ship, with the ship’s wheel planted firmly in the Oval Office. The primary point of disagreement among Beltway pundits is the precise course we should be setting for the mighty central government. Few of them agree with the conservatives out in flyover country, who think we should be heading for the lifeboats.
If the ideal candidate for mastering the U.S.S. Federal Leviathan is not available, the Washington and New York elite will happily manufacture him, provided they can find someone who gives them suitable raw material… and flatters their intellectual vanity. The liberal dominance of the Beltway media grants liberal candidates the proper credentials, merely by virtue of their being liberal. All that is necessary is for the candidate to have attended a few of the right schools, to allow the pundits to proclaim him a gifted intellectual. Thus, an undistinguished junior senator from Chicago, with a wafer-thin resume, mediocre academic career, spotty attendance in the Senate, and shadowy past associations was magically transformed into a “brilliant community organizer” and awarded presidential stature. In fact, the award was most loudly bestowed by his putative opponent, John McCain. Meanwhile, the equally young and charismatic governor of Alaska is dismissed with a snort and wave of the hand, because she didn’t go the right schools, and doesn’t have a stack of detailed five-year plans for the U.S. Economy.
Krauthammer is no liberal, but he shares the common Beltway vision of the President as a super-genius micro-manager, the CEO of America, Inc. He doesn’t see Sarah Palin as a serious candidate, because if she does decide to run, she won’t be applying for the position he has in mind for her. He parts company with red-state conservatives, because we don’t think our President should be expected to be a human super-computer, with every aspect of a three trillion dollar economy routed through her sleepless intellect. Searching for such candidates is a fool’s game, and building a gigantic centralized government that can only function with such a person at the helm is a recipe for unending disaster. The desperate longing for such a Technocrat-In-Chief makes the media elite highly vulnerable to being conned by anyone who can brandish the right diploma and make it clear he has big plans for the office. He doesn’t even need to present any detailed plans – Obama certainly did not. He only has to convince the elite that he has those plans rattling around in his gigantic, policy-wonk brain. Add a dash of heroic narrative, and you’re all set: Obama is the First! Black! President! John Kerry was a super soldier in Vietnam! Bill Clinton was The Man From Hope! Even the most ridiculous fraud of a candidate can be taken seriously, if he pretends to be what the Beltway elite are looking for.
I think the unfolding events of the Obama presidency will continue to validate the views of we who write from flyover country. The Beltway romance with the Wilsonian ideal of the professor President, acting as an elected philosopher-king to solve all of the nation’s problems from his Washington palace, is increasingly divorced from reality. Like all romances, this one tends to blind the smitten party from seeing the unpleasant truth. America does not need kings, and they are no more acceptable because their palace is granted with the consent of the voters, with a maximum lease of eight years. The colossal failure of a titan with Big Ideas may be a thrilling narrative for Beltway pundits to chronicle, but those of us who have to live through the fiery carnage are tired of clutching our wallets and waiting for the next titan to take center stage.
Krauthammer’s practical advice to Sarah Palin is quite reasonable: study up on the issues she felt uncomfortable with last year. He’s not entirely correct when he says “she has to stop speaking in cliches and platitudes… it won’t work.” It would work, if her desire was to seize that huge ship’s wheel in the Oval Office, and tack just a few points to the right. I can only hope that if she does run, she has the kind of bold conservative vision that will make her campaign an epic battle, against the people who think the Presidency is the kind of job Barack Obama is qualified for.
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Excellent, Doc! And you could have written similar pieces of Frum & Palin, Brooks & Palin, Powell & Palin – now Goldberg & Palin. I’ve been working on a review of Mark Levin’s LIBERTY & TYRANNY that’s also a review of David Frum’s review of L & T that touches on similar themes.
As you explain, sonservatism of the Levin-Palinist-Flyover brand is a kind of revolutionary conservatism – revolutionary in the American sense, and for the sake or recovering and resuscitating American revolutionary values, not in the Russian or French or 3rd World sense and for the sake of violently overthrowing the government. Conservatives of this type – you might also say “Tea Party” conservatives – think things are already bad enough, or getting that way, that only a reclamation of the American revolutionary project will suffice.
