# Why is Sarah Palin considered the de facto leader of the Republican party? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 13, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-considered-the-de-facto-leader-of-the-republican-party/567525 "2011-01-13T22:19:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-considered-the-de-facto-leader-of-the-republican-party/567525/121 "2011-01-29T21:32:54Z")
Back to Palin. Just an observation, but from this side of the Atlantic, I wouldn’t call Palin the _leader_ of the Republican Party, or the Tea Party for that matter, but I’d definitely call her the _voice_. The Republicans really don’t seem to have a leader right now; they still seem to be sorting themselves out. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2011, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-considered-the-de-facto-leader-of-the-republican-party/567525/122 "2011-01-29T22:17:13Z")
Republicans (and conservatives in general) are divided right now between the party establishment, and the tea party splitters. The establishment really has no face, no clear leader or voice. The teabaggers have Palin. I would not exactly say she’s the leader of the Republican Part in a sweeping way, but she’s the _de facto_ face of the most energized and strident part of that that party. Bachmann is clearly trying to horn in on that territory, though, what with giving the teabagger response to the SOTU, and all. It looks like she’s even trying to out-stupid Palin. She said that the Founding Fathers abolished slavery. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-considered-the-de-facto-leader-of-the-republican-party/567525/123 "2011-01-30T01:20:35Z")
Mayble it’s a diabolical trick to make Palin look like presidential material by comparison. And Bachmann has devil eyes. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-considered-the-de-facto-leader-of-the-republican-party/567525/124 "2011-01-30T02:26:13Z")
Condi would never get accepted by the Tea Baggers. I don’t know how powerful the far right is in the party, but they are sure the loudest. They get a lot of attention. I am not sure they have earned it though. I was surprised to see Bachmann was given a chance to rebut the State of the Union. But only one station ran it. The rest of the media pretty much ignored it. That should tell you the party does not take the Baggers as a serious political sect. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-considered-the-de-facto-leader-of-the-republican-party/567525/125 "2011-01-30T05:15:33Z")
I was kind of surprised that Fox News gave it a miss, but then I guess they really are an arm of the party establishment. They’ll use the teabaggers to an extent, but when it comes right down to it, they’ll back somebody like Romney (who they clearly backed in the 200 Primaries. Hannity was practically his campaign manager. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-considered-the-de-facto-leader-of-the-republican-party/567525/126 "2011-01-30T05:24:54Z")
Tha fact that Bachmann was skipped by all the stations but one tells you Palin won. She is still the face of the party. Bachmann was trying to take the power but in this instance she failed miserably. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-considered-the-de-facto-leader-of-the-republican-party/567525/127 "2011-01-30T05:50:20Z")
It didn’t help that she stared over the audience’s left shoulder the whole time either. What the hell was she looking at? ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-considered-the-de-facto-leader-of-the-republican-party/567525/128 "2011-01-30T06:11:24Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > It didn’t help that she stared over the audience’s left shoulder the whole time either. What the hell was she looking at? She was cutting through the Lamestream Media and speaking directly to [TeaParty HD](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/27/AR2011012707312.html). > [@](#): > > The problem? There were multiple cameras in the room, he says, and the congresswoman, a Minnesota Republican, was looking into the TeaPartyHD camera with the teleprompter. The networks provided their own cameras instead of plugging into his, which made her glance look askew. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-considered-the-de-facto-leader-of-the-republican-party/567525/129 "2011-01-30T14:08:31Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > She was cutting through the Lamestream Media and speaking directly to [TeaParty HD](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/27/AR2011012707312.html). That’s kind of a strange article in that it focused on appearance so much- “Loiacono wore a light-colored blazer with a three-point handkerchief in his breast pocket, a black polo shirt, dark pants, and tan, healthy-looking skin” (Usually you see these kinds of sentences directed a women.) and “She looks beautiful, the set is pretty. . . . We put her through hair and makeup” and “He has blinding teeth”, etc. I wonder why, if Bachmanns’ speech was filmed especially for the TPHD media outlet on Tuesday, they couldn’t/didn’t post it on their website until Friday? It seems the “hotness” of this news fades so quickly following the SotU address. Why wait? Odd. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-considered-the-de-facto-leader-of-the-republican-party/567525/130 "2011-01-30T16:28:33Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Nah. Disagree. We’ve had this conversation before. There’s a lot of Palin dislike out there. The easiest way to end production in an Obama campaign office in 2008 was to have the TV on and Sarah Palin on it. I did not say we don’t look and listen. It is hard not to. She gets great coverage for every stupid thing she says. She is the only national Republican. Bachmann is trying to get there but she is even goofier that Sarah. There both have that train wreck thing going for them. We know they are capable of saying really stupid things in public. They rarely disappoint. She is on her way to becoming a national joke. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-sarah-palin-considered-the-de-facto-leader-of-the-republican-party/567525.md?page=6)