Palin In 2012? Pundits Speculate

Marc Ambinder suggests:

There's a suspicion in some McCain loyalist precincts that Gov. Sarah Palin is beginning to play the Republican base against John McCain -- McCain won't let her campaign in Michigan...McCain won't let her bring up Jeremiah Wright... McCain doesn't like her terrorist pal talks....

Think ahead to 2010...2011...2012.

Palin is ambitious. Very ambitious.

And if she wants the job, she's easily the frontrunner to become THE voice of the angry Right in the Wilderness. She is a favorite of talk radio and Fox News conservatives, and speaks their language as only a true member of the club can. (Her recent Limbaugh interview was full of dog whistles that any Dittohead would recognize. Including her actual use of the word ditto.)

New York Magazine has rounded up more speculation on a Palin presidential run. Johnathan Chait agrees with Ambinder that Palin is already distancing herself from McCain and boldly predicts that she will be the next nominee. Chris Cilizza says Palin has already "hinted ... that she is almost assured to be a presidential candidate if the GOP ticket comes up short."

A skeptical Noam Scheiber says there's no chance: Palins's got no organization and she doesn't wear well over time. Tom Edsall wrote for the Huffington Post recently that voters have already soured on Palin. But conservative blogger Ross Douthat argues that those numbers won't stop her:

Sarah Palin might well be a formidable contender for the GOP nomination in 2012 even if she's massively unpopular with the sixty-five percent of America that doesn't vote in Republican primaries. In an Obama-era GOP, where the various factions and candidates are competing for control of a increasingly purist rump, isn't hard to see a scenario in which Palin unites evangelical voters and talk-radio conservatives - constituencies that split between Huckabee and either Romney or Fred Thompson, respectively, in 2008 - and rides that bloc to victory against a field that's just as divided as it was in '08.

Comments

[roshni]

She will go the same route as Pat Buchanan. She may electrify the extreme right wing nut jobs, but she is too over the top to unite the republican party.

[Bronx56]

Assuming Senator Obama is elected, it'll be a while whether we'll know if we can be rid of Gov. Palin as a mainstream national politician. If her own party adjusts, and centers itself, she may very well be viewed as a pariah. But, she is a politician. She's got alot of time to transform herself into whatever she needs to be to get ahead. It's like a horror movie sequel where the monster survives..­.....

[kewps]

Palin 2, the sequel. Makes my blood run cold!

[Housewife]

Be very afraid. She's an even bigger yutz than W.

[thebigthinker]

I am a parent of a child with special needs and I am disgusted by her hypocrisy. I wonder how many people who are not in close contact with disabled kids and families will be able to see through her jabber.
She said that she wants to “put the educational choices for special needs children in the hands of their parents”. This means HOMESCHOOL. She set an example of Florida's McKay Scholarship program that in her words allows for choice in education. In reality, and I live in Florida and choose not to use this program, this is a program that does not cover total tuition, and it does not cover special services. Private schools who use it do not have accountability, do not follow government set educational standards, do not have same requirements for special ed teachers as public schools and are inferior in every way. Essentially, by choosing this type of scholarship you let unqualified staff spend time with your children and you cannot demand results, accountability, or education. Also kids are secluded in these schools and have no access to mainstream kids. And you also have to pay for all therapies, language development specialists, psychologists and any other special disciplines child might need. Last, when she was talking about special needs trusts and special homes for kids with disabilities, only blind person could not see what kind of future we and our kids will have with this administration.

[Sideblinded]

I agree 100% with you, and I am not a resident of Florida. You are adressing more issues than I was aware of.

I was a resident of Wisconsin and Illinois when my special needs son was alive. (He passed away at the age of 11 in 2003.) Early childhood help is avaiable, but as a parent YOU have to find it. I consider myself to be a semi educated person that did everything they could to help their kid. I wanted to get my son involved in Special Olympics, yet it took over a year and multiple phone calls to find out how to get involved other than raising money.

I found that I was in a weird dance/game with educators, medical professionals and society when it came to my son. Depending on what county he lived in (In the same State) depended on how much help/support he got. And how much help/support we got, as his parents. It also took a lot of time and research that really should be out here for parents to have easy access to.

Disabled kids should be treated equally and it should not depend on what state or county they happened to be born in.