The other interesting aspect of this all to me is that the growing sense of Obama’s vulnerability naturally raises the perceived value of the Republican presidential nomination. This argument could get more intense, possibly much more intense: The weaker Obama looks, the bigger the prize – also the earlier the struggle will seem to escalate.
CK MacLeod on July 3, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Hammer.
Nail.
Head.
Excellent piece, Dr. Zero.
thirteen28 on July 3, 2009 at 11:41 AM
very well argued and written, as usual, doc. thanks!
homesickamerican on July 3, 2009 at 1:05 PM
I agree with you and though I live in Ca I align more with the Red Flyover States.
Doc do you have a theory as to why the attacks from both sides (Hate Filled Left and Elitist DC Beltway Republicans)are ramping up? Except for being in Runner’s Magazine Sarah hasn’t been in the news lately or at least not this week…
CCRWM on July 3, 2009 at 1:56 PM
If you’re not getting paid for this sort of analysis, you should be. And if you are, it should be doubled.
Jim Treacher on July 3, 2009 at 2:05 PM
Crystal.Friggin.Clear.
This one partial paragraph is the reason why a candidacy that is not supported by the punditocracy can succeed.
First, whoverer runs in 2012 can run as the “Un-Bama.”
Second, if it is to be Governor Palin, and she spends the next 15-18 months simply articulating how she represents the core values of a conservative, she’ll be in a mighty good place.
NOTE: I did not serve up the usual tripe about how she needs to “study” or be more “knowledgeable.” She’s actually fine in these areas.
Rather, I think that by focusing on the basic tenets of tradional conservatism, she can stay in the minds and hearts of conservatives. The Republican organization will then have no choice but to move with her.
massrighty on July 3, 2009 at 2:30 PM
I couldn’t agree more.
Brilliant analysis yet again, Doctor Zero. I’d give my left testicle to be able to provide such fluid and cogent commentary.
Stickeehands on July 3, 2009 at 2:32 PM
I feel that people are like dogs in a sense that they respond to firm confident voices. BO came to the spotlight with a trained voice and he belted it out of the park in 2004 as the elite keynote speaker. Bush winning in 2000 was a relief for me, but it was difficult to respond to him until he summoned his voice to an audience of grieving NYC firemen declaring “I CAN HEAR YOU!” I’m not opposed to Palin, but I’d love for her to stop sounding so FARGO and stop speaking like everything is an obvious complaint. She hasn’t a voice that dogs would respond to. My advice: Bark competently and commandingly.
ericdijon on July 3, 2009 at 2:58 PM
Doctor Zero,
Your grand theories just went to hell in a handbasket. No way she can seriously be running by quitting on her first term.
My guess is something similar to a Sandford scenario that we don’t know about yet.
ckoeber on July 3, 2009 at 3:09 PM
Bad timing, Doc. She just resigned her office before her first term was even finished. She’s toast, as even supporters of hers in non-HotAir areas of the universe have conceded.
amerpundit on July 3, 2009 at 5:49 PM
Dream on.
infidel on July 3, 2009 at 5:50 PM
Ditto. Ditto. Ditto.
You are great Dr. Zero
portlandon on July 3, 2009 at 5:51 PM
By the way, I can’t stand the hyperbole that follows postings people agree with. A post entirely containing “SARAH RocKS!!!!1!” would’ve been followed by a praise of his analysis and demands that he be paid a bagajillion dollars a year.
amerpundit on July 3, 2009 at 5:53 PM
I just hope your keyboard is laminated.
Jim Treacher on July 3, 2009 at 5:53 PM
LOL. Now, it has come time to shoot the messenger. Even a stalwart conservative like Krauthammer who has been around fighting the good fight since Sarah was a nobody, is now a target for the hate that Sarah herself has unleashed by dashing the hopes of her own cult following by quitting.
I thought the Michael Jackson mass denial was bad.
keep the change on July 3, 2009 at 5:56 PM
Wonderful analysis. Krauthammer is one of many political pundits who just don’t get it.
diditagain on July 3, 2009 at 5:56 PM
So why are you here?
the_nile on July 3, 2009 at 5:56 PM
Wishful think for some…..But Palin has already took
Michael Jackson off TV….a huge accomplishment.
Now that is star power.
