Sarah Palin and the Fracturing of the GOP

Strange Bedfellows (4.00 / 3)

From David Brooks

If McCain is elected, he will face conditions tailor-made to foster disorder. He will be leading a divided and philosophically exhausted party. There simply aren't enough Republican experts left to staff an administration, so he will have to throw together a hodgepodge with independents and Democrats. He will confront Democratic majorities that will be enraged and recriminatory.

The giant finds its gait.

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 10:16:43 AM CDT

Slander from Brooks (4.00 / 2)

Recriminatory? Like we went after Bush and Cheney, once we took the Congress? Like we impeached Gonzales? Like we arrested Rove? Like we did anything but try to govern?

The normal advice is "Look in the mirror."  How about looking away from the mirror and looking out the window? How about doing some reporting?

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by: JimC @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 10:26:35 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Every time I've seen Brooks on TV lately, (4.00 / 1)

it looks as if his shorts are too tight or something. He needs to relax and stop being so dramatic.

It's time for a change and I need a nap. Or is it the other way around?

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by: GreyMike @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 10:35:13 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

A necessary distinction. (0.00 / 0)

Their coalition includes economic libertarians and some quasi-anarchists.  Not all libertarians are the kind who want to dismantle UNICEF but outlaw Gay Marriage, and I think you know who I'm referring to.

My liberalism is grounded in libertarianism.  The difference between them and me is that they see government as the only potential for infringement of liberty.  I'm a 'liberaltarian'; I recognize the realities of the post-Industrial Revolution world, and though I wish there were no need for a distinction, I believe free people come before free markets.  Sometimes, in modern times, corporations are capable of infringing on liberty in ways that once only government could--net neutrality anyone?

We as a party should be careful not to see libertarians as one mass right-wing group.  Social libertarians and others are on our side.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 11:00:43 AM CDT

asdf (0.00 / 0)

Many Democrats consider themselves strong on family values and strong on free market economics, too.

The diary is about the groups within the Republican coalition.

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by: elwood @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 11:24:59 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

jkl; (4.00 / 1)

And I'm talking about our coalition.  I think there are a large number of Democrats who are Democrats because, particularly after the past eight years, they know they can't trust the Republican party to protect (or even to not grossly infringe upon) their freedom.

It's not a small number of voters in my generation who are driven to the Democratic Party by things like the Patriot Act.

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 11:51:29 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

speaking of the theocracy (0.00 / 0)

Palin vetted by the Council for National Policy.  

Netroots Outreach Director for the Carol Shea-Porter campaign

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by: susanthe @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 11:01:11 AM CDT

Hold the phone (0.00 / 0)

She what?

As soon as she became Mayor she started trying to ban books from the public library.

More on this, please. Do you have a link?

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by: JimC @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 11:03:09 AM CDT

Sure - (4.00 / 3)

The latest TIME:

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

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by: elwood @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 11:22:22 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

A Wasillan comments on Palin's time as Mayor, including that incident: (0.00 / 0)

http://andrewsullivan.theatlan...

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 11:32:23 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thank you (4.00 / 2)

A mayor who wanted to ban books may become a heartbeat away from being the leader of the free world.

That may be the single greatest argument for the 50 state strategy I have ever seen.

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by: JimC @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 11:36:24 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Hello Department of Justice (0.00 / 0)

I'm sure "VP" Palin will get along famously with Bush's AG:

news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

Are moves like this being labled as "ferreting out corruption" by the minions of Rove?

Can the Hatch Act withstand a theocratic litmust test?

The giant finds its gait.

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 12:10:00 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Risky choices: (4.00 / 3)

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by: elwood @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 12:24:50 PM CDT

Foreign Policy experience (0.00 / 0)

Sarah Palin has been the proud owner of a passport for a full thirteen months!  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08... (3/4 of the way down the page)

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 12:46:26 PM CDT

"Family values" in Republican speak is long hand (0.00 / 0)

for the absolute authority that comes with paternity or, sometimes, maternity.  Authority is the reward.  It has nothing to do with the welfare or successful rearing of the children.  Which is why anything or anyone who interferes with procreation is to be decried.

Same gendered couples are anathema because they challenge the connection between procreation and authority.  Again, children have nothing to do with it.  What's important is ruling the roost.

Clearly, Palin and McCain have a common interest in ruling.

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by: hannah @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 14:48:53 PM CDT

Detailed Oppo Book on Palin from 2006 (4.00 / 1)

From Ben Smith

My colleague John Bresnahan write up, and post, Tony Knowles' 2006 oppo book on Sarah Palin.

There are no major revelations, though lots of detail.

Also noteworthy: Obama aide Anita Dunn was a key consultant on Knowles' campaign.

The giant finds its gait.

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 15:06:25 PM CDT

Oh, I don't know how to thank you enough. (0.00 / 0)

Good readin'!

Wonder if Sununu's fired now.

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by: Dean Barker @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 17:49:21 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The more I hear... (4.00 / 3)

The more concerned I get about Palin. There is this Alaska secessionist movement thing (from TPM):  

The McCain camp today disputed rumors that presumptive vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was ever registered with the secessionist Alaska Independence Party by releasing years of voter registration history . . . but it looks like that doesn't apply to her husband.

This afternoon, the director of Division of Elections in Alaska, Gail Fenumiai, told TPMmuckraker that Todd Palin registered in October 1995 to the Alaska Independence Party, a radical group that advocates for Alaskan secession from the United States.

But even worse is this (from Time Magazine):

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor.

Call me old fashioned, but I would like to think that a candidate for federal office would be a whole hearted supporter of the good old US of A, not a secessionist, and that she also would believe in free speech.  

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt   [I'm an advisor to the NHDP Coordinated Campaign]

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 15:40:35 PM CDT

Once again (0.00 / 0)

The Party of Lincoln has kept the Union together.

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by: JimC @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 21:14:00 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

"This election is not about issues." -Rick Davis, McCain-Palin Campaign Manager (4.00 / 1)

http://voices.washingtonpost.c...

And whose fault is that?

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by: Douglas E. Lindner @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 16:20:39 PM CDT

Print that (0.00 / 0)

Headline: "McCain campaign manager cedes every issue"

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by: JimC @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 16:39:28 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

issue (n): (0.00 / 0)

offspring, progeny: to die without issue.

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by: elwood @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 16:42:26 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

what a train wreck (4.00 / 3)

I have to admit I am enjoying the Palin story--from the ecstasy with which she was greeted on the PUMA/Limbaugh sites, to the daily revelations of greater and greater unsuitability for the job, the sheer fun of it all doesn't seem to have an end. I only hope this pleasure I am taking doesn't tempt fate. It's a long way to November.

Following Elwood's analysis, which seems accurate to me, what she does for McCain is to energize the very people who will work the phones, give the money, and try hardest to get out the vote--the evangelicals. Little things like competence and job qualifications don't bother them. In fact, they view those qualities with suspicion.

McCain is in a box (& I know he knows how to live in a box because he lived in one for 5 years, dammit, you don't have to tell me!)--he picked Palin to energize the base, but she is making him a laughing stock with the independents he also needs. He can't get rid of her without alienating the base, possibly for good. He can't keep her without alienating the reality-based community.

He doesn't have a good move to make at this point. He either has to try to brazen it out, and hope that people are stupid--a time-tested strategy, but one that probably won't work this year--or he has to convince her to quit the ticket to "spend more time with her family," which I believe is what will happen, unfortunately, before the end of the week.

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by: michael57 @ Tue Sep 02, 2008 at 17:17:05 PM CDT