I really have no interest in continuing to write about the disaster that is Sarah Palin, but since Gary Bauer can’t stop proclaiming his love for her and gushing about what a brilliant move she made by abruptly and inexplicably resigning, I guess I’ll keep covering it:
Like a few other intrepid souls, I have received a lot of grief for my defense of Sarah Palin’s decision to resign the governorship of Alaska.
But after a week of consideration, I’d like to amend my position. Not only does Sarah Palin’s resignation not preclude her from running for president in 2012. I would argue that she is now strongest candidate Republicans could nominate.
Bauer goes on to explain “what the media see as Palin’s biggest liabilities are actually her greatest strengths” and then lists her “small-town roots and non-Ivy League pedigree” her use of “plain words,” her faith, her large family including “a child with special needs”and a teenage daughter who didn’t opt for abortion when she found out she was pregnant.
Of course, that explains why the Religious Right loves her, but not why she should be considered even remotely qualified to be president.
Noticeably, nowhere in his piece does Bauer bother to suggest that she possess any actual qualifications, mainly because that sort of thing doesn’t matter as the Right’s support for her seems built entirely on the fact that she’s a plain-spoken Christian with a family.
Bauer then concludes that Palin is going to be around for the long-haul and will remain a viable candidate for decades to come:
Palin is 45 years old, which means there will be at least six presidential election cycles before she reaches a point in which age will become a political liability.
That’s a long time. Six election cycles ago, Barry Obama was just beginning his career as a community organizer and meeting Reverend Wright.
Margaret Thatcher was 54 when she became Great Britain’s Prime Minister and Golda Meir 70 when she became Israel’s.
At 45, Hillary was holding a Bible and gazing up at her philandering husband take the presidential oath of office. At 45, Ronald Reagan was still a registered Democrat and had not yet held elected political office.
Point is, Sarah’s got plenty of time.
As if that isn’t absurd enough, for good measure Bauer concludes by comparing Palin to Ronald Reagan:
[L]ike the Gipper, Palin has a charisma that has energized millions of Americans and thoroughly frightened the Left. During his decades-long political ascendance Reagan was often dismissed as the “amiable dunce” and a political lightweight. And we know how that ended.
Frankly, I’d take Bauer’s prognostications a little more seriously had he not been the sole member of the Religious Right to endrose John McCain over George W. Bush back in 2000 as “the best shot we have to end the era of Bill and Hillary and Al Gore” in a move that almost destroyed his career.