Reagan defeated the same naysayers…Palin will do the same.
Palin bashers know in their hearts this woman has what
Reagan had. The truth and a mission to make the US strong
again.
dec5 on July 3, 2009 at 5:56 PM
Wrong.
This is her one major weakness but it’s one she could eliminate quite easily with some work.
Krauthammer and Goldberg are both trying to help her.
gh on July 3, 2009 at 5:56 PM
Doctor Zero, I salute you. Terrific article!
jencab on July 3, 2009 at 5:59 PM
Sarah Palin resigned herself to bigotry from the left, but resigned from bigotry on the right.
Randy
williars on July 3, 2009 at 5:59 PM
Doc, that was the right medicine for what ails us.
On Special Report today, Krauthammer theorized that she is delaying her elective political career for her family’s sake until her children are older. He thinks she’s going to use the time to become a better candidate, perhaps for Senate, write a book, master the issues, and establish her national profile.
Terrie on July 3, 2009 at 6:02 PM
Smart people know where others lack factually. However, understanding human nature and motivators frequently escapes them. People feel a connection with Palin. That’s a hard thing to quantify. Once an emotional connection is made, many things can be forgiven. Ask Obama’s hypnotised minions about that.
marklmail on July 3, 2009 at 6:04 PM
Dude! You’re famous. Your post is being read on air by Mark Levin. Good for you!
Blake on July 3, 2009 at 6:08 PM
WOW. Mark Levin is reading your post, Doc!!!
IrishEi on July 3, 2009 at 6:08 PM
Stud.
The Race Card on July 3, 2009 at 6:10 PM
Yep. Way to go, Doc Zero!
FloatingRock on July 3, 2009 at 6:10 PM
Levin is reading every.single.word.
IrishEi on July 3, 2009 at 6:11 PM
Talk about missing the point.
- The Cat
MirCat on July 3, 2009 at 6:12 PM
He’s giving you a link.
“Doctor Zero who is no Doctor Zero.”
Yeah!
Blake on July 3, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Congrats, Doc! Levin’s making you famous. Soon you’ll be rich.
BTW, can you spare me a small loan?
petefrt on July 3, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Doctor Zero…who is NO Doctor Zero. LOL.
Congrats!
IrishEi on July 3, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Mark Levin just rea`d your post in full on WABC Radio. Congrats!!!
Tuning Spork on July 3, 2009 at 6:15 PM
Doc, your description of the Technocrat-in-Chief is the best explanation I’ve read to explain Mitt Romney’s support among influential conservatives who must recognize on some level his weaknesses and inconsistencies — and why they are willing to compromise their first principles.
Terrie on July 3, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Excellent piece, Doctor Zero. Levin just read it on the radio. I love your stuff – the defense of marriage with rebuttal to emails was wonderful, as well.
disa on July 3, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Ooops. Late for the party.
Tuning Spork on July 3, 2009 at 6:16 PM
Mark Levin is reading this article! Congratulations!
vapig on July 3, 2009 at 6:16 PM
wow, zero just got a huge audience, wtg
weewilly on July 3, 2009 at 6:17 PM
Hey. We have our own Zero now. Hip, hip hurray.
faraway on July 3, 2009 at 6:18 PM
Who is the mysterious physician?
Blake on July 3, 2009 at 6:18 PM
The news of Palin’s death is greatly exaggerated.
faraway on July 3, 2009 at 6:18 PM
D. Zero: Great description of the effect hanging around those bustling buildings in DC gives one. However, the massive aura of power made me feel a little like an ant hiding under a leaf hoping not to be stepped on.
jeanie on July 3, 2009 at 6:25 PM
Palin blew up the blogs today.
When the smoke clears, we’ll see who survived.
faraway on July 3, 2009 at 6:27 PM
I think you may be onto something there. I expect my enemies to attack me. No big deal. When my friends do it, it hurts because I have discovered they are not friends.
JustTruth101 on July 3, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Mark Levin read this aloud.
RobCon on July 3, 2009 at 6:40 PM
Good description! I absolutley detest DC!!!!
vapig on July 3, 2009 at 6:40 PM
Nice work, Doc…
Much as I generally admire and respect Krauthammer’s take on things, I have noticed the same blind spot.
