# Palin's political future **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 9, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176 "2008-10-09T16:02:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/81 "2008-10-10T08:50:08Z")
This is why I say she will end up on a news program. She’s got the charisma but she doesn’t have the knowledge she needs to defend her platform. Give her a few years as a pundit somewhere in the lower 48 and she’ll get it. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/82 "2008-10-10T10:19:12Z")
She is going to be the Republican nominee in 2012. McCain benefitted this year because the religious right was not united behind a single candidate in the primaries. Next time out, they will all be behind Palin and they will not be denied. If she somehow loses the nomination, she makes a third party bid on the Cow Moose Party. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/83 "2008-10-10T10:42:38Z")
> [@TWDuke](#): > > “Fool me once… shame on… shame on you… fool me, we can’t get fooled again.” But, as Bush shows, fooling American voters twice is easier than pissing on your shoe. She’ll go back home, claiming some sort of moral victory no matter how badly she and Grandpa McCranky get wiped, win a Senate seat (even a Congressional seat will do) to be able to claim that now she has some national cred, and run as the token rightwing nutjob that America loves. Sometimes this candidate gets the Pubbie nom, no matter how flimsy their record. ---
**Author:** ![Discordia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Discordia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Discordia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/84 "2008-10-10T10:54:38Z")
Since my Google-fu is weak and I’m incredibly lazy I’ll just ask here - when is the troopergate report coming out (what time that is)? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/85 "2008-10-10T12:14:39Z")
> [@Discordia](#): > > Since my Google-fu is weak and I’m incredibly lazy I’ll just ask here - when is the troopergate report coming out (what time that is)? The report is coming out today, I think, or maybe next week, but the campaign already issued their own verdict: Nothing to see here. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/86 "2008-10-10T13:20:51Z")
it is barely morning in alaska. it won’t hit the news until 2 or 3 ish eastern time. maybe later. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/87 "2008-10-10T13:31:22Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I was thinking California. Hollywood. For Fox’s newest sit-com “Love That Palin!” I was thinking more like a Reality TV show, or a long-term documentary following her campaign for Senator for… well, I’m sure one of the states will vote for her… ---
**Author:** ![Burton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Burton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burton)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/88 "2008-10-10T13:57:01Z")
I think a Jerry Springer type TV show would be a good spot for her. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/89 "2008-10-10T21:16:13Z")
When Quayle was running for president, the campaign talked about how quick he was, how clever, how his real brains belied his reputation, blah blah blah. We all know how that turned out. Republicans were desperate for someone to glom onto, and now they have Palin. It will last for about 3 seconds after the election if she doesn’t win. The Couric interview was her potatoe moment. You don’t live down potatoe. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/90 "2008-10-10T21:37:51Z")
> [@TVeblen](#): > > She was flashdanced into prominence past too many candidates who were much better qualified. And the will not forget it, either. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/91 "2008-10-10T21:44:57Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > So… You think being a spokesman for GE and being the head of SAG is better experience than being Governor of a state and a mayor and a high official of the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission? You seem to be forgetting that Reagan wasn’t running for anything in 1964. He was busy paying his dues. It is better experience than being mayor of a two-bit town, though. > [@](#): > > Reagan was certainly a lot smarter, and lot more thoughtful than his critics ever gave him credit for, until the day he died. I’ve been trying to tell people how knowledgeable Reagan was, and how important ideas were to him, for years. And of course he didn’t ‘go away’ permanently. He became Governor of California four years later. Obviously he didn’t vanish. I meant that after Goldwater was beaten in a rout, the party was dispirited and everyone faded away for a little while. Reagan was a fairly small player in Republican politics until he gave that speech, and afterwards he became the new voice of the party. Nonetheless, it took him two attempts and 16 years after that to make it to the Presidency. During that time I was subscribing to the National Review and working for the New York Conservative Party (as a high school student) in the Adams gubernatorial campaign and in Jim Buckley’s first try at the Senate. And eight of those years were spent as governor of the largest state, one with real problems and no source of easy money. And he did a good job - he raised taxes when needed. > [@](#): > > Nonsense. There’s far more to political skill than stringing together talking points and winking. Palin has political skill in the same league as Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. She’s much better than Hillary, McCain, or Biden. I’m not talking about foreign policy knowledge or wonkish knowledge of Washington. I’m talking about the ability to inspire people, the ability to work a crowd, to know what tone to use and when, to know when to deliver something forcefully and when to deliver it humorously or sadly. Knowing what to kiss, and when. A lot of these skills are intangible. It like the difference between a good ‘B’ actor and a movie star. You can’t put your finger on exactly what makes a star a star, but you know it when you see it. She does have the ability to stab her mentors in the back, I got to give her that. I’m not surprised, given her TV journalism training, that she knows how to give a speech. But who has she inspired beyond those who already agree with her? She seems a great example of the Peter Principle at work. She might be dandy as the governor of a state smaller than San Francisco, but if she was so politically astute she’d know her