Posts Tagged ‘palin’

Mitt Romney learning from 2008

Posted: March 31, 2011 by datechguy in elections, politics, primaries 2012
Tags: , , , ,

One of the most important things a pol can do is to learn from mistakes.

The key reason why John McCain managed to win the nomination was the division among those who opposed him. McCain was clearly one of the least popular candidates among conservatives but the division of the conservative vote allowed John McCain to win with small relative percentages of the GOP vote.

Whatever Mitt’s faults on the leadership front on the brains and strategy front he is certainly first rate. I suspect he identified early the dynamics that would hurt him most:

1. Sarah Palin is the single biggest threat to his nomination in terms of a candidate

2. Romneycare is the biggest threat in terms of a policy

3. There are still plenty of people who consider Mormonism a cult who would vote against him in primary states

He also identified one huge benefit:

The establishment GOP hates and fears any Palin-like candidate and likes him.

So how do you manage to use these facts in your favor? Easy:

1. Use the MSM to neutralize Palin: Romney knows that he will need Palin supporters to defeat Obama in 2012, thus he can’t attack Palin directly thus he has used GOP proxies who are ostensibly not connected to him to do so. The media who hates Palin even more than GOP insiders are happy and thrilled to promote them any chance they get. Thus you get the narratives concerning Palin established while not dirtying your hands. The best example is the silence on her India trip while her mispronouncing of “skirmish” was news.

2. Support the Ringers: One of the oldest tactics in politics is to run a “ringer” to siphon off votes from an opponent. Right now if you look at the people running or “exploring” running you see quite a few strongly conservative folks. Herman Cain, Michelle Bachmann, Newt, perhaps Huckabee, Haley Barbour and of course possibly Palin. All are popular with tea party people, evangelicals and social conservatives. For Mitt Romney to win the nomination that strongly conservative tea party vote needs to be divided. With enough strong conservatives in the race the primary vote will be divided. There is always a danger that one of these people will “break out” (Herman Cain in particular is a danger to do so as I’ve not found a conservative or tea party person who dislikes him) and become a really big threat, but as long as that doesn’t happen it’s in Romney’s interest to keep the smaller or regional candidates in the game since very few of the votes they will siphon off would be from him

Expect Romney’s biggest donors to be approached to help fund any candidate that he thinks will drain votes early in the primaries. Once that happens and the damage is done, or if any of them get enough momentum to become a threat the spigots will be turned off.

As far as I can see this is the path to the nomination for Mitt since he certainly isn’t busy hitting the administration on its policies. Of course the nomination won’t be enough, he has to actually win the general, so when all is said and done he will have to copy McCain in one other way, picking a strong conservative as a running mate to keep the tea party and conservative wing from leaving in disgust.

GOP vs Palin = Romney, Huck Et/al by proxy

Posted: November 22, 2010 by datechguy in elections, politics
Tags: , ,

There are quite a few bloggers unhappy with various republicans who are hitting Sarah Palin on a regular basis:

This annoys the hell out of me, because I’m not some rabid Palinista. Crap like this from Barbara Bush leaves one no alternative but to respond to it. What, does she have another son, or a grand kid lined up for the job of President? Reagan handed your husband his, despite some misgivings, and he blew it, Barbara…And as for Mona Charen’s, Why Sarah Palin Shouldn’t Run item at Townhall, congrats Mona, you finally found something to write about and make yourself relevant, again.

I’m sure Dan will elaborate more when he visits DaTechGuy on DaRadio on Dec 18th. Sissy Willis who is visiting on Dec 5th said this:

“I think they really hate that she not only is who she is, but she’s happy not to be like them,” twittered Kurt Schlichter earlier this afternoon as we were reading the entrails of the once proud Barbara Bush’s fall from grace in a forthcoming Larry King interview where the wife and mother of two former presidents stoops to give that “force of nature,” Sarah Palin, some ill-advised, unsolicited advice

I think everybody is missing a real important point here as republican after republican hits Sarah Palin and earns the attention and sudden interest of the MSM. What is interesting is not that who is hitting Palin but who is not, namely Republican candidates for president.