I find your perspective on this to be spot on… again; well done, Sir
paragon27x on July 3, 2009 at 6:42 PM
Was reading the post, and listening to Levin…. Then he starts reading that very post. Cool.
paragon27x on July 3, 2009 at 6:46 PM
Brilliant and absolutely correct!
This applies as well to some of the writers hanging around Hot Air. Not dissing them but I know where they are coming from and it ain’t small government ville.
PierreLegrand on July 3, 2009 at 6:47 PM
According to Nick Ayers of the Republican Governors Association, Palin confided her plans a few days ago. Based on that timeline, the Todd Purdum smear job in Vanity Fair might have affected her. If you are referring to Krauthammer or Goldberg, their criticism came after her decision.
Terrie on July 3, 2009 at 6:49 PM
There’s your timeline for the smears that began at VF, Kraut, Jonah, etc.
faraway on July 3, 2009 at 6:53 PM
Doc., I’m late to the game here, but fantastic work here. Great, fresh perspective, and needed. Thank you. Well done.
Weight of Glory on July 3, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Very good post. At the risk of offending Kraut and using a cliche. He hit the nail on the head. Spot on.
paraff on July 3, 2009 at 7:33 PM
All of the learned pundits are most likely descendants of the learned consuls to the Byzantine emperors. They all behold the mighty labyrinth and proclaim that only the most brilliant can turn the right knobs and ratchet the correct levers in order to keep the machinery whirling.
And like their ancestors before them, never see the crusaders that come in and lay waste on the whole non-functioning mess in very short order.
Sailfish on July 3, 2009 at 7:43 PM
Not just this past week my friend. This death of a thousand cuts has been unfolding for almost a year now. So what if a few assassins didn’t know she was already dead?
Randy
williars on July 3, 2009 at 7:43 PM
Thanks, Doc. I woulda said so sooner … thought I’d let my betters go first.
Randy
williars on July 3, 2009 at 7:46 PM
Sorry she irritates you, but she doesn’t need to be anything other than who she is, as long as she believes in what America has always stood for and continues to articulate it, as imperfect as her voice may be. She speaks for those of us who are equally despised by the DC elite.
Thank you, Doc Zero, for an excellent analysis of what ails us.
Nichevo on July 3, 2009 at 7:50 PM
That’s really good to know. Please tell us more about this fascinating topic.
Anyway, good deal on the Levin nod, Doc. Heard it in the car and had to slap the dashboard. (Don’t ask with what.)
Jim Treacher on July 3, 2009 at 8:40 PM
Excellent blog post!
eforhan on July 3, 2009 at 8:43 PM
FIFY.
Terrie on July 3, 2009 at 8:46 PM
Congrats Dr. Zero.
I was listening to Levin on the way home and he started reading it.
I had JUST read and posted my comment and got in my car got on the freeway and heard it and almost drove off the road cheering for you! The Great one pays homage to very few. Feel proud.
portlandon on July 3, 2009 at 8:53 PM
Great post!
I like Sarah Palin. Why? Because she is one of us regular folk. She has dirtied her hands with real work. When she was announced as McCain’s running mate I saw a real honest to goodness frugal woman. I noted that she was wearing the same suit that she wore home in Alaska. I ask you if an elite politico type was told she was going to be announced as the VP running mate wouldn’t she drop everything and get a new suit? Not Sarah, what she had would do… this is a frugal woman who actually practices fiscal responsibility. Does she have some things to learn, yes of course (don’t we all) but she is more than capable of learning what she needs to know and should be more than capable to surround herself with the right team. Remember that she blew Joe Biden away at the VP debate. Room for improvement sure, but she is willing to improve and keep on keeping on. Amazing that she made the entire announcement without the use of a single teleprompter. I can see her telling the American people that the Nation’s security is her primary concern and not require TOTUS to do it!
kringeesmom on July 3, 2009 at 9:00 PM
Agreed. Krauthammer is part of the blue blood beltway cocktail party elites that continue to snobbishly look at Palin as a nobody, some hayseed hick from Alaska and not brilliant conservative that she is.
I hope Palin runs for 2010. She already has my support, my donations, and my vote.
