Centrist Pundits

Well, the media is all abuzz about Sarah Palin’s book.

I haven’t read it yet, so I’ll reserve judgement on it. But with all due respect to our friends over at Palintology, I think that she’s got a really big job ahead of her in terms of political rehabilitation.

Certainly her resignation as governor is the biggest thing for her to get around. I mean, I understand why she did; having to deal with one bogus ethics complaint after another week after week after week would make me want to quit too.

But it’ll take a lot more than a book to reverse her political fortunes. Yes, she’s the darling of the far right, and she can have a very lucrative career as a public speaker and fundraiser if that’s what she wants. But if she wants to be elected to national office, she’s going to have to appeal beyond that base — and that means to us, the centrists.

I remember watching her debate coverage when she ran for governor of Alaska and being impressed — and being shocked when she ran for Vice President and appeared to have lost at least 40 IQ points. That observation alone makes me tend to believe that at least some of what she says about being mishandled by McCain’s staff is true. But she’s gotta convince us that she’s more than a caricature, and she’ll do that by speaking things other than right-wing catchphrases.

It’ll take some time, and I don’t think it’ll happen in time for 2012. It took about 20 years for Joe Biden’s national political repuation to get repaired. Maybe it won’t take so long for Palin, but if she wants to get elected to something, she needs to have a realistic timeframe. The problem is that the GOP might actually nominate her in 2012, when she won’t be winnable. That’s a serious mistake on their part.

During the campaign, though, the time I was the most impressed with her was towards the end, when she says she stopped listening to the advisors (at a point where it was very clear that they couldn’t win anyway) and she gave a series of speeches on energy policy. It’s an area she knows, it’s an area she’s comfortable talking about and she makes a hell of a lot of sense. If she’s really lucky, she’ll get taken on as Energy Secretary in the next Republican administration.

Greg 2012 Election, Media, National Politics, Personalities Palin

(No, I’m not really back yet – new job and all – but I may post a bit this month.  I expect December to be when I start getting back in to this regularly.)

You know, the New York Senate was completely messed up this summer, and it barely made the national news.  But one not even particularly interesting Congressional race gets a bit weird, and suddenly, it’s everywhere.  I speak, of course, of New York 23, a bit north of where I live… but on my TV a lot these days.

Now, of course, normally, there would be no Congressional election this year.  But the previous Congressman is now the Secretary of the Army, and so a special election needed to be held to fill the seat.  Normally, this would be a remarkably open and shut case.  New York 23 is one of the more conservative districts in the state, and the area hasn’t had a Democratic representative since just after the Civil War, if  I understand it correctly.  Its Republican country until tomorrow.

Tomorrow, it may be Democrat country, or, more likely in this blogger’s opinion, Conservative country.    Now, I have no problem with a Conservative campaigning and winning an election (although he doesn’t live in the area, which I do have a problem with) but that’s not really the story.  The story is that a moderate – something that this website is interested in – was completely forsaken by the party – in favor of a conservative.

We all know the country, generally, leans to the middle, by most guesses, a little right of center, but towards the middle.  We also know that politics is completely defined by the two extremes of the political spectrum, both in their own self-definition and in their opposition’s definition of who they are.  Right now, the Republicans are looking towards their future, to figure out how they’ll define themselves.  And most of the bigwigs look like they’ve decided that they will define themselves as the far-right.

The vast majority of the party leaders said that the candidate for the Republican party (who is, admittedly, a moderate – but let’s face it, NY Republicans are never the standard bearers of conservatism – and who, admittedly, was not elected but appointed as the candidate by 11 NY Republican Party county chairs) wasn’t conservative enough to be a Republican, and endorsed the Conservative Party’s candidate.  I’m not one for blind party loyalty but I think the least one can expect when one is the candidate for a party is the endorsement of the party’s movers and shakers, whether its enthusiastic or not.  It seems pretty basic.

