Why don’t we just commit ourselves to elect bimbo number 1, Sarah Palin, and bimbo number 2, Christine O’ Donnell, and have them serve as President and Vice-President of the United States respectively? Let’s just say it now, so that all the rednecks who think these dim-wits are ready to represent this nation (notice I said represent, not lead) can sleep well at night. I realize it’s a bit early for this, because Sarah hasn’t yet stated she’s running for the presidency in 2012, and Christine obviously isn’t in the running for the vice-presidential position. Regardless, we as American citizens should just openly speak out in their favor and have them voted in; then the Bible-thumping morons will have their way, and the rest of us can see the end of this great Republic. TGO
Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press
PLUMSTEADVILLE, Pennsylvania (AFP) – As Sarah Palin solidifies her life in the spotlight with her own reality show launching Sunday, speculation has reached fever pitch: will she remain merely a media phenomenon or rise to president of the United States?
The former governor of Alaska burst onto the national stage like a supernova in 2008 when Republican presidential nominee John McCain plucked her to be his running mate.
Despite being mocked during the campaign for her lack of foreign policy experience, she held America’s attention after her election defeat, becoming a celebrity force that now threatens to swamp other candidates.
But as Palin openly flirts with a 2012 White House bid to oust a slumping President Barack Obama and become the first female commander in chief, many observers stress she could remain one of the country’s most influential — if polarizing — conservatives, even if she never runs.
“She has a very powerful role to play,” Michael Franc, vice president for government relations at the conservative Heritage Foundation think-tank, told AFP.
“She has something almost no one else in this country has right now: she can drive a national debate with merely a tweet,” he said, referring to Palin’s propensity to fire off commentaries, foreign policy nuggets and mini-critiques of Obama policy on Twitter or Facebook.
“The question everyone is asking is, how will she use it?”
To her advantage, clearly. Palin, 46, commands massive speaking fees, reportedly as high as 100,000 dollars.
She has managed to keep an astonishingly high profile despite avoiding what she calls the “lamestream media.”
Her daughter has pushed her way into American living rooms too. Bristol Palin has been a fixture on the hit show “Dancing with the Stars” for the last several weeks.
The ex-governor’s reality show will complete the human diorama. “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” will feature her family fishing, kayaking, bear-watching and chilling in their tiny hometown of Wasilla.
Her political action committee has reportedly raised more money than all but one of the potential Republican White House contenders.
And several of the upstart Tea Party movement candidates she endorsed romped to victory in last week’s elections, leaving observers convinced she could play kingmaker, anointing whom Republicans choose to challenge Obama.
“The Republicans smell blood in the water and that’s going to push a lot of candidates in,” said political science professor Daniel Shea of Allegheny College.
“She has a very devoted following and would be able to move those voters behind a different candidate.”
Even though she is the poster child for polarized US politics, said Shea, and her prospects would be “slim at best,” he believes she could run.
She has teased several audiences recently about a possible presidential bid.
At a fundraiser this week at a Christian school in Plumsteadville, Pennsylvania, she bounded on stage and asked a young singer: “Would you like to sing that at an inauguration?”
Palin quickly followed that with a qualifying “not necessarily mine,” but most in the audience didn’t hear her — they were too busy roaring their approval.
“She is an up and coming star in the party,” said Gennaro Ciavarelli, a retiree at the rally. “If I could vote a hundred times I would,” he laughed.
Many analysts believe Republican leaders are cringing at the prospect of Palin on the ticket.
“The Washington Republican establishment feels there’s no way in which Sarah Palin could be elected president,” said Christopher Arterton, a professor at George Washington University.
“They are very afraid of her becoming the candidate of the Republican Party because they feel that that would be a sure loser.”
Republican lawmakers, too, are voicing concerns.
“Sarah Palin cost us control of the Senate” in the November 2 election, Representative Spencer Bachus of Alabama asserted, citing her endorsement of candidates seen as too extreme to win.
Senator Susan Collins added that she believed — or hoped — Palin won’t run for president.
“I think she likes being a celebrity commentator for Fox and a speaker and being able to provide for her family,” Collins told the Kennebec Journal in her state of Maine.
“It’s a lot easier to charge people up than to actually govern.”
Palin seems to admit this herself. In a teaser to her show, she states “I would rather be doing this than in some stuffy old political office.”
That irked Karl Rove, former president George W. Bush’s key advisor who is a vital Republican strategist.
“There are high standards that the American people have for it (the presidency) and they require a certain level of gravitas,” Rove said.
Heritage’s Franc agreed that Republicans this time around may be seeking a more experienced candidate to run against Obama.
“They’re going to be looking for someone with a track record of accomplishment,” he said.
But Palin is unlikely to show her hand until at least well into next year, according to Wendy Schiller, political science professor at Brown University.
“No one is as popular as a potential presidential candidate,” she said. “If she bowed out now her star power would diminish.”
