Friday, July 10, 2009

If The Best Laid Plans Gang Oft Etc., Then What About Palin's Plans?

What remnants of our brain still function seem to be Sarah Palin vapor-locked. So sorry.
One of the few comprehensible & rational statements the Gov. of Alaska made in her has-it-only-been-a-wk.? resignation announcement was that she'd hit the road & support (we imagine pole-dancing fund-raisers) candidates. Fair enough. If she can get the red-meat-eating fringies out to vote, & to whip out their credit cards, she looks good, actually does something beside play the victim, & any candidate she helps into office owes her. Reagan's '70s moves, in other words. (Hell, we'd have given her points if she'd simply & clearly stated: "I'm going on the campaign trail to 'take back America,' & it's not fair to Alaska for even a lame-duck governor to do so, so I'm out of here.")
So it is w/ great sadness that we read in one of those Washington wastes-of-electrons that
Several other lawmakers indicated a wariness about accepting help from Palin, but did not want to criticize the GOP’s vice presidential candidate from last year. They said Palin could hurt them by firing up Democrats. An unnamed GOP lawmaker representing a district that Obama carried in 2008 told The Hill that if Palin came into his district, his opponent would “probably be doing a dance of joy.” The head of the House Democrats’ campaign arm said he’d welcome Palin’s involvement in the 2010 campaign. “We hope that she will be part of the future debate on the direction of the country,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
(Several Republican law-makers identify themselves as well. It's not an anonymous hit piece, it's a backed-by-names hit piece.)
And while it's a shame that when the Gov. is a former Gov., she'll only be welcomed in the reddest of red-meat districts or states, it'll probably result in further marginalization of her message, whatever it may be. (Wasn't reference made to "energy independence" & national security?" We await the position papers on those, unless a clear statement of positions & policies is some "elite" thing that gets in the way of acting on instinct & Jesus's voice in your head.)
In the absence of further scandal or indictment (It should be remembered that the wheels of partisan political persecution &/or justice can grind slowly. Anything may happen.) it's possible that the rushed, breathy, incoherent nature of the Palin announcement was due to a sudden decision to go public w/ the decision, rather than the Governor feeling the hot breath of impending indictment on her neck.
One of the Alaska brain trust may have realized Friday morning that a three-day holiday wknd. was upon them, & what better time to make the big announcement? Hoping either that no big deal would be made, Friday afternoon news-dump style, or (much more likely) that Michael Jackson's death being the only other "news" event, they could get a ton of attention. It worked. (And gave us telling example of the ideas Sarah can produce on two or three hours notice. Heh indeed, indeed.)
Note to slick Alaska lawyers: If you're going to sue us for mentioning the possibility of scandal or indictment linked to Gov. Palin, you can reach our legal representatives at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.

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