July 7, 2009

Palin’s Ship in the Harbor

“A ship in harbor is safe, but that’s not why the ship is built,” Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said last year to explain why Sen. John McCain picked her to be his running mate.

Those words may come back to haunt her. When she assumed office in December 2006, Palin committed to Alaskan voters to serve four years. Having failed to do so, she will be in no position to campaign in 2012 for four years in the White House.

As a presidential candidate, she is dead. As a professional victim on the conservative speaking circuit, however, Palin could be unbeatable. Sadly, Palin has managed to alienate many erstwhile supporters who, when McCain plucked her to be his running mate, cheered at the prospect of a reform-minded, pro-oil drilling, hunt-for-food governor and who proudly mothered a Down syndrome baby – while looking great.

Critics dubbed her “Caribou Barbie.” Such cheap personal shots only made the GOP base love her more. Pundits couldn’t hit Palin for being a working mother, but they could not refrain from repeating that she was a mother of five. A press corps that barely seemed to care that Joe Biden voted in favor of the Iraq War, only to oppose it later, became absorbed with the question as to whether Palin tried to ban books from the local library. (She didn’t.)

Alas, Palin was not without baggage. She couldn’t pass an interview with Katie Couric. She alienated swing voters by referring to rural states as the “real America.”

Some of her baggage was surreal. As Palin noted Friday, political enemies used state ethics laws to raid her family’s assets. “Every one – all of the 15 ethics complaints have been dismissed,” said Palin. According to the Associated Press, all but two of the 15 complaints “have been dismissed with no findings of wrongdoing.”

According to the Anchorage Daily News, Alaskan taxpayers have spent nearly $300,000 investigating those apparently baseless complaints. Palin’s personal legal bills exceeded $500,000, while, as Palin noted Friday, it doesn’t cost her political foes a dime to file complaints “so they’re not going to stop draining public resources.” There also has been no cost for smearing Palin – a hobby that has become so reckless that the FBI announced Monday that Palin is not under investigation on corruption charges.

If Palin simply had announced Friday that she was done with politics because she didn’t want to bankrupt her family defending against baseless charges, you could applaud. But in leaving the door open for a run-up, Palin blew that.

Instead, the rambling remarks served to reinforce the suspicion that Palin was not up to the No. 2 slot. She’s stuck in the victim gear. On the heels of her orgy of indignation over David Letterman’s jokes, there’s too much “poor me.”

Palin’s attorney told CNN Monday that Palin deliberately chose to resign on July 3 as a “declaration of independence from politics as usual.” You would never guess Palin campaigned for the office that she now finds so confining.

“If I’ve learned one thing,” Palin said Friday, “life is about choices.” Good, because in cleaving to the victim role, Palin chose her path. Americans don’t elect victims to the White House.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.