Conor J Rogers, Editor-In-Chief
Ideology: Republican | Writing from: Washington, DC
We knew Sarah Palin was full of surprises. America was introduced to her as a complete shock; she jolted the political world again over the summer with her resignation and took control of the healthcare debate with two words: ‘death panels”
In what was perhaps the only thing that could possibly be louder than Palin’s relative silence after her ‘death panels’ torpedo at the healthcare reform bill; the former Vice Presidential nominee and her political action committee ‘SarahPAC’ endorsed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman over GOP-approved ‘moderate’ Dede Scozzfava in New York’s 23rd Congressional District.
Along with the former Governor’s endorsement, came the largest push yet by the PAC to mobilize support for the conservative insurgent.
The endorsement was shocking in its own right, but what happened after sent shockwaves through the political world – and surely a sent a shiver down the spine of the Republican National Committee.
Mrs. Palin’s endorsement came at late at night on October 28th. Less than 72 hours later, after she put the pressure on, dozens of Congressmen, Senators and aspiring Presidential candidates followed her lead. Like the powerful political storm that she is, Sarah Palin broke the conservative levees: the money, support, spotlight and campaign power came pouring in to Hoffman and swept Dede Scozzafava away helplessly. Only a matter of hours after Sarah Palin’s endorsement, Scozzafava has dropped out of the race completely. Hoffman, Palin’s candidate of choice, now rides a tidal wave of right-of-center support.
Never before in recent political memory has a candidate, (and a political party) been so publicly humiliated. Immediately following her loss in the 2008 election, then-Governor Palin, a speculated 2012 Presidential candidate, was asked what her future political ambitions were. She replied that she’d work to elect good conservatives everywhere, regardless of political party – a comment many doubted. In nominating Scozzafava, the Republican Party apparently didn’t take Palin at her word, and took the tea party movement head-on.
Many in the punditry, and especially the mainstream media, have been pushing polls that showed Palin’s favorability ratings dropping and suggesting her star may be fading. In a move that only Sarah Palin could pull off – endorsing a candidate outside her own party, and taking out the establishment candidate – she proved why she’s still around, and reminds us how she got here.
In their relative shock following Palin’s endorsement, the national media seems to forget how Mrs. Palin became Governor of Alaska in the first place: not by defeating Democrats, but by systematically tearing down the Last Frontier’s Republican establishment. Though knocking off Republicans by other Republicans is something new for national politics, Dede Scozzafava now joins half a dozen Alaskan Republicans in Sarah Palin’s trophy case.
The Republican Party (and conservative Democrats) should take note. Sarah Palin will be campaigning for conservatives not Republicans, and the long-standing war between the roused tea party wing and so-called “RINOs” has claimed its first casualty in assemblywoman Scozzafava.
Sarah Palin took down the Alaskan Republican ‘old boys’ network’ as a small-town mayor. Now a national figure with a fundraising base and an army of tea partiers, Sarah Palin’s approval ratings matter little as per her role in American politics. To those wondering what Sarah Palin was planning on doing after she resigned as Alaska’s Governor – you have your answer now: She’s coming to a congressional race near you.
UPDATE: Dede Scozzafava has endorsed Democrat Bill Owens following her resignation (Nov 1, 2009. 3PM)
Interesting take Rogers, I had forgotten about her anti-establishment work in Alaska. That really is the root of all this, isn’t it.
I appreciate the objectivity in the article – it’s hard to find an article these days that doesn’t either explicitly bash or praise Governor Palin.
Well done, as usual. I’m becoming an avid reader of your work.
Interesting argument about her poll numbers being irrelevant to her political power – I haven’t heard that before, and her constant news making makes more sense in light of that.
Well said.
Conor:
Thanks for revealing that it was Palin’s endorsment of Hoffman, a positive act, that had the stunning consequence of taking out “Scuzzyfuzzy”.
Leaderless Republican Party? I think not my friends. Palin is the new Ronald Reagan–western state, folksy manners, happens into politics because stuff needs to be fixed, unapologetic, smiling conservative, and the key: makes the liberal media and even “moderate Republicans” uncomfortable. Remember, Reagan lost at least once on the way to winning. And now she shows she can make a slick billiard shot all the way to the East Coast that resounds throughout the party. Not Pawlenty, not Spence, not Jindahl, not Behner, but that gun-totin’ fox from Alaska is called to clean up this mess in Washington.
Get ‘em, Sarah! Hillary for breakfast, Barack for lunch, and then reform for the daily diet thereafter. She’s here, she’s hetero, and she’s in yer face!
The only place her poll numbers are down, is the state run fringe media.
That is a very interesting take on the polls. Does she transcend them? More likely the pollsters are asking the wrong people. Pundents have been too busy talking to each other to notice her growing political punch. She is not overdoing it to gain that notice too early either. This will get even more interesting soon enough I bet.
She’s not Reagan yet. We know that Reagan was secretly a policy wonk. He had been digging into political issues for thirty years when he was elected President. Indeed, he had been into politics since he became president of SAC and came face to face with actual Stalinists. His obsession costs him his career and his marriage. His marriage to Nancy brought into Republican circles, but like many converts, he was more intense than most California Republicans including Richard Nixon. Nixon didn’t like Reagan because Reagan really did believe what he was saying.
This is great – hopefully she’ll create a rift in the Republican party deep enough to ruin them!
“Palin is the new Ronald Reagan”
I’m not going to discuss whether or not that statement is true, I’m just going to say that it is a very scary statement.
Sarah Palin continues to show how wise,courageous and cagey she is…Democrats beware…YOU’RE the ones with a dunce leading your party!
Dear Michelle:
(Respectfully) I disagree, “Palin is the new Ronald Reagan.” is not scary. What’s scary is, “I Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear…”
This is like the eight-year Clinton bad dream, only we’re still in the first year!
I love the article. Extremely well written with great lines.
“To those wondering what Sarah Palin was planning on doing after she resigned as Alaska’s Governor – you have your answer now: She’s coming to a congressional race near you.”
That line is a keeper.
Anyone who underestimates Sarah Palin does so at their own peril. She is coming at this corrupt administration like a fast moving train and they are loath to stop it. Great article about a great woman. Donate to SarahPac!
I’m pretty sure if Palin announced her candidacy today she would set a congressional fundraising record. She doesn’t need political punditry or ratings on her side.
So off. Sarah Palin only remains relevant because the media sees as her as a joke, just like John Gosselin or octomom. She has alienated and embarrassed many once proud Republicans, especially where I am from in Ohio, and frankly, I’m sick of hearing about her.
Glad I could bring a new perspective on the poll numbers to light. CNN et al need to learn that 50% in a phone survey of public approval doesn’t mean everything.
Sufti:
The day that Jon Gosslin forces a congressional candidate out of a race, I’ll stop writing about Mrs. Palin.
I doubt she is, as you say “a joke”. Dede Scozzafava certainly isn’t laughing.