Kini on July 3, 2009 at 9:18 PM
Wrong. Krauthammer has it exactly right. EXACTLY. Anyone that thinks the platitudes she uses now will work in 2016 or 2020 are incredibly incredibly… she will be older.
She doesn’t have a chance now in 2012, but all the blog posters on HA already [wrongly] wrote her off for that anyway, so any “NOW she doesn’t have a chance in 2012″ from the blog posters would be disingenuous.
I think she indeed has nixed her chances for 2012, and Sarah fully factored that into her decision… and Krauthammer is right on all counts.
Danzo on July 3, 2009 at 9:28 PM
I’ve listened to her entire press conference twice and her explanation makes sense to me. I doubt it will be appreciated by the politicos, elites and inside the beltway types. They’ll excoriate her, and doesn’t that just prove her point? If you take her statement and rationale at face value, it makes sense. But then again, I didn’t graduate from an Ivy League school, so maybe I’m just ignorant.
Red State State of Mind on July 3, 2009 at 9:58 PM
Did you borrow this tactic from the State Controlled Media? Simply manufacture a fact and throw it out there as truth.
I’m a supporter – and I’m not leaving her. I may leave the GOP – and really … I’m so, so, so very ready to do it. All that needs to happen is for Palin to give the nod and start a new party.
Let’s have some fun huh? GOP (Name your Ayatollah) vs Palin Conservatives vs Obama in 2012.
I’m ready – are you?
HondaV65 on July 3, 2009 at 10:02 PM
I’ve said it before: Doctor Zero is the Mystery Genius.
capitalist piglet on July 3, 2009 at 10:06 PM
Another great post Dr. Zero.
Sarah is real. Obama is a fraud, recreated by the left. One day this house of cards will come tumbling down and when it does it will be the biggest scandal in out nations history.
If the left didn’t view Sarah as a threat they wouldn’t bother filing bogus ethics complaints against her.
redridinghood on July 3, 2009 at 10:07 PM
Amen. Amen. Amen.
MaxMBJ on July 3, 2009 at 10:21 PM
Uh, yeah. So what male platitude-spouter do you think it’ll be in 2012?
ddrintn on July 3, 2009 at 10:37 PM
Sorry but I think it’s a whole lot simpler. Krauthammer would not support any woman for President. Can I prove that? No. It’s just a feeling I have. But I do agree that he is, to put it bluntly, a snob. Existing in the echo chamber of the Beltway and the media, I doubt he really understands the great unwashed peons, mainly us. I don’t think it’s any thing so esoteric as some longing for the perfect candidate as it is a longing for one of their own. People like Krauthammer, Noonan, Frum, and now Goldberg are in many ways no better than the Liberal Elites they decry. Maybe they’re worse. They would have hated Truman and Nixon, probably laughed at Reagan behind his back, and would have loved FDR. They could safely criticize Carter and Clinton because they were Dems. They treaded more carefully with Bush 1 and 2, after all they did go to the right schools, etc. But Sarah Palin…
Deanna on July 3, 2009 at 11:10 PM
You never hear anyone in the Mainstream Media giving Obama such backhanded compliments cum hand-wringing advice as Krauthammer, et al, give Palin.
Because the MSM whores do not analyze Barry’s glaring idiocies, feckless follies, goofy gaffes, sheer stupidities, childish blunders, and his failures to speak out when history is being made - as with the protesters dying in Iran, or for speaking moronically & inaccurately- as with his “coup” take on Honduras.
Palin is fighting the entirety of the media, liberal and mock-conservative, while Obama is being nursemaided by these same pimps. Their work done with a fulsome licking of presidential spittle and a startlingly unprincipled dishonesty about Barry’s character, actions, intelligence and aims.
Obama will unravel as his b.s. bluster frays and wears so thin that even the nakedly-shameless liars in his media won’t be able to re-weave the Barackish calamity cloth into a serene suit of lights.
Palin will shine as Obama dims and shinks.
profitsbeard on July 3, 2009 at 11:12 PM
dr. zero could well have identified the overarching battle for ‘10 and ‘12 — can the beltway crowd foist itaself,its agenda, and its candidates on a growing ever more restless electorate? they [generally] didn’t in ‘00, ‘02, and ‘04. they did in ‘06 and ‘08. what next?!