weaknesses. Instead she got promoted beyond her ability. Even you admit her ignorance of the important aspects of policy, and she certainly hasn’t seemed to have had learned much. Having had the chance to be around the business, I can tell the difference between the average person and someone who can be an actor (not enough to be an agent, but good enough to have batted 1000 in our recommendations to our daughter’s manager) and to tell which of a set of working actors has charisma and who didn’t. A real A list actor has flexibility. Does Palin? Not at all clear. I don’t get the charisma, but it might be blocked out of my fear that she’d ever occupy a position of power. > [@](#): > > We all knew Obama was something special when he gave his big coming out speech at the Democratic convention four years ago. And he was just reading from a teleprompter, and no one knew whether he wrote that speech or not. But he delivered it. Great orators can read the phone book and captivate you. Horrible speakers like Bush can take great words and mangle them into incomprehensibility, simply by not knowing when to pause and how to find the rhythm of the words. Yes, he delivered an outstanding speech. But this isn’t what got him nominated - that was political skill, organizational ability, and a great strategic mind. Bill Clinton gave a godawful keynote address - too long and too rambling. Despite this, he had the political skills also. If Obama’s only ability was to give a speech, the empty suit charge would be true. Palin is an empty dress. > [@](#): > > Now, it may be that her political talent is writing cheques that her brain and knowledge base can’t cash. Maybe that will be her Achilles heel forever. Or maybe she can learn a lot and put the substance behind the flash. But there’s no question she’s got the flash. And that’s a rare commodity. Republicans won’t give up on her easily. Oh, they’ll send her around in support of the actual candidate alright. That would play to her strengths without accentuating her weaknesses. But imagine how bad she must be doing in interview practice for them to keep her in a bubble. Bush’s lack of speaking ability is about the least of his sins. His incuriousness, his lack of follow up, those are the real killers. The woman who couldn’t answer a question about what papers and magazines she reads is probably even worse. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/92 "2008-10-10T23:32:01Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > But, as Bush shows, fooling American voters twice is easier than pissing on your shoe. Bush was a “wartime” incumbent running for reelection. The nomination was his by default, and the Republican party has a knack for rallying around the candidate they’re stuck with (witness the elevation of John McCain from loose cannon to Last Great Hope). ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/93 "2008-10-11T01:37:00Z")
I find it difficult to imagine that Palin has much of a political future on the national stage, despite the formidable spin job of folks like Sam Stone. Yes, many Republicans were initially encouraged by her surprise pick and supposed ‘conservative’ ideals, but since then she has become something of a national joke and her poll numbers nationally are not good. There are still, IMO, many potential stars in the Republican party (who _do_ in fact carry the conservative ideals) – for good and obvious reasons they have remained extremely quiet this election year. The thought of Palin being the best of the best in 4 years is pretty pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/94 "2008-10-12T00:44:41Z")
We were finishing the (Stawberry!) wine with a very nice pork roast and politics came up. Could Sarah Palin be looking towards establishing a national reputation and base for a possible '12 presidental run of her own? It does seem many established names will be out of such a race (if only due to age). A new generation of Republicans may get their chance. I wonder if SP is no operating on her own for her own goals? You thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/95 "2008-10-12T00:50:12Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > We were finishing the (Stawberry!) wine with a very nice pork roast and politics came up. > > Could Sarah Palin be looking towards establishing a national reputation and base for a possible '12 presidental run of her own? It does seem many established names will be out of such a race (if only due to age). A new generation of Republicans may get their chance. > > I wonder if SP is no operating on her own for her own goals? > > You thoughts? Gog, I hope she does. She is the best thing, other than Obama, that has happened to the Democrats in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/96 "2008-10-12T00:52:44Z")
Not a fucking chance. Even her own party thinks she’s largely unqualified. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/97 "2008-10-12T01:03:39Z")
> [@askeptic](#): > > Gog, I hope she does. She is the best thing, other than Obama, that has happened to the Democrats in a long time. That will teach me to post from my iPhone, Gog indeed. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/98 "2008-10-12T01:05:23Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > You thoughts? A very polarizing personality who will carry blame (in good part, correctly) for bringing the ticket down in '08. That said, I won’t ever declare that any country that freely gave George Bush over 40% of the vote twice is incapable of making far stupider choices in the future. We could elect a cocker spaniel in 2012 and I’ll say, “We’ll at least he’s not as obviously flawed as George Bush was.” IOW, more or less what I’ll say about President Palin. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/99 "2008-10-12T01:13:53Z")
She is loving every moment on the stage. She will say anything to stir up the base. She is a ruthless self serving ambitious politician. She is Nixon with lumpy shirts. It will be hard for the mainstream repubs to ignore her in 2012. She is developing a rabid base . ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176/100 "2008-10-12T01:39:46Z")
I’m hoping that after McCain loses, she fades away, loses re-election in Alaska, and disappears from the public eye for good. Then in 2038, there will be one of those “Whatever happened to?” nostalgia shows that looks her up and finds her living in some small town teaching sunday school and remembering when she got close to being a national figure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/palins-political-future/467176.md?page=6)