Ron Paul's legacy is behind Sarh Palin's selection
Sean Scallon
September 12, 2008
As Ron Paul´s supporters gather in the Twin Cities for their own "shadow" convention in Minneapolis right next to the GOP gathering in St. Paul, they can pat themselves on the back for the legacy they will leave behind in Sarah Palin.
Alaska governor probably would not have been chosen as John McCain´s running mate had Ron Paul decided not to run.
You may think that´s a stretch and you may think I´m just another Paulian drinking kool-aid. But if you understand the cause and effect and action/reaction modes of politics, you´ll see Ron Paul´s hand in choosing Palin as much as Karl Rove´s.
In fact both hands clasp together.
If Paul doesn´t run and the Ron Paul Revolution doesn´t take off with a big blimp in the sky and money bombs raising $35 million for his campaign, then Bob Barr probably doesn´t run for the Libertarian Party nomination either. There would be no point in it. But Paul´s stirring up of libertarian forces encourages Barr that he may well benefit from all these new found activists who worked on the Paul campaign and the new ways of raising money. The LP nomination for President is no longer a joke; it´s a prize worth having.
Barr used his stature as a former Congressman to help win the Libertarian nomination and it´s that stature that helped him rise in some polls to 10% in certain states. Even if he´s not that high, he´s still greater the margin of difference between McCain and Barak Obama.
Noticing this at the same time is Karl Rove. Now while Rove is not officially with the McCain campaign his former staffers are, and they certainly take his phone calls if he has advice to give.
He notices that Barr could cost McCain several states, especially out West and especially in the state of Alaska, which the Dems' have not carried since 1964. Obama is running a serious campaign way up there. No one in the GOP is excited about McCain and the state´s GOP is bogged down with corruption scandals against its two leading politicians, Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young.
But Rove also notices Alaska´s governor, Sarah Palin. She´s a maverick too, just like McCain. She´s fought against the corruption in her state. She´s heavily pro-life. She´s also smoked pot before. She has a family but also has libertarian leanings. She once spoke at the Alaska Independence Party convention and at LP gatherings in the state. She once worked for Buchanan and said nice things about Ron Paul this past winter.
In short, she´s everything an establishment Republican wouldn´t like but everything a grassroots conservative/Ron Paul/ libertarian/paleo would like. And this is the segment of the party that´s most suspicious of McCain and the least likely to support him.
So what better way to energize the base, divide the libertarians and paleos and give McCain the maverick labels he so desperately wants in a change election against Barak Obama?
McCain wanted to run with Joe Lieberman but Karl Rove was too smart to let that happen. He knew such a choice would tear the GOP apart. So he told Joe to step aside and told his staff to play up Palin.
And now she´s on the ticket.
Say what you want about Rove but he´s no fool and he knows Ron Paul well given all his time spent in Texas. He knows well what he brings to the table and most importantly, what he can take away.
In fact, his strategy is already working. There are some paleos and libertarians who are now supporting McCain because of the Palin choice. They wishfully think that McCain will either croak in between now and 2012 or serve only one term and push the door open for Palin.
But some of us are not that gullible.
Yes, it´s a shrewd pick (as Paul said) at least for now. But Palin´s lack of experience in foreign and national policy means she´s not going to play much of a roll in setting policy in a McCain Administration, compared to the influence Joe Biden will wield in an Obama Administration. She´s basically going to be the pretty face in an administration filled with some very ugly men. And while she´s attending some homemaker association convention, these men will be plotting the bomb runs over the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
Sarah Palin has a lot of admirable qualities and more multi-dimensional and dynamic politician than most Republicans are these days. She´s something of a cross between a Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul Republican. But Sarah Palin would not be on this ticket if she did not support an interventionist foreign policy. She may not be a committed neocon (assuming she knows what the term means) but that doesn´t means she´s a full-bore paleo either even if she did support Pat Buchanan (a fact she´s going around trying to deny ala Rev. Wright). She´ll be a loyal supporter of the administration as any vice-president would be. It´s sad to see such a promising up and coming politician be trapped like this, either validating the neocons´ foreign policy or going down with the ship and hurting her career on top of it (losing vice-presidential candidates rarely get nominated for President). And she could hurt herself more if she´s not ready for her up close and personal moment on the national stage. If it´s too much too soon for someone´s who´s only been Alaska´s governor for two years, we´ll know shortly.
I´m sorry but I´m not going to give the neocons carte blanche because Sarah Palin is on the ticket. We vote for President, not Vice-President.