Buckaroo on July 3, 2009 at 11:49 PM
I rather hope that Governor Palin is sincere about her reasons for resigning. I’ve held for a while that the Constitution is an artifact of a culture that is in its death throes, and that the first would not long survive the second. It is natural to focus on politics as the most direct method of saving the Constitution. However, perhaps Governor Palin has divined that, especially given the state of politics as she described it today, there are more avenues that can and must be pursued to save the Republic than the broad and straight road of electoral politics. Perhaps the lesson that she took away from the Letterman imbroglio was that by speaking to the American people as a mother instead of a candidate, she defeated a media empire. Maybe her goal is to find ways to transcend politics and make people think about the sort of culture and society in which they want to live. Honestly, at this point it may be that her destiny represents a higher calling than the increasingly dubious honor of the Presidency of the United States. And to those who think that this is unpatriotic or heretical, please look up what achievement is not listed on Thomas Jefferson’s tombstone. Political office was not always considered the ne plus ultra of American life. Maybe I’m naive, but it really would be something if someone of the governor’s stature realized that the United States needs revitalization at a level far deeper than the political, and had some ideas concerning how to achieve this.
loneloc on July 3, 2009 at 11:52 PM
Palin herself proved Krauthammer right. Palin might have many fine qualities, but her performance today was nothing short of bush-league. She’s not a serious presidential candidate.
RightOFLeft on July 4, 2009 at 12:24 AM
It’s not contradictory though. I’m sure Krauthammer isn’t an idiot. Obama got away with this because he was black. Plain and simple. The fact that he belonged to a racist church for 20 yrs and suffered nothing is, in itself, proof of that double standard.
Palin, however, isn’t black. She’s merely a very naive and fairly confused third rate politician from Alaska who had beauty (some would say) on her side, but very little else.
TheBlueSite on July 4, 2009 at 12:58 AM
Unless we learn otherwise, my maternal instincts convince me that the Letterman episode was the final straw for the Palin family and the Vanity Fair article became overkill. Palin won an apology from Letterman, but his so-called joke about her daughter was an unprecedented low blow for the emboldened media, indicating they were capable of even worse.
Once Palin decided that she had to restore as much normality to her family life as possible, I think she saw no reason to delay. My sense is that she is not a quitter and it was incredibly difficult to let go of her dream.
She did not have a Nixon or Muskie moment. There was no visible self-pity or anger, except for the “hell, no!” moment. Given the circumstances, including the fact that she was not working from a teleprompter or script and appeared revealingly thin, I think it was a triumph of grace and grit.
Terrie on July 4, 2009 at 1:05 AM
Why does everything have to be about power and sin? From The Big Chill: “Are not the satisfactions of being a good man among our common men great enough to sustain us any more?”
snaggletoothie on July 4, 2009 at 1:10 AM
Sarah Palin is definitely not a quitter, she was not dubbed the ‘Barracuda’ by accident.
She has demonstrated her tenacity and her parents deserve kudos for teaching her conservative principles in the American tradition.
For me, I am proud of her and I believe we have only seen the beginnings of a historical career.
oledawg on July 4, 2009 at 1:13 AM
My theory posted above does not contradict Palin’s stated concerns about her personal debt and the toll on Alaska. I’m sure they were factors bringing her to the tipping point — and probably other issues we may never know about. But that was the part of her decision she felt obligated to explain to her constituents. The rest was private and she owed that to her family.
Terrie on July 4, 2009 at 1:24 AM
… And that’s why I think she’s leaving her options open — for when her children are grown or in the event that the political environment changes.
Terrie on July 4, 2009 at 1:30 AM
Krauthammer lectured Palin with the same arrogance and presumption as Democrats advising Republicans. One thing about Palin: she has consistently ignored advice from the elites. People steeped in the cynicism of political calculation ignore important things about Palin.
First, Palin hasn’t declared her intentions, and has no obligation to do so. It must be terribly frustrating to pundits and other media elites — so much so that they project their frustration as unwarranted criticism. Palin doesn’t play by their rules, wah-wah-wah.
These same know-it-alls are busy pre-selecting their Republican club-members of choice. The electorate will then be urged to project another round of false hope on the likes of the Bush dynasty, Romney, or other elite chameleon. Reagan was never one of them and the Ivy League trash quietly hated him for it.
