The timing, Part I. Palin's people took down Sarah PAC's Take Back the 20 Web site shortly after the Jan. 8 shootings. It was one of the sources of the infamous graphic targeting Democrats, including Giffords, for their health care reform votes. Negative comments on a Saturday morning post promoting the final episode of "Sarah Palin's Alaska," her Learning Channel series, were quickly deleted. Palin finally issued a short statement offering prayers and condolences shortly after 3 p.m. EST, about three hours after the shootings began and about 20 minutes after Obama's initial statement. Offering a sympathetic statement first, then scrubbing the Web, would have engendered more positive reaction. But that wasn't the only timing issue . . .
The timing, Part II. On Monday or Tuesday, Palin could have had a 24-hour news cycle all to herself. Instead, she released her almost 8-minute video response to the shootings early the morning of the president's Wednesday evening speech. Palin and her people set up a direct comparison with the probable 2012 Democratic nominee, instead of filling the vacuum of an entire news cycle. The comparison didn't work well for Palin, in part because of . . .
The tone. Palin's Facebook note of the video script mentioned Giffords three times and the word "victims" four times. But she never specifically acknowledged the death of U.S. District Judge John Roll (appointed by a GOP president) or 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. Palin did use the world "political" four times, however, as she focused on criticizing "journalists and pundits" and "the mindless finger-pointing." Obama, meanwhile, struck a tone that focused on the victims of the tragedy and how Americans might honor them going forward. Many conservatives praised the president's speech, even Palin's 2008 running mate, Arizona Sen. John McCain in a Washington Post piece Sunday. But you wouldn't have known that if you'd been following some of . . .
The supporters. Talk-show hostess and Palin defender Tammy Bruce kept up a stream of criticism (some would say snark) on Twitter throughout Obama's speech, following up with a blog post summarizing her thoughts, referring to the president as a "classic Malignant Narcissist," among other things. Contrast that with the reaction of conservatives elsewhere and Palin's supporters come off as, well, pretty shrill. Bruce, Mansour and the folks at Conservatives4Palin helped promote the "Blame Palin" meme that trended on Twitter the Tuesday evening following the shootings. Is a prank that not everyone gets really a good joke? Is the aftermath of a shooting rampage in which six people die and 13 others are injured even a time for jokes? Do these people ...
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http://www.politicsdaily.com/2011/01/17/sarah-palins-public-relations-strategy-presidential-or-not/
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