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Born at the Crest of the Empire

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Rehabbing Sarah Palin's image

Sarah Palin is scheduled to give a "major policy speech" tomorrow on special needs children. (How does that get a bad review?) She's also loosely scheduled for another "major speech" on energy policy next week.

Since I asked a couple days ago, there have been some floating rumors about whether Palin might be trying to rehab her image and separate herself from the loss.

So, the question is, are the McCain folks trying to rehab Palin for their interests, or is she pushing the image rehab for her own interests?

(Oh, I forgot to mention that Palin is also giving a Troopergate deposition Friday, so, it's also about winning her newscycle.)

5 Comments:

  • I'm pretty sure there's a thought bubble floating over her head, and inside it, '2012'...

    By Blogger r8r, at 11:32 PM  

  • You betcha.

    The political interplay between her interests and his must be interesting. It's pretty much his chosen staff that's running her.

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 6:06 AM  

  • See, I think no one's "running her." Sure they're trying to run her, and at times she may even take their advise. But it's clear to me, anyway, that this is a person so fill with unbridled (and unjustified) self-confidence and personal ambition that she's running herself half the time.

    There's a shadow Palin campaign going on that is using McCain merely as a foot stool to the national stage.

    And as far as 2012... Well, 2008 may be a generational shift in American political identity. That is, a renewal of the pragmatic social conscience and end (temporary) end to the Government = Bad. The Dems have a chance here... Let's hope they don't blow it.

    By Blogger -epm, at 8:54 AM  

  • It's always an uphill climb to recreate your image. McCain spent several months transforming from the 2000 Maverick model to McCain 2.0, and the base still has a hard time buying it to this day.

    Palin has less of a history, though, and those outside the Republican base are a bit more open to people changing. Still, the fundamental contradiction exists: the things that make her popular with the Republican base are precisely the things that make her loathed and feared by those outside it.

    Ultimately, Palin really is just a cheerleader. She rattles off talking points with no real understanding of the deeper implications. While a lot of people like cheerleaders, how many would want a cheerleader to be a coach or offensive co-ordinator of a team?

    She has a bright future as a media figure in the Republican establishment, with the ability to make or break people in the Party, but she has no prospect of national political office after what the nation has seen.

    Having said that, I will also point out that those remaining in the GOP after this election are likely to be the most deaf and stupid of the lot, so the Party might be dumb enough to try and run with Palin.

    By Blogger Todd Dugdale , at 9:02 AM  

  • EPM, I think she's a free agent now. I think she came in and listened to them and then saw her image smashed open, so now she's running her side. She's well aware of how this affects he future ambitions.

    The one thing is, for her to rehab her image, she'll have to win back the educated and literate side of the GOP. She could do that, but it'd be hard.

    .....

    Todd, Gore is the very best model for this. She's got to find some political non- religious right issue (maybe energy, although that will look way different in a few years.)

    She sells her family life and wink wink to the evangelicals and tries to find something, anything that might make her credible beyond that.

    So, maybe we should view these "major speeches" as potential launching points.

    (And she could always go to Fox, but, unlike Huckabee, I think alot of airtime to fill with her talking probably isn't her best route to respectability.)

    And, their civil war is just beginning, and she will be something of a standard bearer for that side.

    (Could the Dems peel off economic moderates? Who is running and framing their economic policy? Obama? Reid? Pelosi?)

    By Blogger mikevotes, at 11:06 AM  

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