Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Palin for Senate: Bad idea

Allahpundit likes it, but I strongly disagree. Her hope as a presidential candidate in 2012 or 2016 is to present herself as an independent-minded conservative outsider. If John McCain has proved nothing else, he's proved that it's hard to be a Republican in the Senate and be conservative, and his "independence" usually meant taking un-conservative positions. "Outsider"? Oh, please.

Palin's best bet is to stick it out as governor, pushing hard on the fiscal conservative issues, cutting budgets, hiring freezes, etc. She probably shouldn't run for re-election in 2010, because to seek re-election, she might be required to pledge that she had no White House ambition in 2012. (Bush faced this in 1998 in Texas, and though he seemingly paid no price for breaking the pledge, Palin might not be so lucky.)

Palin doesn't need a Senate seat to command national attention from conservatives. She will get scores and hundreds of speaking invitations from GOP groups. If she did 50 of those in the next year, giving a standard speech emphasizing fiscal conservatism and energy policy, she'd do herself more good than she could by getting herself tied down in every issue that comes through the Senate. Then she can use 2010 to make campaign appearances on behalf of conservative Republican candidates.

Serving out her current term as governor in Alaska, she can spend the next two years picking her shots for disagreement with the Obama administration. She can speak out against "card check" and against tax increases, while continuing to urge the opening of ANWR to drilling. And if Obama actually does something that a conservative could praise, she can flaunt her non-partisanship by praising that specific policy. Once she's out of office in 2011, Palin can start spending time in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, while doing lots of talk radio, raising money, and collecting endorsements.

A seat in the Senate would actually put Palin in a worse position for 2012. There were those who urged Reagan to seek a Senate seat in the '70s, and he wisely decided against it. The "independent conservative outsider" candidate -- that's the ticket, and you can't get that ticket in the U.S. Senate.

9 comments:

  1. Absolutely with you on this. She is presently one of fifty leaders. Becoming one of a hundred windbags is not a promotion.

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  2. Great advice.

    The worst thing would be for Sarah Palin to go to the Senate - and learn to speak in incomprehensible Senate shorthand, instead of like a regular person.

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  3. Not running for re-election as governor is a non-starter. It shows that one fears to face the electorate again.

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  4. eh... I think she needs the seasoning that a second term as governor would provide. Let's look toward 2016. Or 2020 if Obama is denied a second term - she'll only be 56 years old.

    But, you are right about the Senate. Political graveyard.

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  5. Agree with you R.S.! It is a bad idea because she is SETTING the agenda as a governor and will have that record to run on when she makes her White House bid in 2012.

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  6. I agree too, and I believe that executive experience would be more valuable in preparation for the white house than being a senator, even if Obama won. What experience he has is anyone's guess, but I'd have to say a master of other people's perception of himself. I wonder if he studied NLP or is it natural talent. Guys like him make the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

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  7. I agree, RS.
    Except i think she is so hungry for the spotlight and
    the glamor that DC offers that I will bet she makes a run for it.
    She's motivated by pure ambition.She thinks a Senate seat will give her more legitimacy.
    Maybe that's why she keeps invoking Sen. Clinton's name....

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  8. "Guys like him make the hair on the back of my neck stand up."
    Kind of like Chris Matthews?
    I guess it's the John Batchelor diet you're on.
    Effete Conservatives are your kind of thing.
    But seriously, an NYU graduate like yourself could do better than Palin and Joe the Plumber. Yet you insist on carrying on with this tomfoolery.
    You want to pass up REAL executive experience for...beauty contestant politics.Too much...
    BTW- "Stand-up philosopher" is a reference to Mel Brooks' "History of the World".
    That Marxist Socialist Communist propaganda film maker from Hollywood....

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  9. Young 4-Eyes...

    What we're looking for at this time is someone we can trust. Sarah and Joe fill the bill.

    All these repubs with real experience have done nothing but let us down.

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