Run, Baby, Run? The Sarah Palin Sideshow—Scottsdale Edition

Run, Baby, Run?

I. The Story​

With the Donald Trump sideshow having stepped aside, perhaps it is only natural in a field including Newt Gingrich, and possibly drawing such talent as Rep. Michele Bachmann, that folks might wonder why they haven't heard much of Sarah Palin's name lately. And with a setup like that, one need not guess that maybe, just maybe, we'll be hearing a lot more of it in days to come. The former Alaska governor is showing signs of committing to the 2012 presidential speaking tour:

Shortly after Republicans swept last November to a historic victory in which Sarah Palin was credited with playing a central role, the former Alaska governor pulled aside her close aide, Rebecca Mansour, to discuss a hush-hush assignment: Reach out to conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon with a request. Ask him if he would make a series of videos extolling Palin's governorship and laying to rest lingering questions about her controversial decision to resign from office with a year-and-a-half left in her first term. It was this abdication, Palin knew, that had made her damaged goods in the eyes of some Republicans who once were eager to get behind her potential 2012 presidential campaign.

The response was more positive than Palin could have hoped for. He'd make a feature-length movie, Bannon told Mansour, and he insisted upon taking complete control and financing it himself -- to the tune of $1 million.

The fruits of that initial conversation are now complete. The result is a two-hour-long, sweeping epic, a rough cut of which Bannon screened privately for Sarah and Todd Palin last Wednesday in Arizona, where Alaska's most famous couple has been rumored to have purchased a new home. When it premieres in Iowa next month, the film is poised to serve as a galvanizing prelude to Palin's prospective presidential campaign -- an unconventional reintroduction to the nation that she and her political team have spent months eagerly anticipating, even as Beltway Republicans have largely concluded that she won't run.

(Conroy)​

Strangely, the biggest news in those paragraphs is that Alaska's former interim favorite daughter is moving to Arizona.

Calling for a "good old-fashioned brouhaha", director Bannon—a former Goldman Sachs banker and director of Generation Zero, a documentary extolling the tea party movement—is hoping to recast Palin, who resigned her job in pursuit of a twelve-million dollar income from book sales and television gigs, like Ronald Reagan in 1976, a relentless crusader against the cruel establishment that is America ... er ... I mean ... that is ... uh ... right.

The cruel establishment that is America not run by bankers, theologians, and other institutionalists.

I don't know. It's kind of a hard point to unravel. I'll have to give it a few revisions.

The point being, of course, that the newly-relocaged Palin will premiere the film in Iowa, and in time for the Ames Straw Poll. Meanwhile, as the Palins move to their $1.7 million house in Scottsdale, Arizona, the former Alaska governor seems to be preparing for a White House run:

Sarah Palin is fortifying her small staff of advisers, buying a house in Arizona — where associates have said she could base a national campaign — and reviving her schedule of public appearances. The moves are the most concrete signals yet that Ms. Palin, the former governor of Alaska, is seriously weighing a Republican presidential bid.

While it is by no means clear that she would be willing to give up her lucrative speaking career and her perch as an analyst on Fox News to face the scrutiny and combat that would come with her entrance into the race, she is being pressed by supporters for a decision and has acknowledged that time is running out ....

.... Ms. Palin has reshuffled her staff, rehiring two aides who have helped plan her political events. And she is expected to resume a schedule of public appearances soon — perhaps as early as this weekend — to raise her profile at a moment when the Republican presidential field appears to be taking final form.

The drumbeat intensified on Tuesday night when the conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon was quoted on RealClearPolitics, a political news site, as saying that he was releasing a feature film he made with Ms. Palin’s acquiescence about her tenure as governor of Alaska. The film is to be shown next month in Iowa, whose caucuses open the nominating contest.

Taken together, the moves are at odds with conventional wisdom — if not wishful thinking — among establishment Republicans in Washington that Ms. Palin has decided not to run. That thinking has been voiced increasingly as the party’s professional political class, which Ms. Palin has railed against, has sought to declare the field of candidates closed.

