Then They Wonder How Obama Won

TNR quotes

From Rasmussen:

Americans are celebrating the nation's 233rd birthday, and the words of the Declaration of Independence will be heard at countless patriotic ceremonies across the land. The core ideals articulated by those words are still embraced by solid majorities of the American public.

Seventy-four percent (74%) agree with the assertion that “all men are created equal” while just 23% disagree.

Just? Also:

Fifty-six percent (56%) agree with the view that governments derive their only just authority from the “consent of the governed.” Interestingly, one-in-four Americans (25%) disagree.

--Isaac Chotiner

More Palin Speculation

Krauthammer thinks she's planning for 2016 or beyond. Goldberg disagrees.

She'll Be Back

So say the experts. Meanwhile, the Weekly Standard makes some good points:

Palin's surprise announcement was another reminder of how impulsive a politician she is. She zig-zags from office to office, from Republican Revolutionary to bipartisan champion of clean government, with nary a second thought. She resigned from the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission suddenly to make a point about self-dealing. She entered the race to unseat Frank Murkowski in October 2005, months before the primary. She accepted John McCain's offer to be his vice presidential nominee without hesitation.

Indeed, Palin's surprise move yesterday was another reminder of how she and McCain are so similar (remember McCain's decision to suspend his campaign?). They are both spontaneous and unpredictable. They are both known for their attitudes rather than their policies. They are both political gamblers, and they both have been extremely lucky. But sometimes luck runs out.

And sometimes it doesn't. "She is a lot of things," another Alaska Republican wrote me in an email. "But NOT stupid ..."

Time will tell...

Palin Explains, Sort Of

Geraghty

She said when she put the decision to her family, the vote was four "yes"es and one 'Hell yeah.' She mentions the family's reaction to the mockery of Trig.

She said her decision was "fortified during her visit to the troops in Kosovo."

"It hurts to make this choice, but I've given my reasons. I'm reminded of a sign on my parents' refrigerator, 'Don't explain; your friends don't need it, and your enemies won't believe you anyway.'"

Her official statement:

“I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is not the easiest path,” said Governor Palin after the announcement. “Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional ‘Lame Duck’ status in this particular climate would just be another dose of ‘politics as usual,’ something I campaigned against and will always oppose. It is my duty to always protect our great state. With that in mind, my family and I determined that it is best to make a difference this summer, and I am willing to change things, so that this administration, with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future, can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success. I look forward to helping others – to fight for our state and our country, and campaign for those who believe in smaller government, free enterprise, strong national security, support for our troops, and energy independence.”

Sounds like she hasn't given up future ambitions, just wants some "time off" or something?

Palin To Resign

No one yet knows why but Sarah Palin announced that she will resign her position as governor.
I hope it wasn't something I said.

Jonah Goldberg pens an open letter to the Alaska Governor:

Dear Governor Palin,

You’re blowing it.

We haven’t met, but you might remember I was one of the first columnists to tout you for John McCain’s running mate. I cheered you mightily when Senator McCain selected you, and I still believe that you were the smartest choice he could have made given the obstacles before him. I’m also assuming you want to run for president some day.

There’s a reason why the Left and much of the media establishment hated you from day one. Some hated you out of the fear that you might stop Barack Obama’s unfolding coronation. Others because you seemed to expose the snobbery, arrogance, and ideological pieties of elite feminism. Your beauty, your status as a working mom, your blue-collar husband, your bravery in taking on the political establishment in Alaska, your proud status as a pro-lifer and mother of a special-needs child: All of these things were — and are — deeply threatening to a secular left-wing cultural elite.

All of this was an incredible compliment. Powerful people don’t fear the powerless. Remember how Mike Huckabee borrowed that Air Force maxim when he got grief during the primaries? “If you’re not taking flak, you’re not over the target.” Well, you were over the target.

But not anymore. Oh, you’re still taking flak, but not because you strike fear in the hearts of Democrats. You’re taking flak because you’re striking fear in the hearts of Republicans. For Democrats, fairly or not, you’ve become a laughingstock. And for some of McCain’s campaign managers, you’ve become a convenient excuse for their failures.

But while McCain’s strategists do not cover themselves in glory for scapegoating you, you are not without blame either. You do seem to think the best advice is for you to stay just the way you are. Leaders listen to the advice they don’t necessarily want to hear.

