FOX News on Palin not knowing Africa was a continent etc.: Is this the GOP "innoculating"

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

itself against any further involvement of Palin in national politics? Amputating the limb before the cancer or infection can spread any further?

The part of the GOP that has half a brain and actually cares about winning elections like the one we just had, that is...

It seems there are two main ways to go with Palin:

1 - try and complete the lipstick-on-a-Pygmalion thing by 2012, maybe U.S. Senate Foreign Policy Finishing School etc. ("I think she's got it!")

2 - End her career right here before she can tarnish the GOP brand even further.

Seems like the FOX News and Limbaugh types are thinking option one (to listen to FOX and Friends etc., there seems to be a consensus that Palin was actually the BEST thing to happen in the McCain campaign), but these new revelations seem to me someone implementing plan 2.

But then again it could be McCain staffers who want to continue to have careers running campaigns trying to throw the lion's share of blame onto Palin to diminish their own responsibility for McCain's loss.

McCain is clearly done and not going to run for shit, I'd be very surprised if he ran for re-election to the Senate at this point, so trashing Palin doesn't do anything to help McCain's future presidential aspirations, it's a non-issue. If it's not 1 or 2, it's just staffers trying to preserve their own careers.

[TheWraith]

1. Yes, it is. The party bosses know Palin is a disaster waiting to happen for the party...

She's Bush 2.0, and if she parlays her popularity with the base into being a national force she'll be a drag on the entirity of Republican politics, including probably a disasterous White House run.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. Yes, I see a Palin 2012 run as disastrous for the GOP, a lose/lose no matter the outcome.

If she won the nomination, independents and moderates would run away from the GOP even worse than this year.

If she lost the nomination to a Romney or Pawlenty or Crist (or whoever), then the "NO MORE HOO-SAYN" knuckle draggers will sit home and sulk.

The country's first impression of her is awful and going to be virtually impossible to "rehabilitate". We've seen her. We see her for what she is, the country sees her for what she is. She's a pinhead.

[spindrifter]

2. Some view this as efforts by people who

see Romney as the next best thing for their party. Palin didn't do herself any favors with her comments to the press this afternoon. She made herself look pretty snarky and totally unequipped for speaking to people who have different viewpoints from her own. Can you see her returning from some G-whatever conference saying "Oh they were just a bunch of jerks."

[Arctic Dave]

3. At best I see Palin being used a propaganda tool

to fleece money from the religowacko sect of the repug party. I doubt she ever becomes a leading figure for them in the future.

[ZoltarSpeaks]

5. And then there is this poll

It says that 64% of Republicans want Palin to run for president in 2012.
:wtf:



http://thinkprogress.org/2008/11/07/palin-2012-poll/

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

6. Oh I don't doubt those numbers at all. But 2/3 of Republicans will win 0 national elections.

[Warren DeMontague]

8. Because she IS the base. She wants to outlaw all abortion, she's a creationist,

she doesn't know- or CARE- about anything resembling "facts" or "information".

Of course they love her. She's perfect for 'em.

[TheWraith]

10. And unlike Bush, she's a true believer.

Bush pushed that nonsense because he had to to get elected, but at heart he's the same half-assed frat boy he always was, who cared more about being a big man than pushing an agenda. That stuff was really carried on by his underlings. In a way, Palin is even more Bush-like than Bush is.

[Tutonic]

7. Why is Roger Ailes floating these ridiculous stories about Palin?

Does anyone smarter than a fifth grader believe that she did not know that Africa was a continent? The MSM will ingest a bowl of rat poison if some corporate boss says it's a tasty treat. Don't fall for this nonsense. There is a war going on in the Republican Party. The Dems need to support this crazy nutty lady. It is in our best interest to see her ascend to the top--a complete moron--that has already been rejected by most Americans. Let her bury that party. Feed her more rope but don't allow Ailes and Roger Stone to manage the story.

[Marsala]

9. It's bitter ex-staffers trying to protect their own reps

We should stop trying to tie everything into grand patterns. This is just typical circular firing squad spite. Maybe it's Romney infiltrators trying to kneecap the competition, but I consider even that far-fetched.

Fox is airing it because Palin controversy = ratings, and ratings trump even the noble cause of conservatism.