(Rutenberg and Zeleny)​

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

There goes the neighborhood? Sarah and Todd Palin reportedly purchased this Scottsdale, Arizona home through a shell company.​

Palin supporters are excited. Jeff Jorgensen, chairman of the Pottawattamie County, Iowa Republican Party noted that Sarah Palin placed second in a poll last week. "All indications are that she will be in," Jorgensen told reporters. "People are looking for somebody, a Ronald Reagan reincarnate, who does not seem to be out there yet."

Palin aides, asked about her intentions, have pointed instead to various recent television appearances. Palin told FOX News' Sean Hannity that she wants to ensure "that we have a candidate our there with Tea Party principles". And she told FOX Business Network, "We have got to have faith that the Republican Party is going to surface somebody who can take on both sides of the aisle." And while she expressed concerns about the sacrifices her children might have to make, Palin declared, "I have that fire in my belly."

II. Perspective​

I think one of the reasons American politics are so sharply expressed has something to do with the fact that we just don't like explaining ourselves. To wit, what can I tell people? It is not helpful to presume my American neighbors so stupid, but neither is it wise to preclude any possible outcome. One might think Palin, having embarrassed herself so spectacularly in 2008, and having abandoned the responsibilities she asked for as Alaska governor, would at least be smart enough to recognize the folly of a White House run. Her negative numbers are problematic, at fifty-eight percent earlier this month. More viewers will tune into her campaign than voters will commit; while this is expected as a natural phenomenon, the problem is that much of that surge will be rubbernecking—gawking at a disaster occurring in slow motion. Perhaps Palin is much like Donald Trump, one for whom there is no such thing as bad press. And while this works to some degree for Hollywood starlets or pop musicians, it's not necessarily the same when campaigning for an office about which people prescribe some amorphous pretense of dignity.

Naturally, one might wonder, "Really? Seriously? She might run? Why?"

And the internal back and forth goes on. This can't possibly go well. But who are we to second-guess? Is this just a long-term revenue stunt, a gamble on speaking fees and future ghostwritten memoirs? If so, aren't there better ways? After all, the word "whore" comes to mind, even if it is in the context of "media whore", which seems a prerequisite for American politics these days, anyway, but still, is it sexist to call her a whore?

And so on.

Until one just shrugs and mutters, "Fucking bitch."

And since that is a rude way of putting it, a lot of people are simply going to shrug, pop up a bowl o'corn, and settle in for a genuinely wallpaper-shredding comedy that ought to last until the former Alaska governor has had enough. They're too morally sensitive to genuinely and honestly hate her, so they'll kick back and enjoy the self-destructive spectacle of Palinhood.

There is a point at which, if one is determined to hurt herself, Americans will simply step back and let her have at it.

Of course, there is also the chance that in her brief respite from the spotlight while Donald Trump supplanted Rep. Bachmann as the nation's best-recognized Birther, Sarah Palin has suddenly transformed herself into the serious and intelligent political candidate she loathes, but needs to become in order to win nationwide.

Still, though, I managed to get caught by surprise with the RCP and NYT articles; somehow, I had convinced myself that Sarah Palin was at least smart enough to not pursue the 2012 GOP nomination.

The only real question, I suppose, is how much time I want to spend trying to figure it out.
____________________

Notes:

Conroy, Scott. "Palin's Secret Weapon: New Film to Premiere in June". Real Clear Politics. May 25, 2011. RealClearPolitics.com. May 25, 2011. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ar...apon_new_film_to_premiere_in_june_109949.html

Rutenberg, Jim and Jeff Zeleny. "Signs Grow That Palin May Run". The New York Times. May 26, 2011; page A1. NYTimes.com. May 25, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/26/us/politics/26campaign.html

Nowicki, Dan. "Big Republican names hindered by negative poll results". The Arizona Republic. May 15, 2011. AZCentral.com. May 25, 2011. http://www.azcentral.com/news/artic...residential-contenders-negative-reaction.html

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Oh please, oh please god, let Palin run. I don't think she will, but the Republican lineup is looking pretty weak. In her chipmunk-like brain, she could be thinking she has a chance.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

I really do hate the thought that we will have to do this again and even more I hate that she's moving to Arizona.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide all adverts.