Finally, people who didn’t experience the Reagan era can’t appreciate the most important thing about Palin: she connects with people, coming across as genuine and honest — because she is genuine and honest. She radiates confidence and optimism. It is a quality that can’t be faked. She resonates with the Heartland the way Reagan did. It is something largely incomprehensible to the post-modern mind.
Two things left out of all the ridicule and calculation: the elites can’t break the connection between Palin and the non-leftist public. They try, but they can’t. Even with the economy in tatters and corruption beyond imagination, I suspect many in the smart-boy political bubble don’t begin to comprehend how fed-up the average person is with the ruling class.
Feedie on July 4, 2009 at 1:36 AM
Sarah Palin set herself free today. Free to write a book. Free to make a pile of money. Free to campaign for conservative candidates and values. Free to run for higher office, perhaps.
She left behind an office where she would be increasingly hamstrung by partisan Democrat anklebiters.
It was all in her speech. Didn’t some of you listen to what she said? This may be the best news for conservatives in a couple of decades.
trigon on July 4, 2009 at 3:58 AM
Can you just imagine the political envy these “wanna-be” Democrat hacks up in Alaska must have felt after Palin returned from the national stage? Anklebiters seems a fitting word for those who stooped so low to get their 15 minutes of fame. The typical liberal tactic, (and yes, Docs description of the beltway babies), is, if you can’t attack the message, go after the messenger. After six or seven bogus ethics charges, (including where she agreed to pay back the kids plane rides–hypocritical, if these demagogues’ want to look at every “free ride” not reported by politicians in every state), Sarah Palin chose the only path available to her under the circumstances. That she took Michael Jackson off the airwaves speaks volumes to how the liberal media still see her as a threat to their elite world. The media-elite truly believe they are the “King-makers” and political shakers. As long as there are “Sarah Palins” out there touching and relating to mainstream America, we will see them under attack even with the innocent,(yet naive), comments like Greg Jarrets.
Or the child-like comments written here a Hot Air that we would expect to see at the DaliyKos:
As a conservative advocating for every vote in the upcoming election cycles, this is hardly the rhetorical babble that will convince women to vote conservatively.
Congrats to Doc Zero for framing a critical portion of the political spectrum, (the Beltway elites with their ad hominem solipsisms vs. the gun-totten’ Bible beating middle-Americans that can relate to Palin’s views).
As trigon said above, “Sarah Palin set herself free today”. Free to set her own priorities and agenda without the bondage or shackles the media or her liberal foes preferred. The ground around her feet just got a lot bigger while the rocks her critics just crawled under are no longer big enough.
Rovin on July 4, 2009 at 6:13 AM
Great post Doc, again.
Krauthammer is a brilliant guy. Having said that, you are right in saying he is suceptible to the same affliction that all DC insiders have; intellectualitis. Doesn’t matter if it is left or right, mostly found on the left.
The reaction to Reagan was much the same; B movie actor, sure he is a good messenger but he didn’t breathe the “rarified air in the ivory towers” of Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, etc.
Another thing that drove the DC insiders bat-excrement is that Reagan went straight to the American public at large, bypassing the media. Sarah Palin has the ability to do so as well. I believe that there is an incredible hunger in America for the fresh, plain spoken truth about what will fix our nation. I’m not sure how resigning her governership early will play out. I do know that there will be a great opportunity 2 years from now to clearly, simply convey what will be required to reassemble the wreckage of our economy and bring an increasingly divided electorate back together. Sarah Palin has the ability to do that.
Doc, keep crankin’ out posts like these.
mountainmanbob on July 4, 2009 at 7:10 AM
Palin needs a good TEAM. The McCain people completely botched her handling after the first WEEK. Kouric? Gibson? Uh, no. Palin’s viability depends on the environment, but barring a miracle holding down inflation, dollar collapse, stifling taxation, etc etc, she’ll be the “plain talker”, tax-cutting, pro-energy, pro-jobs, anti-Obama that people will be looking for.
marklmail on July 4, 2009 at 7:18 AM
Nor, would it have stopped them. The election has been over for months and she has been low key but they still were going after. And frankly, I don’t think it will stop. That’s because the problem is not with her but with the scummy attack dogs on the left and the right.
