Added: 934 days ago by Mardod | Posted in: Politics | 45 Comments

Rating:

 

Share:     Embed:     Fave:    

Item added to your favorites.

You must be logged in to add to your faves. Use the login box on this page or click here to regsiter.

<div align='center'><a href='http://www.kontraband.com/blog/18694/Pretty-Pony-Palin/'>Pretty Pony Palin</a><br><div align='center'></div><br><a href='http://www.kontraband.com/blog'>See more like this on kontraband.com</a></div>

There can be only one: the ascension of Sarah "Bible Spice" Palin is the new face of the GOP

There has been a great deal of hand-wringing since the ascension of Barack Obama to the Presidency in January. It was somewhat expected for the GOP to do some soul-searching following their two successive losses in 2006 and 2008, (Lord knows Democrats did the same thing following their election losses in 2000 and 2004), but the level of complete implosion has surprised many on the left.

In just a matter of months, many somewhat-sane Republicans have taken such extreme positions as claiming that Obama isn't legally the President; that a former comedian (Al Franken) rigged an election; that Democrats are really socialists out to destroy the country; that Republican candidates who can't win an election through the ballot box should shoot their way into office and that Democrats are trying to pass secret legislation that will call for the construction of re-education (read: concentration) camps.

However, the looney fringe isn't just a feature of the new grassroots of the party; it's now being reflected in the party's leadership as well. The list of moralizing social conservatives who've been busted having extra-marital affairs has been rising significantly over the last couple of years. It's become so bad in the last few weeks that most of the political leaders who were thought to have been viable candidates for the Presidency in 2012 have been eliminated by sexual scandals or other embarrassing prime-time gaffes, like Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's overly-simplistic GOP response to Obama's first State of the Union address and Rep. Eric Cantor's inability to score any legislative traction on his agenda on the Obama administration. It's provoked a schism between the political establishment of the GOP and its base.

All these problems have left only two candidates standing who have any chance at surviving the primaries and becoming the Republican nominee, former Massachusetts governor and 2008 Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and soon-to-be-ex Alaska Governor and John McCain's 2008 Vice Presidential candidate Sarah "Bible Spice" Palin. For those politicos in the know, Romney is the man who is going to walk away with the nomination (and eventual unholy ass-whopping to Obama). But I believe they are grossly underestimating Palin as a political force.

So far, the money appears to be in Romney's favor as he has out-raised Palin in the last reporting period. Palin's campaign reports she raised $733K in the last reporting quarter while Romney raised $1.6 million. For political prognosticators, the candidate who raises the most money early on is often viewed as the front runner since there either isn't that much polling going on or that any polls in the field can be easily dismissed as being way too early to matter.

Although the same thing was said about the Clinton-Obama Democratic primary last year. If you'll recall there wasn't anyone in established political circles who thought Obama could ever beat the Clinton juggernaut. She had millions on hand, all the right Democratic contacts, a husband who was one of the most popular ex-Presidents of the last 70 years and a reputation for being the inevitable candidate and the first woman President on her side. It was Obama's appeal to the grassroots, his team's dogged determination to pursue every opportunity and exploit every weakness Clinton displayed that turned the tables by Super Tuesday. There is a similar situation to be had in the GOP primary.

For all his bluster and money and fame, Romney isn't terribly liked by the social conservatives of the party (the largest remaining block of Republicans and the bulk of their base), whose numbers have been dwindling considerably since many jumped ship in the last election to vote for Obama. What's left of the party now are its most die-hard supporters, the ones who truly believe that Obama was born in Kenya, who believe every word that Rush Limbaugh says, who make Sean Hannity appointment television, who believe Glenn Beck is a rising intellectual in the party, who see Mitt as an elite who inherited his cash, who belongs to a faith they openly deride. The ones who will hold BBQs and house parties for the candidate they believe in. And Sarah is their girl.

They see in her exactly what she wants them to see, exactly what she sold herself as when she was campaigning in 2008 with McCain; a down-home, working class girl with a faithful husband, a solid, if imperfect family, a love of country that transcends personal failings. What they see in her is how they see themselves to be. Oppressed by a country increasingly tolerant of racial diversity, hostile to war vets, sodomites who promote immorality to their children when not attempting to destroy capitalism in favor of a socialist utopia where they will reign over the population in perpetuity.

These social conservatives have forced the remaining fragments of Reagan's coalition to the side. The war hawks, the fiscal conservatives, and the neocons no longer have a place in the Republican Party. They've been forced to the side by this cult of Palin worship. It's this reason why Romney will never make it out of the primary unless that establishment destroys Palin politically, now that she's poised to both cash in and campaign as a celebrity political savior; a political Madonna/Messiah for dumbasses in much the same way Obama used his growing stature to pound the hell out of McCain during the last few weeks of the 2008 campaign. Even the National Review, the leading journal for the politically active right called her "the Angelina Jolie of the political world".

The only difference is while Palin fever will hit an all-time high once it comes time to choose their candidate to take Obama in 2012, she has no chance of winning. While the social conservatives adore her, the political independents who swung for Obama in huge numbers in 2008 have already made up their minds about Palin and found her vapid, shallow, narcissistic and wanting. Palin is indeed the face of the GOP and it's that face that will relegate them to the political wilderness for years to come.

Added: 934 days ago by Mardod | Posted in: Politics | 45 Comments

Rating: