Palin Keeps Attacking Obama: "No Present Button"

The presidential campaign is over, but Sarah Palin -- still at the epicenter of media attention -- continues to take digs at Barack Obama.

Speaking at the Republican Governor's Association meeting on Thursday in Miami, the Alaska Governor spoke primarily about the responsibilities of Republican executives in supporting domestic initiatives like tax cuts and budgetary prudence. But then she offered an obvious swipe at the President-elect.

Governors, she said make "tough decisions to best serve the people who hire us. And we are held accountable every day. The buck stops on our desk. We are not just one of many voting yea or nay or present. No. There is no present button in our office, is there? We have to make the tough decisions."

The line about voting "present," of course, is a clear jab at Obama -- lifted from an attack line that the McCain campaign (and the Clinton camp) used repeatedly on the trail. The crowd, it seemed, got the joke.

The dig comes, moreover, after Palin has continued airing concerns about Obama'a associations and readiness to be commander-in-chief in recent interviews.

It's hard to understand just what type of strategy Palin is deploying here. Her popularity rating plummeted as the campaign progressed, in part because of her attacks on Obama, in part because, after the campaign ended, aides to McCain painted her as vapid and out-of-her-league.

As such, she needs to push back against these negative narratives. And so we see her taking all of these national interviews after mostly avoiding press on the trail. But by continuing to take swipes at Obama, Palin seems to be doing little more than reinforcing the image that she is hyper-partisan and bitter over the election outcome.

UPDATE: Reader JMZ points out that in many states legislation can pass without the governor's signature -- the political equivalent of voting present (governors don't have to watch as their vetoes are overturned).

Comments

[LollieDotCom]

11:03 AM on 11/19/2008

She should have watched John McCain on Leno after the election. He said nobody likes a sore loser. Then again, kinda glad she didn't listen to him, dontcha know.

:)&-=

[Obamawinsman]

11:17 AM on 11/17/2008

Put a muzzle on the Pit Bull Maverick wanna be.

[cu]

11:11 AM on 11/17/2008

Please shut Sarah up!

She is too stupid to know she is not qualified for any public office, and most of us don't want her opinions about anything!

[tifaret]

11:34 AM on 11/17/2008

go easy on her folks, she's a little slow. she probably just doesn't realize the election is "really" over....

[Mark701]

09:14 AM on 11/17/2008

"A storm hath no fury like a woman scorned"

[TadCF]

08:16 AM on 11/17/2008

The day the Republicans found Palin, it made their day. A plastic, fantastic, programmable, wind-up doll who could be used for any of their purposes. Just wind her up, program her, and she'll say anything they want her to say. The only downside that you can't turn her off--your just have to let her unwind. But once she stops, you can always wind her up again--with the same or a different program.

[NoWMDs]

07:48 AM on 11/17/2008

TheBitch knows that her followers still hate Obama and she'll play that card til she disappears from sight.

[misty1]

06:39 AM on 11/17/2008

Maybe she does not know the election is over and Obama won the RNC should tell her
she only makes them look bad and like sore losers. She is a joke and now no one
is laughing anymore. Say goodbye now Sarah.

[roninroshi]

11:39 PM on 11/16/2008

She has no class what so ever...she is so addicted to to power and being noticed i don't think she will ever go away.

[bigmadd]

11:23 PM on 11/16/2008

wish she would just go away far far away sick of looking at her ugly big mouth

[bby328]

11:33 AM on 11/17/2008

Butt nice teeth . . . also.

[Rendezvous]

08:56 AM on 11/16/2008

She is Simply Nasty

[andrushka]

07:55 AM on 11/15/2008

Please..... can we shut her up soooon, veryyyyyyyy soooon???????? We've had enough of her, don'you think?

[StillAmused]

08:53 PM on 11/14/2008

Detain and confine the SOB who winds her up every morning.

[bdaved]

02:06 PM on 11/14/2008

Apparently Governor Palin misses the irony of joking about a "present button" in her office. Weren't people in Juneau wearing "Where's Sarah?" buttons because she wasn't even present to be held accountable?

[KarenKaren]

02:02 PM on 11/14/2008

Hard facts: she raised taxes, spending, and debt as Mayor of Wasilla.

As governor, she raised taxes on business (oil industry) and redistributed money to voters (Alaskans get an annual check based on oil extraction). She gave a contract for a natural gas pipe line to a Canadian firm instead of an American firm.

Her support of the Alaskan Independent Party, whose goal is to separate from the U.S. with the option of re-joining under its own terms, and whose founder publicly professed his "hatred for the American government" and "her damn flag", is stunning.

She routinely talks about Obama and Ayers in a way that implies that Obama seeks to destroy our country. That's why people at her rallies shout, "Off with his head!" and "Terrorist!" and "Kill him!". She is bearing false witness, the fruit of which is whipping people into a state of irrational hatred and violence.

I was taught, "By their fruits ye shall know them" in order to distinguish which master a person serves.

Now, I'm in favor of regular citizens (PTA moms for example) getting involved in civics and leadership--but not this one.

[poochytown]

01:35 PM on 11/14/2008

What a woman! She says she trusts Obama and would be "honored" to serve in his cabinet, but she's so programmed to attack she can't stop making digs at him. I'm always amazed at the way Republicans manage to get people to go against their own self-interest, but for Palin to be shooting herself in the foot in this clueless way is just crazy... and gratifying.

She won't be in the new cabinet, I predict.

[tifaret]

11:54 AM on 11/17/2008

no, obama, unlike his predecessor, surrounds himself only with competent, qualified people....