Palin has to make the same decision Huckabee made...money versus ego. Huckabee came down on the money side of the fence. I think Sarah is more of an ego driven personality. And Sarah is a much more marketable commodity. So I would be suprised not to see her run. I think those in her inner circle (Todd) would love the power an prestige the White House would bring to them.

Palin is an ambitious competitior. I would not be suprised to see her run as a third party candidate should she not win the Republican nomination. If she runs, she would make a great spectacle. That is her style. But she suffers from the same problems plaguing her fellow conservatives...namely they were once for the very same things they are now against.

 

If she runs and wins I'm moving to Canada.

 

Spidey you have learned to pray . I am proud of you son . I might let her run . She is extremely infatuated by Me you know . Yeah when she came to Missoula she told everybody about my cosmic calculus. Fuck if I know how she new about it . I think she stalks me

 

don't worry even if she did win you'd only have to put up with her for 18 months ;-)

 

Mama Grizzly's On a Roll

Roll of the Thunder, Hear Her Cry?

What is a day of paying attention to Sarah Palin without at least one head-scratcher coming up? To start with Dan Balz of The Washington Post:

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (R), who has been largely out of the public eye through much of the spring, will reemerge beginning Sunday as she kicks off an East Coast tour that will put her back in the spotlight and no doubt fuel renewed speculation about a possible presidential campaign in 2012.

“Starting this weekend, Sarah Palin will embark on a one-nation tour of historical sites that were key to the formation, survival and growth of the United States of America,” according to a statement from her political action committee. “The tour will originate in Washington, D.C., and proceed north up the East Coast. More information will follow.”

Palin advisers declined to provide details of the itinerary or engage questions about whether Palin’s public appearances were a precursor to a genuine exploration of a presidential campaign. Asked why she was doing the tour, Tim Crawford, the treasurer of Palin’s PAC, said, “Because she wants to see how this nation was built and get fired up about that.”

The announcement of the Palin tour coincides with news, first reported in Real Clear Politics, that a full-length documentary by conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon charting her political rise in Alaska will debut in Iowa next month, with plans to also show it in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Also this week came unconfirmed reports, first appearing in the Arizona Republic, that she and husband Todd have purchased a $1.7 million home in Scottsdale, Ariz., which would be a more convenient location from which to base a national campaign than Alaska.​

In other words, Sarah Palin is hitting the road, which is just another sign that she is preparing a White House run.

Meanwhile, Sheila Marikar of ABC News offers this tidbit:

Called the One Nation Tour, a post on the website of Palin's political action committee said the former governor of Alaska and her bus will visit “historical sites that were key to the formation, survival, and growth of the United States of America.”

Its goal, according to a message on the SarahPAC site, is “to educate and energize Americans about our nation's founding principles, in order to promote the Fundamental Restoration of America.”

The bus boasts a triumphant One Nation Tour logo (a drawing of the Liberty Bell sits in place of the “a” in nation), a rendition of the constitution, Palin’s signature and a quintessential American landscape. It’s visually stunning.

Fox News first reported the news on Friday. Host Greta Van Susteren wrote on her blog that the tour “will be in connection with the Rolling Thunder festivities in DC this Memorial Day weekend, either starting or ending with the festivities at Rolling Thunder.”​

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

One Nation? Sarah Palin's search for the "real" America?​

Still, though, Sarah Palin is not without controversy; missing from Marikar's story, apparently having been edited out, is the following gem:

Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!

