28 September 2008

Conservative columnist calls for Palin to step down

Writing in the National Review, Kathleen Parker doesn't pull any punches:
As we’ve seen and heard more from John McCain’s running mate, it is increasingly clear that Palin is a problem. Quick study or not, she doesn’t know enough about economics and foreign policy to make Americans comfortable with a President Palin should conditions warrant her promotion.

Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League.

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted.

Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there. Here’s but one example of many from her interview with Hannity: “Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we’re talking about today. And that’s something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this.”

Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Do it for your country.

5 comments:

  1. I think she won't do it willingly. Sadly, she seems to believe she's doing a great job.

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  2. I think the amount of criticism leveled on Governor Palin for her verbiage is ludicrous when one actually is able to hear Senator Obama stutter his way through any spur of the moment speech or answer. President Bush sounds like either an idiot or automaton when he speaks. Biden makes so many gaffes the GOP has a Biden gaffe meter, but no one is calling for his stepping down. What really matters for both parties is their respective policies. Does Palin lack foreign policy experience. Yes she does, and while dealing with border issues with Canada and Russia does qualify, it's not like she was negotiating anything. Does Barak Obama lack foreign policy experience? Duh. All this anti-Palin nonsense stems from Democrat concern that Palin's presence on the McCain ticket will rally not just conservatives to McCain, but also women. You point out her poor choice of words in an interview. I point to her record as governor. And you wonder why I'm not swayed?

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  3. Brian, I truly appreciate your offering thoughts and opinions to counter my own. TYWKIWDBI has about 400 visitors each day, and very few take the time and effort to leave any comment, much less a detailed one. That kind of dialogue keeps me enthused to keep writing (and reassures me that I'm not just "preaching to the choir").

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  4. The elitist wing of the conservative movement has always been wary of us libertarians coming into the GOP. Sarah Palin is one of the top elected libertarian Republicans in the country, (along with Idaho's Gov. Butch Otter, and Cong. Jeff Flake of AZ).

    Of course, she's going to make some conservatives nervous.

    They are wary of her libertarian cultural views. This is the woman, after all, who famously fought back against social conservatives in Wasilla who wanted to run all of the bars and taverns out of town.

    They even started a whisper campaign in Alaska during the 2006 primaries that Sarah wasn't really a Republican, but rather a "closet libertarian." She had attended a couple local Libertarian Party meetings seeking their support.

    But what she loses from the social conservatives, she gains 10 times over in libertarian votes.

    Figure, Libertarian Bob Barr was polling 6% nationwide in mid-summer. As high as 10% in New Hampshire. And post-Palin he's now down to 1%.

    Ever since Goldwater the eastern establishment Republicans have distrusted Western cowboy individualists in the GOP.

    With Sarah Palin, the libertarian wing of the GOP has finally arrived. Of course, that's going to make some other Republicans nervous.

    Get over it Conservatives, THE LIBERTARIANS HAVE ARRIVED!!

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  5. Minnesotastan,

    Thanks for the dialog. Actually I was railing against the author of the column, not you for posting it! I love political discourse.

    And frankly, libertarians are awesome...even if on some issues they are a little extreme. As a conservative Republican, I have no problem with libertarians adding their two cents to the party...it will save us money.

    Great BLOG.

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