Blake on July 4, 2009 at 8:19 AM
This article should have been moved to the main blog. So, why wasn’t it? Because it was better writing than Ed’s and Allahpundit’s? Because it didn’t follow the Hotair meme of slag on Gov. Palin under the pretense that it is “constructive criticism”? Because it was critical of a beltway pundit?
Blake on July 4, 2009 at 8:27 AM
You must be joking. Only a Bush can sink to Ivy League liberalism that low.
Which is why I’m avoiding clicks or comment on any more Palin hit-jobs here. I’m sure they’ll miss that, heh.
Feedie on July 4, 2009 at 11:10 PM
I don’t know who “Doctor Zero” is but this is the second time he wrote exactly what I was thinking.
I usually agree with Krauthammer but he has no frame of reference when it comes to Mrs. Palin. It is like asking the blind to describe the sunset.
Some people are basically good and honst. For them, the right thing to do is ingrained. It comes naturally. There is the right thing to do and then there is everything else. I’m not saying CK isn’t a good, honest, or decent man, I’m sayin he is immersed in a world of spin, polls, and opinions. On Israel, on foreign policy, on many other things, he is right. On the utter purity and power of Mrs. Palin, he is not even in the same ocean. No one has ever seen a phenomenon like her, so they keep trying to measure her with a yard stick for inches and feet when she is miles beyond that.
She can sue people who defame her. And I for one will be donating to her legal defense. Go Sarah.
Ohio Granny on July 5, 2009 at 6:21 AM
Hi, everybody! Just got back to the computer after being away for the holiday weekend. Did anything interesting happen while I was gone?
Doctor Zero on July 5, 2009 at 5:26 PM
Kidding aside, thanks to everyone for the kind words. I didn’t anticipate anything that happened from Friday afternoon onward. I hadn’t even planned on posting anything Friday morning… I was going to leave “The True Enemy of Freedom” as a holiday weekend post. Friday night was one of the rare occasions I didn’t get to listen to any of Mark Levin’s show on my weekday drive home… probably a good thing, as I probably would have driven off the road if I’d heard it live.
I’d like to hear more about this bagajillion dollars you speak of.
I don’t know how anyone could read what I wrote, and conclude Krauthammer has become “a target for my hate.” I can only speak for myself, but my admiration for his work is not diminished because I disagree with his perspective on this one issue. With a whole weekend to mull over the events of Friday afternoon, I guess I’d also have to disagree with Ed’s take on Palin’s future, but my admiration for him is not diminished either. Everyone who followed the Palin saga has been either supercharged with adrenalin, or reeling in shock, for the last couple of days. I’m curious to read everyone’s thoughts in the coming weeks, as we hear more from Palin, and have a chance to process the information calmly.
Doctor Zero on July 5, 2009 at 5:43 PM
Was not Ronald Reagan called a simpleton? Not worthy of Washington? An outsider? I think he reached the people as president without much media support much like Palin has.
The conservative message is simple: less government, less taxes, less intrusion in our lives as the constitution dictates. Get out the message clearly and we win.
dthorny on July 5, 2009 at 11:01 PM
It’s a good thing you didn’t since you are probably right. He read extensively from it. Good job!
It is an uncommon quality and it attracts many people who still have good instincts. I believe she represents something at a level where many of us would like to be, but find ourselves falling short. One needn’t be entrenched in the Palin 2012 camp to feel it.
If Krauthammer disappoints, it is because he demonstrates the human trait of imperfection — like everyone else. As conservatives are prone to do, he may find himself admitting error and apologizing one day. Of course, the reverse is possible too, but I don’t think so.
Our age is marked by the individual with a time-consuming and narrow hyper-competence in a specialized field. This is part of the “bubble syndrome” that leads so many good people astray. With the help of leftist evil, our sense of community and continuity is tattered. Our people forgot what connects us, where we came from, and how we reached the heights of material success.
It is my belief and hope that someone like Palin will start the process of re-integrating our society and restoring constitutional government — and remind everyone of the moral foundation on which it depends.
Feedie on July 6, 2009 at 2:29 AM