UPDATED: Don’t Ever Say Sarah Palin Isn’t A Smart Political Operator…
UPDATE: It’s amazing how, four years later, and without Palin running for office since 2008, the Obamites are still fixated on her.
Because while the president brought Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton in for closer-door meetings, assumedly about planning strategy in the wake of Biden’s hideous performance on the stump, Obama’s flacks are hard at work trashing Palin – while doing everything they can not to appear to follow her advice.
David Axelrod was asked about Palin’s comments on Biden, and said this…
“All right. David, it’s Sam Stein,” said the Huffington Post writer to Axelrod. “I”m guessing you’re not taking John McCain’s advice to drop him and put Hillary Clinton? But a more serious question –”
“Far be it from me to denigrate Senator McCain’s advice on vice presidential nominees,” Axelrod joked, making a reference to McCain picking Sarah Palin for the Republican ticket in 2008.
Then Jay Carney had the question posed to him, and proceeded to make a complete hash of things…
They’re not very classy. A mere “we’re not changing the ticket, and Gov. Palin doesn’t have our best interests at heart” would have sufficed. But they just can’t avoid getting their digs in, can they?
ORIGINAL: …she is. Actually, she’s a very good tactical politician. The mainstream media won’t give her credit for it – as far as they’re concerned she’s an idiot and a disaster for American politics.
They can’t see past the caricature Tina Fey and Julianne Moore created of Palin.
But of all the reactions to Joe Biden’s “put y’all in chains” assclownery yesterday, Palin might have had the smartest one…
Sarah Palin has said that Joe Biden’s controversial ‘put y’all back in chains’ comment should be the ‘nail in the coffin’ for his career and suggested Barack Obama replace him on the 2012 ticket with Hillary Clinton.
She added that she hoped Obama would not take such a step because ‘an Obama/Clinton ticket would have a darn good chance of winning’.
There is virtually no chance of Obama replacing Biden as his running mate and it is doubtful that Clinton, who harbours ambitions to run for the White House in 2016, would even want to be the president’s running mate.
But Palin’s unsolicited advice to Obama, while clearly mischievous, underlines the extent to which Biden has become a national laughing stock and a potential liability for the Democrats, despite his popularity among party activists and much-vaunted authentic style and working class roots.
That’s from Toby Harnden, an excellent commentator on American politics working at the British paper The Daily Mail. Harnden might well be wrong, though, in that there has been a decent amount of discussion on the Left of late about dumping Biden and it’s a good bet there will be more. That Clinton would be the replacement isn’t certain, though – somebody like Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia probably would make more sense.
But Clinton has always been a little scary to Republicans. As a politician she’s vastly overrated; to lose the Democrat primary to Obama in 2008 was one of the all-time political pratfalls, and it bespoke a weakness as a campaigner that few people give her credit for even now. Even so, Clinton is seen as a leader, if not the leader, of what’s left of the centrist wing of the Democrat Party. It’s easier this year if the Democrats stick with the Obama-Biden lefty ticket which had much less centrist appeal.
So just in case the Democrats might think about making a switch to Hillary, along comes Sarah Palin to suggest it.
And now they can’t do it even if they wanted to. Obama can’t be seen as taking advice from Sarah Palin.
Now, Palin tends to be a big favorite of conservatives and not a particularly influential figure with non-conservatives. So let’s not oversell the magnitude of her effect. That said, the folks atop the Democrat Party still regard her with a mix of fear and loathing – and they do pay attention to her.
So she’s helping the Romney ticket by writing Biden off. The Romney ticket wants Biden right where he is.
She rose in Alaska on tactics, and BTW is not exactly what she is projected as, oil expert/huntswoman.
Gee, your comment is really compelling. Think I'll scrap all the research I've done for myself since six months prior to Nov. 2008 (I'm sure millions of others will do the same)… Definitely need to write off all the professional, credible, international journalists who have written about her in numerous major publications over the years… Will have to review all the speeches and interviews I've personally watched and responded positively to, with a new sense of enlightenment and perspective… all thanks to you…
The point is that her political instincts are darned good.
My apologies then for misunderstanding your comment. "Tactic" often has quite a negative connotation, meaning trick, ploy, ruse… have read and heard so many comments accusing Gov. Palin of being merely self-serving and money-seeking to this day. It's clear she's been successful as a result of more than political strategy though her instincts are indeed "darned good". Unfortunately your wording implied that she is not an oil expert/huntswoman when in fact she is. Understandably, though, I'll admit it's difficult to be precise when we strive for brevity on Twitter and Facebook.
Kudos to you Vita.. That was a good reply to Kermit!
[...] Read this article: Don't Ever Say Sarah Palin Isn't A Smart Political Operator… [...]
It's been said that Biden is Obama's anti-assassination policy.
Methinks Sarah has decided for the role of Puck in the present farce.
Don't ya just love our Sarah. She is one step ahead as always. With her suggesting this and it's obvious that would be the best thing for Obama to do, just guarantees that he wont do it now because he ain't going to follow her advice
At least, we hope not.
America has no better friend than Sarah Palin……Now on to November!
I don't think that Palin is done with Ol' Joe, either.
Don't mess with the 'Cuda!
Whatever she puts her hand to do, she does it extremely well , and the more the liberals hate her the more fans she gets!
When I worked for the USDA at times we would have to give talks on various people. We would draw names out of a hat. Then we would have to research that person. I Drew Sara Palin. Believe me she is one great person. And unlike Obama nothing about her is hidden. She is so much more qualified than he is. It's like night and day. They sent 1,000 reporters to Alaska to dig up dirt on her. None to dig up any thing on Obama.
Don't you just love it ! SP is one smart cookie and one to be admired for her intelligence and leadership ability…..
[...] The drumbeats are getting louder and more joining in… boom, boom, boom… don’t ever say she isn’t smart… [...]
Sarah Palin is a great leader, even without a title. I'm glad she is on our side.
[...] his base respond? The following article which describes Palin as a “smart political operator” via the Hayride says it pretty well: So just in case the Democrats might think about making a switch to Hillary, [...]
Keep up the good work, Sarah. I luv it when the demwits react to her statements. Fools.
After a long lunch, today, Biden is still in. Thank you, Governor Palin!
[...] though, may have been clever like a fox — again. As “The Hayride” blog suggests, if Obama, who loathes Palin and lets her get under his skin and in his head, was seriously [...]
[...] though, may have been clever like a fox — again. As “The Hayride” blog suggests, if Obama, who loathes Palin and lets her get under his skin and in his head, was seriously [...]