The Republican, Dede Scozzafava, on the other hand, isnt showing much loyalty to the ideals of the Republican party either.  Not because of her moderate stances on things like gay marriage – which isn’t nearly the issue here in NY that it is, say, in Oklahoma – but because when she withdrew from the race, she endorsed the Democrat.  Again, not one for blind party loyalty, and she’d been rogered pretty badly by her party, but you probably shouldn’t endorse your party’s traditional opposition, as a general rule.

The parties exist, whether they should or not, because like minded people pooling their resources make for more power than a bunch of individuals.  In exchange, sometimes, you take one for the team.  If either part of that equation falters, the party suffers.  Right now, it seems like no one is remembering why parties exist.  I’d normally be okay with that, except I think at the moment it plays in the political extremist hands, rather than the rise of the center.

I suppose some might say that this is the beginning of the rise of a Conservative party.  And maybe they are right.  But if they are, is that good for conservatism in America?  If most Americans are center or center-right, does a stronger national party that always plays far-right get elected?  Or do they split the vote with moderates and start to consistently lose to Democrats?  When people say that parties are, by definition, big tents, they aren’t just saying that because they like to see a few people of color, a few women, and a few homosexuals around.  They are pointing out that you need to get to at least the plurality of votes.  A Conservative party that ignores moderates only works if moderates themselves go by the wayside.  Right now, it looks like the only two Republicans who realize that are Newt Gingrich and Meghan McCain.

The sad part about it is, this election isn’t some sort of bellweather.  If the Democrat wins, it is because the vote was split.  If the Conservative wins, it is because of outside influences.  If the Republican wins – which is basically impossible – it is because the district votes Republican by default.  There’s no… data… to be garnered from the results.  Just noise.  And noise is what those who endorsed the Conservative want – they want their names in the papers for their own ambitions – Palin, Pawlenty, Pataki and more.  Because if they can say “Hey, I don’t toe the line, I do what’s right, heck, I don’t even endorse my own party’s candidates if they are the wrong person” they can claim to be mavericks, free-thinkers, and movers and shakers, even if all they are is an ideologue.

JC National Politics, Political Parties, State Politics Congress, Conservative Party, elections, Palin, Pawlenty

Okay, I think a lot of people who are educated about such matters know that the debate on health care, while valid, is intensely over-inflated.  The rhetoric at times borders on the insane.  I’ve already commented on that.

Of course, it hit kind of a new height over the weekend as Sarah Palin tried to convince Americans – actually, I should probably take out “tried”, as I’m sure some believe her – that Obama’s “death panels” would make decisions on who lives and who dies, and that they would probably come for her son, Trig, as being special needs, he’s expensive.

I’m going to leave aside the part about going after Trig, because it isn’t funny, it is sad.  Either she really believes that Obama is going to kill her child, which is sad, or she knows better and is just scoring points, which is frustrating.

But death panels, now that’s funny.  It is so over the top and crazy sounding that all that is left to do is laugh.  It is completely obviously untrue.  But let’s say it is true; I hope I get that job.  First of all, I bet they get great health benefits.  Secondly, I bet they get to wear all black and look genuinely cool.  Thirdly, power of life and death is, well, power, and there’s certainly people I could imagine putting on the “denied” list.  But fourthly, and most of all, they have a great job title.  Formally, I imagine that a business card that says “Death Panelist” is intimidating enough, but what’s more important is that informally, America would no doubt call them Reapers.

“My name is (your name), and I’m a Reaper.”  Don’t tell me it doesn’t give you at least a little thrill to say it.

JC Health care Health care, Palin, rhetoric

So here it is, Monday, and the Palin resignation fallout is still the news story of the day.

I still think those who say she’s done in politics are underestimating her chances; more specifically, they are over-estimating the American people.  I’m a strong believer in democracy but unfortunately the electorate rarely gives me reasons for confidence.  And while all the people who talk about “knowing politics” think she’s done for – one even compared her to Kathleen Harris, which I thought was fairly cruel – I’m still not sure her base will see it that way.  Of course, one needs more than a base to run for office with, and Palin has always had some issues with going beyond the base, at least outside of Alaska.

I find it interesting how many major news stories seem to happen the Friday before the Daily Show and Colbert are off for a week.  I’m beginning to think it is planned.