Say What? Is she, or isn't she?​

ABC News reported in an earlier version of the story that the Rolling Thunder organization was unaware that Palin would ride with them, but it is unclear what is up with that point.

To the one, we might recall Palin took heat last year for alleged improper use of interview footage in her television series, so it wouldn't be the first time someone didn't know they were part of the Palin machine. To the other, the point has disappeared from the ABC News entry.

Is it worth tracking down? Or will the question answer itself shortly enough, only to be forgotten shortly thereafter?

Meanwhile, the story seems to be that "Mama Grizzly" is rolling.
____________________

Notes:

Balz, Dan. "Palin readies East Coast tour amid presidential speculation". Post Politics. May 26, 2011. WashingtonPost.com. May 26, 2011. http://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...al-speculation/2011/05/26/AGGhZ5BH_story.html

Marikar, Sheila. "Sarah Palin to Launch Multi-State Bus Tour As She Contemplates Presidential Bid". The Note. May 26, 2011. Blogs.ABCNews.com. May 26, 2011. http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/20...aunch-bus-tour-ride-with-rolling-thunder.html

 

What are you going to see in a bus? She should take a Harley.

 

She would not have room for any moose she might shoot on her campaign trail if she rode a Harley, though!

 

I am baffled and repulsed at the same time concerning a Sarah Palin run for the Presidency. She is so vapid, you could scratch at her surface and find nothing but more surface through and through. That she appeals to anyone other than the most naive adolescents saddens me, yet having said this I do not think she is a viable candidate. She will do more good for the Repubs by being a vapid cheerleader because she has no substance whatsoever!

 

Let the Jokes Begin

Let the Jokes Begin!

Over at The Vote, a Christian Science Monitor political blog, staff writer Peter Grier has responded to the news of Sarah Palin's upcoming bus tour about as we might expect—that is, bad jokes, and lots of them:

The point of the tour will be to "appreciate the significance of our nation's historic sites, patriotic events, and diverse cultures," said the trip announcement.

What Ms. Palin didn't say is exactly where she's going. The map of stops that was posted on the trip's web page was blank. Why the secrecy?

Maybe it's a plan to build attention and publicity for the tour, which comes as speculation about a possible Palin presidential run ramps up. Maybe it's a way to keep the lamestream media from getting ahead of her and doing dangerous unscripted interviews with supporters. Or maybe it's because somebody on her staff knows enough about East Coast holiday traffic to realize that you can't plan where you're going because you may have to take lengthy unscheduled detours.​

And he goes on. Rest stop reality shows, complaining about traffic, a geography joke.

One hypothesis that will probably fall apart rather quickly under scrutiny is that enough people are resigned to the fact of Sarah Palin, regardless of what she actually does, that this is how she will be covered. She has become such a cultural, media, and political icon that you can waste column inches on this sort of crap because it's Sarah Palin, and some dumbass, somewhere, is going to read it because it's Sarah Palin.

And ... er ... um ... oh.

Damn.

Anyway, yeah. There it is.
____________________

Notes:

Grier, Peter. "Sarah Palin bus tour: Why won't she say where she's going?" The Vote. May 26, 2011. CSMonitor.com. May 26, 2011. http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politi...-bus-tour-Why-won-t-she-say-where-she-s-going

 

I don't believe there really is a Sarah Palin. It's just made up by our parents to scare us into voting.

 

Don't ask; I don't know, I haven't written it yet

I'm just glad nobody's made the obvious, repugnant joke about the fire in her belly.

 

I hope they'll deport her.

A man can have his dreams.

 

Be careful what you wish for. Carter was excited when Reagan got the nomination. He thought Reagan was too extreme and, after all, a mere B-movie actor. You know how that ended....

 

I don't ever recall Carter expressing that thought.

 

oh the irony of another wackjob women using the tag "one nation"

Pauline Hanson was such a fruitloop that labor and the libs got together to put her party of nutjobs LAST (which never happens, they put eachother last)

 

Are you intentionally invoking the film Bob Roberts?