For starters, every time I see you on TV, you’re whining about unfair press coverage. Don’t get me wrong: Much of it is unfair, and some of it deserves a response. But it’s not presidential. It’s not even gubernatorial. You are constantly taking the bait, taking up the fights your biggest fans want you to take up.

But here’s the thing: Don’t listen to your biggest fans. Don’t alienate them either, but don’t think that because the Palin4Pres crowd cheers, you’re making progress. Politics is ultimately about persuasion, and you seem entirely uninterested in that, preferring instead to play the victim. Well, victims don’t get elected president. Ronald Reagan was a laughingstock for liberals and despised by the press. But he didn’t whine or take the bait.

Second, peddling a few platitudes and truisms about free markets and limited government is no substitute for really knowing what you’re talking about. Yes, you can talk well about the stuff you know — oil drilling, energy, etc. — but beyond your comfort zone, you fall back on bumper-sticker language that sounds fine to the people who already agree with you but is useless in winning over skeptics.

President Bush had the same problem you do, which is why there’s a hunger for Republicans who can effectively articulate and sell our policies and philosophy. That’s why the wonks have the upper hand. Mitt Romney, Indiana governor Mitch Daniels, Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal, and other hands-on types are what the party wants and, frankly, needs.

Here’s the good news: You have time. Here’s the better news: You have something no one else in the party has — charisma. And I don’t mean you have the most charisma like it’s a consolation prize for not being elected prom queen. If money could buy what you have, Romney would have bought it all by now. Good politicians can learn how to win over audiences, but the great ones are born with the ability. Reagan had it. Clinton had it. Obama has it. You have it. You are the “It Girl” of the GOP.

What you lack, you can learn. If knowing how to describe the situation in Pakistan or explain the “doughnut hole” in health-care coverage was all you needed to get elected, an intern with a subscription to The Economist could be president.

So here’s my advice. Stay home and do your job and your homework. You’ll still be a national figure come the primaries. But if you can’t surprise your detractors with your grasp of policy when you re-emerge on the national stage, you won’t win the nomination. More important, you won’t deserve to.

Obama Parodies Self

Obama responds to the North Korean threat of an attack on Hawaii:

“Well, first of all, let’s be clear. This administration — and our military — is fully prepared for any contingencies,” he assured Harry Smith of CBS News. “The t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted in terms of what might happen.”

Furthermore, he warned, if the North Koreans do insist on firing missiles at Hawaii, the President will be forced to reduce their recess time.

Life Imitates The Simpsons

Mr. Burns: Well, if it's a crime to love one's country, then I'm guilty. And if it's a crime to steal a trillion dollars from our government and hand it over to communist Cuba, then I'm guilty of that too. And if it's a crime to bribe a jury, then so help me, I'll soon be guilty of that!
Homer Simpson: God bless America!
--The Trouble With Trillions

Is Sanford nuts? I don’t know. Is love “nuts”? Is asking your wife if you can visit your mistress on another continent and then going anyway after she tells you no while leaving the state you govern completely in the dark as to your whereabouts, and then coming back and making a total media spectacle of yourself by blubbering about soulmates to reporters “nuts”?
Then yeah, cynics. I guess he’s nuts.
--Allahpundit

More on the Bash Palin Party

Despite the name of this blog, we have not taken an editorial position on the next presidential election, and we would not take the presumption of disagreeing with Charles Krauthammer. Nonetheless, as the Palin blog with the best URL, we feel obligated to make the obvious point in defense of the governor. Steve Schmidt's obvious hostility toward the Governor notwithstanding, Palin's explanation of her husband's registration in the Alaskan Independence Party is perfectly reasonable:

Todd Palin was a registered member of the Alaskan Independence Party between 1995 and 2002. Alaska used a blanket primary in 1996, 1998, and 2000, so it is plausible that Todd Palin didn’t notice that he was a registered member of the Alaskan Independence Party, since every primary voter received the same primary ballot in any event. In 2002, each party had its own primary ballot. The voter registration form in use during 1995 listed these choices, with the parties in alphabetical order:

Affiliation: (with a checkbox next to each line)
Alaska Democratic Party
Alaskan Independence Party
Green Party of Alaska
Republican Party of Alaska
non-partisan (no party affiliation)
undeclared (no party declared)

Why should we assume that now First Dude had any knowledge of the platform of the Independence Party other than some vague association with Ross Perot? In the end of the day, the only new information that has been revealed by this whole controversy is that Steve Schmidt is a real piece of schmidt.