Posted by
Patrick S. Adams on Wednesday, July 08, 2009 5:05:15 PM
Days after resignation, support grows despite left's depiction of her as "quitter"
This analyst was peering over the side of the boat to see how many were jumping off. Surprisingly, there were more trying to get on instead!
The internet is aflame with support for Sarah Palin after announcing her resignation on Friday July 3, 2009.
"Following her resignation on July 3rd, activity in the blogosphere spiked dramatically, as did positive posts on the topic of Palin," Paul Bedard reports in
US News & World Report. "The past five days has shown a significant increase in positive buzz on the Governor, coming in at 69% Positive and 31% Negative."
GOP rank and file seem to be handling it very well, also.
"Forty percent
(40%) of GOP voters nationally believe Palin has hurt her chances of winning the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 by resigning as governor of Alaska. Twenty-four percent (24%) say the resignation helps her chances, and 28% say it will have no impact on the race," according to
Rasmussen Reports. That's a net 52% who think she's going to be fine. Even moreso, "Seventy-six percent (76%) of Republican voters have a favorable opinion of Palin, even after her decision to resign as governor of Alaska, with 45% whose view of her is very favorable."
Hot Air proclaims
There’s No One Else Like Sarah Palin: "Politics is all about possibilities, not certainties. Even those who feel skeptical about Palin’s chances after Friday afternoon must conclude, from the passionate reaction of the public, that an awful lot of people are very interested in voting for someone like Sarah Palin… and there
is no one else like Sarah Palin."
Sarah Palin is hot, and I'm not talking about her looks. By freeing herself from the "dog pen" that the Alaska Governor's office has become, she is demonstrating a viability totally unexpected by any political analyst, supporter or detractor. This analyst himself is simply stunned at the reaction.
Palin's latest tweets demonstrate the thoughts of a woman unencumbered by her title:
Today,try this: "Act in accordance to your conscience -risk- by pursuing larger vision in opposition to popular, powerful pressure"-unknown
about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry
Couple of thoughts for the day on beautiful bright AK morn:"You have to sacrifice to win. That's my philosophy in 6 words."- George Allen. &
about 2 hours ago from TwitterBerry
...NO ONE can measure DC's 1st attempt @ growing debt to "fix" prob. AK seeks development, industry, jobs for econ recovery vs growing govt
about 3 hours ago from TwitterBerry
Talk in DC of a 2nd "Stimulus" Pkg: Impacts on AK? We'd be partaking in even more Big Govt largess & immoral natl debt accumulation when...
about 3 hours ago from TwitterBerry
As a pitbull in a cage being taunted by the left as they poked her with sticks, she was limited in how she could respond. But now that she has broken free from the cage, she is running wild and free. And the public is emphatically showing they like it better this way.
(UPDATE)
"I can't fight for what's right when I'm shackled to the governor's seat," Palin said. For the last seven months the governor's office has been a ward. A trap. She is breaking free.
(end UPDATE)
However, when it comes to the point that a person who is attempting to do her best in the position she was elected to do cannot do so, and when the cost in time and money to the individual and to the state to defend against allegations, becomes the prudent thing to do to step away.
I think it was an unselfish move to have chosen to step away from the office of governor and I believe that it was a matter of analyzing the ability to continue to be effective and judging that with the onslaught of attacks of every move and concluding that it was time to step aside.
Sarah Palin's following is growing on both Twitter and Facebook. The number of favorable articles and blogs are outnumbering negative ones.
"The numbers are staggering the amount of support is being shown for Sarah," one Team Sarah member wrote. "Yet, not one word of this has hit the mainstream media."
"Sarah Palin's resignation as Governor of Alaska is a brilliant liberating move for her career, and a potential turning point for the national conservative movement," Peter Ferrara writes on FoxNews.com.
Even media outlets hostile to Palin are painting a guardedly positive picture, although they still cling to the notion of counting her out for 2012. CNN's Ed Hornick writes:
"She was never going to be president of the United States. But who's got all the sway in the Republican Party right now? It's the political pundits; it's the talk show hosts; it's the people who are not responsible to an electorate," (John Ridley of National Public Radio) told CNN's Campbell Brown. "I would not be surprised if around 2011 people are circling around Sarah Palin, saying, 'please, anoint us for the road to the White House.' She's never going to be president but possibly a kingmaker."
While still in denial about the ultimate possible outcome, skeptics and critics are beginning to face the reality that she is far from dead as they originally thought on Friday.
She’s supposed to be dead according to all standard forms of intellectual and political thought. But the reality is she’s more viable than ever. In fact, she’s getting the most positive coverage she’s gotten since the 2008 RNC Convention speech.
Larry Sabato, however, seems to be one of the few who missed the boat on this with his inside the box, slide rule, crystal ball, formulaic political scientist approach. “Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said Palin is political toast,” according to FoxNews.com.
Only time will tell if Sarah Palin can win the Republican nomination in 2012. But it's plain to see that the control over whether that happens has shifted from the left wing media and the Republican elites to Sarah Palin herself who can now exercise that control by having her message and image go straight to the public, unfiltered in the new media.
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