Godspeed, Bible Spice. Do I wish you good luck? You betcha!
Why? Because if success is not defined as expanding the overall Republican base to include more moderates, minorities, young people, gays and women, and broadening its social agenda, but is instead viewed as Palin simply collaring her party's dwindling and rapidly-scattering base of hard-core conservatives, that success will also ultimately lead to the swift devolution of the GOP into little more than a kooky, neo-Libertarian fringe party.
It's a scenario that is not being disregarded by the cooler-headed and more pragmatic segment of the party which -- as indicated by the thinly-veiled innuendo tossed by some from among that group during the recent GOP Governor's Conference in Miami -- is terrified by this prospect.
“People mostly want to follow positive leaders; they don’t want to follow cranks,” declared Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, of Minnesota, whose state was won by Obama.
“Everyone wants to talk about personalities,” complained Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, Jr. “But for us, its: 'Where do the ideas come from?' ”
The Red State “blues”
Anyone taking the time to fully consider the social implications that underlie the 2008 electoral mash-up of what was once this country's clearly-defined Red State/Blue State boundaries, may be perplexed, if not too surprised at the inability of some segments of the GOP to appreciate the absurdity of Palin as the key to a GOP retooling that culminates in re-claiming the White House in a mere four years. To label this challenge anything other than a suicidal, ludicrously short-sighted and politically oxymoronic pipe dream would be an understatement, particularly in the current political climate.
That Sarah Palin will never be in the position to take that 3 a.m. call is pretty obvious to Mississippi's Republican Gov. Haley Barbour. He made that clear in Miami when he declared that “Anybody here (who is) talking about the 2012 elections has got to get their eye on the ball.”
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
1