And there is a reason for this. The republican candidate who openly attacks Sarah Palin may or may not succeed in stopping her from getting the nomination but there is one thing for sure. It will definitely stop said candidate from getting on the ticket in any way shape or form. Even worse if I am wrong and such a candidate does manage to get on the ticket I can guarantee a conservative third-party that will either replace republicans or at the least cost them republicans elections for decades to come.

None of the current non-Palin people running want this. So what to do?

Proxy Proxy Proxy.

These various republicans are in my opinion working sub rosa for individual candidates. Their job is to make the statements and draw the media’s attention to Sarah Palin’s “failings”. Additionally each person who does this brings yet another series of negative press to the forefront. The hope is something, anything will stick deep enough to wound her come Iowa and New Hampshire.

The hope is that it drives sufficient negatives to keep her from winning primaries so that if another candidate breaks from the pack then they can ask Palin for support while denying any actions against her.

Could work. Likely won’t.

It’s not personal Hippocritico: it’s strictly business

Posted: July 20, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news
Tags: , , , ,

At Big Journalism Hippocritico has this story up about journalistic bias.

He is right about the bias of course but when it comes to Palin, this is the way it is.

If you do a story attacking Palin, you not only energize your leftist base, but we on the right will read it defending her and attacking the piece and big Palin fans will follow every story that mentions her.

On the TV news when they mention Palin eyeballs go to their channel and if they are really lucky they might score the big Coup, being attacked by Rush Limbaugh. If Rush attacks you, you get extra eyeballs.

Remember these guys don’t make their living on news, they make their living on eyeballs. That is the reason why Norah O’Donnell is at that table and Ace of Spades is not (Sorry Ace). That’s not to say Norah can’t do the job, she does it, but I guarantee the demographic rather see her than say…me.

Sarah Palin provides those eyeballs, Rush Limbaugh provides those eyeballs, J. Christian Adams is less likely to do so. Or as this Doctor Who clip illustrates, Mr. Adams, she is prettier than you:

It’s not personal Hippocritico, it’s strictly business, and if the business model supports their bias, so much the better.

A classic example of the traits of Sullivan’s Syndrome aka Bloggers Alzheimer’s

Posted: November 9, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech, opinion/news
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

You might recall in my dissertation on Bloggers Alzheimer’s I said the following:

Like regular Alzheimer patients some brief periods of lucidity may emerge (re Iran) but when exposed to the “external threat” again (re: Palin) the syndrome re-asserts itself. And the patient will often make an object of adoration of any opponent of the external threat.

Andrew proves both points, the first to his credit:

I’ve noticed a few right-of-center blogs complaining of double standards on the left, in the denunciations of extremist rhetoric and imagery of the Tea Party marches. Ed Driscoll has a good point. The extremes of the anti-war left before Iraq were every bit as inflammatory and loopy as the Tea Partiers today. Now, they were opposing a war that turned out to be a catastrophe for all involved, while the Tea Partiers are just opposing the working poor having a chance to buy health insurance. But if Godwin’s Law is the point, many (but not all) on the left currently do not have a leg to stand on.

Full marks to Sullivan for backing up Ed Driscoll and others who have not thrown the left’s marches down the memory hole.

Those brief moments of lucidity are precious to those who deal with Bloggers Alzheimer’s and it is welcome, but when the trigger returns so does the disease:

Some remaining questions: When exactly did Todd find out about the pregnancy? And when did he discover that his son had Down Syndrome? Or were those two pieces of news delivered simultaneously? Why did the Palins make no attempt to prepare their other children for Trig’s special needs when they had so long to do so? Why on earth did Palin believe that the mere fact of her pregnancy would elicit criticism and disdain – “Oh, the criticism that I knew was coming” – when it would obviously actually redound to her credit as a working mom and governor?

I’m taking a risk with this link and quote but I’m an old hand with Sullivan’s syndrome so don’t try this at home, remember the warning:

No current treatment is known for Sullivan’s syndrome but readers are advised to avoid prolonged exposure to the subject as the syndrome can spread to the point where the infected person can become the trigger for the syndrome in others.

So be careful.

Older Entries