But it´s sure is nice to be noticed and for that, Paul supporters can pat themselves on the back for the change that has taken place, however incremental.
Alaska governor probably would not have been chosen as John McCain´s running mate had Ron Paul decided not to run.
You may think that´s a stretch and you may think I´m just another Paulian drinking kool-aid. But if you understand the cause and effect and action/reaction modes of politics, you´ll see Ron Paul´s hand in choosing Palin as much as Karl Rove´s.
In fact both hands clasp together.
If Paul doesn´t run and the Ron Paul Revolution doesn´t take off with a big blimp in the sky and money bombs raising $35 million for his campaign, then Bob Barr probably doesn´t run for the Libertarian Party nomination either. There would be no point in it. But Paul´s stirring up of libertarian forces encourages Barr that he may well benefit from all these new found activists who worked on the Paul campaign and the new ways of raising money. The LP nomination for President is no longer a joke; it´s a prize worth having.
Barr used his stature as a former Congressman to help win the Libertarian nomination and it´s that stature that helped him rise in some polls to 10% in certain states. Even if he´s not that high, he´s still greater the margin of difference between McCain and Barak Obama.
Noticing this at the same time is Karl Rove. Now while Rove is not officially with the McCain campaign his former staffers are, and they certainly take his phone calls if he has advice to give.
He notices that Barr could cost McCain several states, especially out West and especially in the state of Alaska, which the Dems' have not carried since 1964. Obama is running a serious campaign way up there. No one in the GOP is excited about McCain and the state´s GOP is bogged down with corruption scandals against its two leading politicians, Sen. Ted Stevens and Rep. Don Young.
But Rove also notices Alaska´s governor, Sarah Palin. She´s a maverick too, just like McCain. She´s fought against the corruption in her state. She´s heavily pro-life. She´s also smoked pot before. She has a family but also has libertarian leanings. She once spoke at the Alaska Independence Party convention and at LP gatherings in the state. She once worked for Buchanan and said nice things about Ron Paul this past winter.
In short, she´s everything an establishment Republican wouldn´t like but everything a grassroots conservative/Ron Paul/ libertarian/paleo would like. And this is the segment of the party that´s most suspicious of McCain and the least likely to support him.
So what better way to energize the base, divide the libertarians and paleos and give McCain the maverick labels he so desperately wants in a change election against Barak Obama?
McCain wanted to run with Joe Lieberman but Karl Rove was too smart to let that happen. He knew such a choice would tear the GOP apart. So he told Joe to step aside and told his staff to play up Palin.
And now she´s on the ticket.
Say what you want about Rove but he´s no fool and he knows Ron Paul well given all his time spent in Texas. He knows well what he brings to the table and most importantly, what he can take away.
In fact, his strategy is already working. There are some paleos and libertarians who are now supporting McCain because of the Palin choice. They wishfully think that McCain will either croak in between now and 2012 or serve only one term and push the door open for Palin.
But some of us are not that gullible.
Yes, it´s a shrewd pick (as Paul said) at least for now. But Palin´s lack of experience in foreign and national policy means she´s not going to play much of a roll in setting policy in a McCain Administration, compared to the influence Joe Biden will wield in an Obama Administration. She´s basically going to be the pretty face in an administration filled with some very ugly men. And while she´s attending some homemaker association convention, these men will be plotting the bomb runs over the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.
Sarah Palin has a lot of admirable qualities and more multi-dimensional and dynamic politician than most Republicans are these days. She´s something of a cross between a Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul Republican. But Sarah Palin would not be on this ticket if she did not support an interventionist foreign policy. She may not be a committed neocon (assuming she knows what the term means) but that doesn´t means she´s a full-bore paleo either even if she did support Pat Buchanan (a fact she´s going around trying to deny ala Rev. Wright). She´ll be a loyal supporter of the administration as any vice-president would be. It´s sad to see such a promising up and coming politician be trapped like this, either validating the neocons´ foreign policy or going down with the ship and hurting her career on top of it (losing vice-presidential candidates rarely get nominated for President). And she could hurt herself more if she´s not ready for her up close and personal moment on the national stage. If it´s too much too soon for someone´s who´s only been Alaska´s governor for two years, we´ll know shortly.
I´m sorry but I´m not going to give the neocons carte blanche because Sarah Palin is on the ticket. We vote for President, not Vice-President.
But it´s sure is nice to be noticed and for that, Paul supporters can pat themselves on the back for the change that has taken place, however incremental.