[standforpeace]

Perhaps this will be the case. However, our job right now is to defeat McCain/Palin in 11 days. Our next job will be to hold Obama/Biden and the Democratic Congress accountable for providing the kind of leadership that our country needs. Obama has shown himself campable of building the kind of campaign organization that can compete with the Republicans -- and in truth it was this kind of organization that we were missing in 2000/2004 (lesson learned). The next step will be demonstrating the same kind of competence in governing. We need to win the 2008 election now, and we can win in 2012 if the Democrats can provide a favorable answer to the question -- Are you better off than you were 4 years ago. No matter who the Republicans put forth.

[mmgbizgirl]

If she dare show her face in 2012, I hope Americans will resoundingly deny her.

She doesn't speak for Americans, she speaks for the extreme violent right.

Once we've had the real thing, I'm sure we'll never go back to the kind of nonsense she represents.

[Lefty08]

She's done. Palin will go back to Alaska and become a TV commercial spokesperson for some snowmobile dealership. Her political career is over.

[TXOBAMAGIRL73]

Oh my they must be planning a full brain transplant­.. I guess if they build it, it will be dumb !!!

[MargaretO]

ROTFL!

[TuesdayMorning]

I really really don't want this woman to run for anything. Just go back to Alaska or stick to Fox News only. I can't take it anymore. And today, the fruit flies crap...she seems to have difficulty thinking beyond her speeches. I know they say that our memory is short but I won't forget her very very significant brain farts. Besides, anyone who is endorsed by Limbaugh or Hannity is lumped in the category of dumb, hateful, disgusting and divisive.

No way, No how, No Palin

[aybabtu]

We're going to see a dramatic splintering in the Republican party. She may be able to cobble together a coalition that could deliver the 2012 Republican nomination, but she won't garner much support beyond her base, and Obama will run up an even bigger win than he is poised to take this year.

[SShaw490]

By 2012, the Republican party will realize that engaging in the culture war is a losing effort. They'll be rebuilding around a libertarian, government minimalizing philosophy, which doesn't fit the Queen of Lobbyist-Gained Earmarks, Sarah Palin. In fact, by that time she'll likely have been defeated as Governor of Alaska.

Sarah Palin is going the way of Dan Quayle.

[MargaretO]

I'm not so sure. Personally, I think they are too stubborn and too dumb to realize it.

[harvest9]

Much as I'd like to spare the country her horrifying voice, I sincerely hope she does run for President in 2012. That would ensure total mayhem in the Republican party and another landslide for the Democrats. She's a complete idiot, and that will not change, even with four years of coaching, tutors, make-up and more expensive clothes. The pundits with hard-ons for her will be completely impotent, and broke, by then.

[LanceS]

Palin will get pounded by the Republican candidates. Can you imagine what it is going to be like when her own party starts to vet her and publish her record of abuse and self centered actions.

She has no chance. She is not smart, not articulate and not capable. In four more years, she is going to start to lose her best asset which are her looks.

[SShaw490]

Republicans are idiots when it comes to governance, but they're very good at finding people who can win elections. By that time, they'll know she's a sure loser and won't even consider her.

[MargaretO]

Well, a girl can dream, can't she? I sincerely hope they chew her up and spit her out up thar in Alaska. You betcha!

[Rog49Thomas]

I'm looking forward to the 2012 Republican primary debates.

I understand that Paris and Britney are considering running.

And hopefully after four years Sister Sarah can work herself up to Britney's intellectual level.

The debates I am told will be "hot".

[collprof]

I cannot believe that anyone, including Palin, would be taking her stint as GOP VP brain from nowhere (because even Alaska doesn't want ownership) seriously. Fey would have a field day for the year it would take for campaign. And the perfect candidate for Palin would be Bachmann. They both would appeal to that 'real' America or that 'Patriotic' America.

Can you imagine what their combined wardrobe/make-up bills would be?

[AllenD]

Sarah:

Please, please, please run for the 2012 nomination

Signed:

An Obama supporter!

[freshnotbitter]

She has the talent to swing it but maybe not the smarts. Reagan developped his political smarts over a long life full of political experience. Palin looks like she is headed to Buchanan-land.

She needs to start right now with a magnanimous campaign that avoids ALL negativity. Every time she starts up with her Ayers assignment, or recites her "terrorism" talking points given to her by clueless McCAin staffers, she is digging herself deeper and deeper into a hole she will be unable to climb out of.

[kewps]

She needs to climb in to a hole-and stay there!