While I don’t know that this is a death blow to Palin the way some think it is, it certainly was… weird.  Her news conference was bizarre.  You hold a news conference to make announcements and answer questions, not raise new ones.  And I’m curious as to who she was referring to in a followup when she said that there are plenty of people who’ve resigned with honor, but since it is her, she gets mistreated by the press.  I’m not going to say the press hasn’t been harsh on her in the past (though not as harsh as she makes them out to be) but I can’t think of anyone who’s resigned from office halfway though their first term that we now think of as a major American influence.  And she still needs to improve her speaking skills.

The current Lt. Governor, the next Governor of Alaska, says that Palin is Alaska’s greatest gift to America.  I don’t know.  Natural splendor, hockey players, and oil reserves are good gifts too.

But lastly, I’d like to take a moment and blast the DNC spokesperson, Brad Woodhouse, for coming on a bit overly strong and partisan.  He said of Palin: “Her decision to abandon her post and the people of Alaska who elected her continues a pattern of bizarre behavior that more than anything else may explain the decision she made today.”  And I believe that Woodhouse truly thinks that.  And I know that the DNC is diametrically opposed to Republicans and will do what they feel necessary to tear down Republicans.  But, everyone else was saying pretty much the same thing.  The DNC could have made the official response of the party feel a bit classier than that, a bit more reflective and a bit more positive for the future.  “We wish Palin luck in her future endeavors, and we’ll be ready to run against her and win if she chooses to rejoin politics” type thing.

Oh, and to those who are counting her out: hey… we’re still talking about her, aren’t we?

JC 2012 Election, Media, State Politics 2012, Palin

As Greg mentioned, Sarah Palin has decided not only to not seek re-election as the governor of Alaska, but to step down by the end of the month.

JC 2012 Election, National Politics, Personalities, State Politics 2012, Palin

This morning, my wife had to ask me what had me chortling, laughing out loud.  It was that I had read, and then watched, Barack Obama making a fairly big gaffe, talking about his low bowling score being like something out of the Special Olympics.  I wasn’t laughing at the joke, so much, as the fact that it was such a ridiculously bad statement by the President, and everyone knows it the moment they hear it.

I mean, there’s some pretty simple rules in politics.  Don’t touch Social Security.  Don’t get caught diddling an intern.  Don’t insult Rush, if you’re a Republican.  And another one, for politics and, indeed, for life, is don’t use the handicapped as your metaphor for incompetence.

All in all, this is gonna blow over – Obama has already apologized to the director of the Special Olympics and it was accepted, and I’m sure Obama will do something else conciliatory like be there for the opening of the next national ones, or something.  And frankly, it was inevitable.  Not this particular gaffe in and of itself, but some gaffe or another.  When you’re watched 24/7 as you are as President in this nation, something is going to slip out, just due to human failing.

That said, we gotta give 1 other person their props, and point out one other person’s terrible nature.

Sarah Palin gets the props.  I don’t really think much of Palin (sorry Greg, Trish) but she made some of the classiest statements about the Special Olympics and her own special-needs child.  It was really a well done media moment, and she deserves credit for it.

Rush Limbaugh, on the other hand, is proving once again he’s a terrible person.  He’s using this incident to bash Obama as insensitive, and bringing up other incidents of Democrats and gaffes over the handicapped.  Well, you know what, Mr. Limbaugh?  No one has done more disservice to the handicapped over the years then you.  You talk about how people are bilking the taxpayers, how they exaggerate their symptoms, and how if you can’t do something, you should just suffer without.  Except, of course, when you are the one suffering.  

My immediate response to Obama’s gaffe was to think that a Special Olympics bowler could probably bowl better than Obama.  In a similar vein, I want Michael J. Fox to find Rush Limbaugh and kick his ass.

Rush, you are a liar and a hypocrite, and everyone with half an ounce of sense knows it.  Unfortunately, you are entertaining enough that enough people like you that your party can’t denounce you as the monster you are.

Someday, perhaps, your party will wake up and realize that they’d get more votes without you than with you.

JC Society language, obama, Palin, rush