PJ: Over the last few years, Sarah Palin has proven herself to be a master at promoting herself and teasing her fans. She spent almost $20,000 of her PAC donations on a 'family vacation' that looked and sounded just like a presidential campaign. In doing so, she garnered a ridiculous amount of media attention which brought in donations to her political action committee...which in turn paid for her luxurious accomodations. Since she announced that she would not seek the presidency, her PAC contributions have fallen off sharply even though it spent nearly $300,000 trying to impress her fans enough for them to part with their money.
Recently, as a paid Fox News political pundit, she has promoted a long primary season which she says will 'vet' the candidate the way they should be vetted (this from a former VP candidate who was not vetted at all!). She has refused to endorse a candidate but has insisted that voters in S. Carolina, Florida and Nevada vote for Newt Gingrich. She has also attacked Mitt Romeny on a regular basis, planting the seeds of discontent to the faithful and challenging his 'conservative' credentials.
Now Mrs. Palin is rooting for a 'brokered convention' in which a candidate will be decided by the convention, not the voters, and that might mean that anyone has a chance to be the nominee--even her. Granted she has the highest negatives of any politician in the US along with Newt Gingrich at this point and polls have favoured Obama over Palin by high double digets in a general election. A brokered convention may also damage the GOP in that the nastiness witnessed in this primary season will continue throughout the convention and every spec of mud thrown will be magnified by a hungry media. In addition, the winner of the August convention will need to put together an amazing campaign, buy media, staff offices in 50 states, and do everything that a well-oiled campaign must do in order to compete in the few months that run up to the November general election. For most it is a dangerous and insane process. But I don't think that Mrs. Palin really cares about all that.
What Sarah Palin seems to care about more than anything else is to remain in the mainstream of political discourse which will allow her to refill her coffers and maintain the mulit-million dollar lifestyle that she has grown accustomed. She enjoys her own celebrity and is not happy when the limelight is not focused on her. She may want to be president but only if getting there is easy and she is not held accountable for everything that she says and does. She could easily have thrown her hat in the ring a few months ago, after all her fans were begging her to do so. If she had, however, she would have had to participate in the debates and gone on news shows other than the safe haven at Fox news. She would have had to campaign in both "real America" and that other America that she so dislikes. Her life and previous 'moderate' record in the 18 months as Alaska's governor* would have been examined even more closely than before and it might have been Mitt Romney questioning her conservative bonefides. If she could waltz into the White House and make grand proclamations, using the sound bites that she so loves without doing the copious amount of hard work and study that the office requires she would be all for it. And if she would not have to suffer the aging effects of the stress from the job, then in her own word she's "game".
* Palin is often credited with serving half a term but was plucked by the McCain campaign after serving only 18 months. During that 18 month period, Palin worked more with the liberal side of the isle on legislation and did not get along well with the conservative side. She promoted legislation like ACES which raised taxes on oil companies to their highest level in the country and in that state's history. In addition, she oversaw the largest distribution in the State's history of oil company profits to the citizens of Alaska through The Alaska Permanent Fund (hence the high approval ratings during that time). "The Permanent Fund sets aside a certain share of oil revenues to continue benefiting current and all future generations of Alaskans"** which for conservative doctrine is akin to 'socialism'. She returned to her office in January of 2009 after her failed VP bid and did not actually accomplish a legislative agendy nor did she show any interest in governing. Her lack luster performance was evidenced by plummeting approval ratings during that period. She is now seen unfavourable by more than 60% of all Alaskans.
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Permanent_Fund
The Daily Mail
How Sarah Palin is still dreaming she could win the White House in 2012
By Toby Harnden
There may be only four candidates currently battling it out for the Republican presidential nomination but at least one person who stayed out of the race still harbours hopes of finishing ahead of all of them - Sarah Palin.
In an interview with Fox Business News yesterday, the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice-presidential nominee made clear that she relishes the prospect of a brokered Republican convention in Tampa in August. She also did little to hide the fact that she believes she might emerge from the chaos as the nominee.
Eric Bolling, the interviewer, presented the scenario of a brokered convention, when none of the candidates have the 1,144 delegates needed for victory or can cut a deal to reach that number. 'If it does get to that and someone said, 'Governor, would you be interested', would you be interested?'
Palin responded: 'Well, for one, I think that it could get to that. And I — you know, if it had to — if it had to be kind of closed up today, the whole nominating process, then we would be looking at a brokered convention.
'I mean nobody is quite there yet. So I think that months from now, if that’s the case, then, you know, all bets are off as to who it will be willing to offer themselves up in the name of service to their country. I would do whatever I could to help.'
You can watch the full interview below. The key part about a brokered convention is at 13:25.
While the term 'help' could refer to discussions about another consensus candidate being chosen, Palin did nothing to deny that she would be anything other than very interested indeed in being that candidate.
Certainly, this is the way a number of Palin supporters have interpreted her comments. 'This is not about pushing a pipe dream or throwing Palin supporters into another frenzy only to be disappointed,' writes reagantman on the Sarah Palin Information Blog.
He continued: 'If the GOP had any sense, they’d drag her out of her house kicking and screaming and demand that she stand before the brokered convention and be voted on. If the delegates had any sense, they’d vote for her.
'If Palin supporters had any sense, they wouldn’t hold their breath waiting for this to happen. But if it did, what an amazing moment in American history it would be. Have no illusions. We know the chances of this happening are slim. But they are not none. Bring on the brokered convention.'
On the Sarah Palin's Earthquake Movement Facebook page, Palin fans were buoyed by the interview. Ernie Hernandez wrote: 'Pray for a brokered convention and Sarah Palin gets drafted to run! She has the charisma, the name recognition, and the devoted followers to pull it off and be successful! I'll be there 100%!!!'
Donna Corvino responded: 'Sarah was right from the beginning. The field is still NOT filled & the candidates aren't focusing on defeating Obozo!! All I can say is PLEASE I DO HOPE SHE DOES GET PICKED!! I AM SO READY & WAITING TO HELP HER LEAD ALL THE WAY!! PALIN POWER 2012!!'
The scenario Palin was addressing was essentially the one painted to me by Al Cardenas, head of the American Conservative Union, at CPAC last week when he suggested that Jeb Bush, a fellow Floridian, could be the dark horse consensus candidate.
Cardenas also mentioned Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels and Mike Huckabee. But among CPAC attendees, Palin and Paul Ryan were also mentioned. And Palin's address on the final day of CPAC, in which she called for the 2012 race to go on for as long as possible, went down a storm.
Sean Trende, RealClearPolitics elections analyst, told the Boston Herald that a rebellion among non-Romney delegates could open the door for Palin. 'Who are those people going to gravitate towards if they can’t get Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum? Will they pick Sarah Palin? It’s very possible.'
He added: 'No one really knows what a brokered convention looks like in modern times. If no one has enough delegates, you’ll probably see Sarah Palin walking around the floor of the convention trying to get support. And you’ll have party brokers who want it to go to Mitch Daniels or Paul Ryan.'
Palin spent most of 2011 tantalising her supporters and teasing the media about her intentions. By any rational measure, the prospect of Palin emerging as Republican nominee is extraordinarily remote. There hasn't been a brokered Republican convention since 1948.
But the dream of a Palin presidency and victory in 2012 is still very much alive in the hearts of her most fervent fans - and apparently within the former governor too.
For photos and video go to this link:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102846/Is-Sarah-Palin-dreaming-win-White-House-2012.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
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