Ed Rollins To Sarah Palin: 'You're No Reagan'

CNN contributor and former Reagan campaign director Ed Rollins has a clear message to Sarah Palin: "You're no Reagan."

Rollins wrote in a Wednesday op-ed for CNN that the former Alaska governor is seriously overstepping her bounds by attempting to draw comparisons between her and the one-time California governor-turned-president.

"I know you were only two when Ronald Reagan was elected by a landslide to the first of two terms as governor of California in 1966, but I would have hoped somewhere along the way through the five colleges you attended that you would have learned a little history," Rollins writes. "And I can tell you being governor of the most populous state is a lot tougher than being governor of one of the least populous ones."

Then Rollins puts a rhetorical dunce cap on Palin:

"If you want to be a player, go to school and learn the issues. Put smart people around you and listen to them. If you want to be taken seriously, be serious. You've already got your own forum. If you want to be a serious presidential candidate, get to work. If you want to be an imitator of Ronald Reagan, go learn something about him and respect his legacy."

Rollins, who served as national campaign chairman and senior adviser to Mike Huckabee's 2008 presidential campaign, is the latest in a growing string of Republicans who have decided to respond to the increasing stirs of Palin's presidential ambitions by dispatching sharp criticism tempered with at-times condescending advice, especially when it comes to her treatment of former GOP heads of state.

Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan called Palin a "nincompoop" last month for her downplaying of the Gipper's political legacy.

MSNBC host and former congressman Joe Scarborough slammed the former Alaska governor this week for insulting the Bushes and for drawing parallels between herself and Ronald Reagan.

But while some former GOP officials have reacted negatively to Palin, the man that birthed the political career of the "mama grizzly," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), has compared her to Reagan.

"I think anybody that has the visibility that Sarah has is obviously going to have some divisiveness," explained McCain to CNN's Candy Crowley last weekend. "I remember that a guy named Ronald Reagan used to be viewed by some as divisive."

Comments

[joeyfoto]

08:28 PM on 12/08/2010

"No Ronald Reagan."

Hell, Sarah Palin is no George W. Bush.

That should stuff a plug in her plans to do anything but make money... it she has any.

[Cal3b G]

09:04 PM on 12/07/2010

Ed Rollin must have the hotts for Palin giving her a compliment like that!

[Edd Hoffman]

11:59 PM on 12/05/2010

I'm defintly re regestering republican so I can vote for Palin in the primary.
Hopefully she'll win and get to debate Oboma.
Just imagine that?
I'd like to see them go through an airport scanner and metal dectors for any ear inserts, before taking the stage.
God please make Palin the republican candidate!
I suggest all regestered dems follow this thinking.

[hoppedy]

01:35 AM on 12/06/2010

Surprise--low expectations--always win

[joeyfoto]

08:31 PM on 12/08/2010

hoppedy wrote: "Surprise-- low expectations--always win"

Not that low... this is not the Limbo...

[hoppedy]

03:45 PM on 12/05/2010

Pentecostal Christians are non-corporeal, and rarest and theologically toughest. Wlkepedia--

[joeyfoto]

08:32 PM on 12/08/2010

They are also nuts...

[onecrazyprogressive]

09:25 AM on 12/05/2010

Time to Pull the Plug on Palin
http://threebrain.blogspot.com/2010/12/time-to-pull-plug-on-palin.html

A Palin presidency would affect the entire world, and the world is watching ... and wondering when in hell the American media will begin to do its prescribed duty. Vet Mrs. Palin, please, NOW. Take note of her ties to a secessionist organization. Take note of her fake pregnancy (pdf). Take note of her connections to dominionism and the Seven Mountain proponents. Take note of her abysmal record of raising her own children - one an unwed mother who is likely pregnant again, another a school bus vandal, another yet a house vandal. Take note of her legacy as half-term governor, where elders were abused, where indigenous people were abandoned, where the environment was sacrificed in the name of profits, where ethics and transparency were simply feel-good words and not guiding principles.

[srivers]

07:57 AM on 12/05/2010

Sister Sarah needs to sit down and watch one of Reagan's movies - preferably his villainous role in "The Killers" (1964):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af0Yei2sAbE

[hoppedy]

03:42 PM on 12/05/2010

Did you know that Sister Sarah is one of the top 3 compliments in Pentecostal Christianity ? Bet you didn"t know.

[srivers]

05:12 PM on 12/05/2010

Ironies abound.

[ampdem]

04:56 AM on 12/05/2010

All these rightqing loon hypocrites are siagusting, McAin, Palin, Mconnel,Bohener, Beck, etc. only out for themselves they don't care about the country and the rest of us. Just one big political game of no no no. They have no shame eaven in the worst of economic times that were caused in large part by Republicans. Just goes to show they have no intent in making things better only worst.

[cuniverse]

02:35 AM on 12/05/2010

she is a fighter not a deal maker .Good for you Sarah.

[scottymac11]

04:06 AM on 12/05/2010

She's a talker not a fighter. The one fight she took on was for the Alaskan championship. She wound up babbeling "No Mas" in her quaint inflective way.

[hoppedy]

03:39 PM on 12/05/2010

How small is your life--tweet also=wow-

[mountaingal]

02:28 AM on 12/05/2010

Peggy Noonan should also call McCain a nincompoop. His nincompoopedness is much greater than Palin's because McCain knows Palin is not qualified in any way to do anything more mentally challenging than being a crossing guard for moose. She had to quit as governor of Alaska before she completely failed but he has to keep up the fantasy or admit he didn't care about the country but choose Palin just for the shock and awe factor.

[Olivia Green]

01:57 AM on 12/05/2010

I just vomited a little in my mouth.

[chaapai]

01:24 AM on 12/05/2010

He!!, she isnt even a "Dan Quayle"!

[FearlessFreep]

01:17 AM on 12/05/2010

Reagan was no Reagan.

[greenie 61]

01:10 AM on 12/05/2010

Rollins: "I would have hoped somewhere along the way through the five colleges you attended that you would have learned a little history,"

bwaaahaaaahaaaaa......!!!1!

[mountaingal]

02:30 AM on 12/05/2010

All I can say to Rollins is "Meow." A little GOP cattiness? Very cute.

[saljas]

11:47 PM on 12/04/2010

God made us all different.

[brklynivn]

11:43 PM on 12/04/2010

Conservative's used to have thought provoking shows like Firing Line, now they have Sarah Palin's Alaska. I can't believe how anti-intellectual they've become.