Boehner On Palin: “It Will Be Very Difficult For Her To Run In 2012″
Count Sarah Palin among the growing list of things that risk putting Republican leaders at odds with the GOP rank and file.
The latest: John Boehner, who said in an unnoticed interview with Ohio’s Troy Daily News that her decision to bail and other tabloid-like travails make her a tough sell in 2012:
Boehner said he supports Palin — the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate — but questions whether she could be a viable presidential candidate now, given her unexpected and bewildering resignation and the ongoing issues surrounding her daughter, Bristol, an unwed teenage mother.
“I like her a lot. But I think it will be very difficult for her to run in 2012 given everything’s that’s gone on the last nine months,” he said, referencing to the ongoing drama regarding Bristol Palin, who gave birth to a son, Tripp, in late December, and the baby’s father, Levi Johnston.
Asked about her decision, Boehner added: “I’m as confused about that as anybody.”
In raising doubts about Palin’s viability, Boehner appears to join Michael Steele. The RNC chair seemed to suggest that 2012 is “off the table” for Palin, though his spokesperson later clarified that Steele only meant that discussing it was premature.
The GOP rank and file, however, appear to have a more optimistic view of Palin’s chances: She is statistically tied for first among Republicans for the 2012 GOP nomination.
This blog’s homepage is here. RSS feed here. Twitter feed here. Email me here.
It seems to me that the actual leaders of the GOP know what time of day it is with Palin-she is bad for their brand and they need to remove her legitimacy by saying she is not a viable candidate. She, on the contrary, needs to keep that hope alive for her fans so she can pretend that she has a legitimate political platform in order to keep her asking price up. Thus, she continues to pretend that she has her sights on the presidency.
My bet is on the GOP power structure trying to take her down a notch. I would expect more damaging disclosures on Palin down the road as she tries to hog the limelight for her sole benefit even as it tarnishes the GOP brand. Unless, that is, we expect her to suddenly start playing well with others. I don’t.
This wagon train of Palin’s continues to gather extra baggage like flies on !#$%! Alaskans had no idea either, we’re certainly well ahead of the GOP on the Palin learning curve. Alaskans are scratching their heads in wonder since anyone wanting to do a little research would realize you’d have to be deaf, blind and dumb to not see her divisiveness.
Greg
Inoticed something else about this Palin ordeal. All of these women in the GOP and their enablers (see Mika Brzezinski) are now pointing to her having 5 kids with one of them being a special needs child as a viable reason why she might have quit. But it was those same people who were savaging anybody and everybody right after she was selected as McCain’s running mate whom suggested that her having 5 kids and a newborn with special needs would be a distraction for her as a VP candidate. I find that VERY ironic. She is nothing more than a GOP, with the aid of carefully placed actors in the MSM (see Kristol, Bill), creation without even an inch of depth. And I am glad to see Villagers like Roger Cohen finally call her out for the blithering idiot that she always has been.
Remember Half-Baked Alaska’s last purported pregnancy?
You know, the one where nobody noticed she was pregnant? When, after breaking water in TX, she jumped on a jet to AK, so she could have her preemie at some secluded hospital?
Hmmm…. Could somebody have gotten some DNA tests?
mary – that’s pretty close to my take as well. But the party strategists (the one’s not so ideological that they can still think a new thought or two) and sitting Republicans have really the same problem here as they have with Limbaugh – terror of reactions from the base, that monster they have all helped to create and keep fed. It’s no small dilemma. Brooks figures that it will take another two or three election debacles for the party to be impelled towards reflection and reformulation. That seems about right to me.
ths sg. would be interesting to dig up quotes along those lines.
jzap — “half baked Alaska”? heh.
Bernie — along these lines, I just linked to a new poll that shows the GOP base shares Palin’s sense of victimization at the hands of the press…
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/diplomacy/happy-hour-roundup-41/
God help this country if Palin gets elected in 2012 or 2016, she is so extreme. She isn’t all there upstairs.
Boner also wonders if Sarah is willing to sell her tanning bed now that she’s out of politics. For a good price, of course. Gotta keep up appearances ya’ know. Also!
This is some really information, I just wrapped up my paper for class and think I should go re-edit it lol. You may have just made me a regular