http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/29/palin.gop/index.html

• Story Highlights
• Some conservatives believe the Alaska governor has harmed John McCain's bid
• Others insist her frontier bio, political acumen, ideals make her a GOP leader
• If GOP loses, it will face its biggest identity crisis in years

Her image is even tarnished in Alaska right now with all the ethics probes. She might have to fight to get reelected there. Not that she'll loose, but she'll have a fight.

Assuming McCain loses, which it appears he will... the GOP does indeed face a huge identity crisis.

 

For a number of years now, the GOP has been fracturing down the middle, splitting the small government types from the religious zealot types. This McCain/Palin ticket has only amplified our view into that divide.

 

If Palin is the party's future, then the party is in a lot of trouble. Look at how the voting public reacted to her - everyone but the far right social conservatives started off liking her, then ran like hell the other way. She is a disaster, politcally.

 

My prediction would be that she will be in the discussion for years, but in the not too distant future, she'll fade awy from the national spotlight.

 

50-50. Hopefully more fiscal conservatives prevail and reshape the party in that image. There wouldn't be anything for me to like in a Palin-led GOP. She's a social conservative and fiscally liberal (sorta, but she definitely isn't minimal-government conservative).

"Footnote" is the nicest way to describe her.

For a number of years now, the GOP has been fracturing down the middle, splitting the small government types from the religious zealot types. This McCain/Palin ticket has only amplified our view into that divide.

I said a few months back that I look forward to the Romney v Huckabee war

If Palin is the party's future, then the party is in a lot of trouble. Look at how the voting public reacted to her - everyone but the far right social conservatives started off liking her, then ran like hell the other way. She is a disaster, politcally.

Look at how she reacted to McCain pulling out of Michigan. "awww shucks. come on. I'll fight in there. give me and Todd a shot. you betcha we can do something" (paraphrasing there). That's political ignorance. That's the type of politics that gets you toasted in a national election. Imagine her trying to fight in California for votes.

Her crowds have been reported as larger than McCain's crowds.

I think Jindal is the future of the party.

I said a few months back that I look forward to the Romney v Huckabee war

Are you saying that Romney is the poster child for fiscal conservatives but social moderates? Because he isn't anywhere near that - or at least he wasn't during the GOP primaries.

 

Are you saying that Romney is the poster child for fiscal conservatives but social moderates? Because he isn't anywhere near that - or at least he wasn't during the GOP primaries.

I wouldn't say "Fiscal conservatives" there. I'd say "The big business wing of the Republican party". That one is a lot closer to true.

I had CNN on last night for a minute and the report was McCain staffers one day after calling her a diva, were calling her a whack job. Her 15 minutes are about up.

The Geraldine Ferraro of the GOP.

I think Jindal is the future of the party.

I don't know a lot about Jindal yet, but, what I've read leads me to believe he's a lot better choice for their future than Palin is.

 

pageant walking consultant.

 

 

 

To be honest though, she was thrown in over her head in this situation and the media ate her alive, but she is a very admirable politician especially considering what she has done in her own state. She battled her party, reformed governement, and helped her fellow citizens gain some income from the oil conglomerates that have been exploiting their region for a long time. There are many many less competent politicians in Washington as we speak.

Edited October 29, 200817 yr by RockRaines

I don't know a lot about Jindal yet, but, what I've read leads me to believe he's a lot better choice for their future than Palin is.

 

It remains to be seen who the future of the party actually is at this point. The GOP is losing ground in so many states, that its quickly becoming a regional party almost purely southern in nature. I think Jindal may be the one person who may be able to change that mindset. I would say the future of the GOP rests in people like Bloomberg, but I don't necessarily see that either.

I had CNN on last night for a minute and the report was McCain staffers one day after calling her a diva, were calling her a whack job. Her 15 minutes are about up.

I think the name calling is basically trying to deflect blame from McCain onto a scape goat.

I think the name calling is basically trying to deflect blame from McCain onto a scape goat.

I think there's some of that, but there's also the realization that she's just not ready for this.

thing is, i think this woman is hell-bent on power. she'll run in 2012.

thing is, i think this woman is hell-bent on power. she'll run in 2012.

 

Lots of people end up running. Considerably fewer have a real shot. But who knows what happens in 2012.

thing is, i think this woman is hell-bent on power. she'll run in 2012.

As opposed to anyone else who has run for president?

Let's assume for a moment that the polls are accurate and the Republicans are in for a bloodletting next Tuesday. Bigger Dem majorities in the House than we've seen in 50 years and 60 or so Senate seats for the Dems.

 

After the 04 beating the Dems took, the first thing to come up was the election for the DNC. A bunch of the people who were sick of the way things were being run out of Washington in the party banded together, put out a "50 state strategy", and picked a guy who wanted to head a strategy like that, Dean. The Repubs and Fox news naturally went after the Dems, "They're lurching left", "Yeaaargh!", and so forth, but in hindsight, the strategy wound up working.

 

The next race for the Repubs to decide anything is the same race. And I think the same sort of thing is going to happen.

 

The Religious part of the Republican party is a little fed up right now. They helped push guys like Bush in to office and they got nothing. Abortion is still legal, gays are destroying their marriages left and right, etc. In this race, the nominee for the Republicans is someone that they really don't like, McCain. They're going to go out and say "if only you'd listened to us" and try to find one of their guys to put in that spot (Huckabee? Palin?)

 

On the other hand, the corporate part of the Republican party...hell I have no idea what they want right now, I think they're more worried about the stock market than anything. But they still have a ton of money and a lot of influence, and they know how to use it. And they really don't have much respect for the other groups, for example see their lashing out at Palin over the last couple weeks as the race has turned.

 

I really don't know how this will end up. It may well not be decided until the 2012 primaries when the actual party voters wind up picking a leader. But if there's a bloodletting next Tuesday, there's going to be an awful lot of infighting over which way that party is going to go, and personally I think that the evangelical block is the strongest one there, because they probably have the most people.

It really depends on what the Republican brand wants to become.

 

If they want to move towards being economically conservative while being socially moderate, Palin is done and the Republican party will come back strong.

 

If they want to move away towards economic conservative thought while moving their party more socially conservative, then Palin will become powerful and the Republican's are going to struggle to gain back congress as most of America I believe will reject social conservative thought.

 

I personally think if the Republican's get hammered this election that Palin will be done and that they are going to start distancing themselves from the Christian Right. But thats speculation.

Let's assume for a moment that the polls are accurate and the Republicans are in for a bloodletting next Tuesday. Bigger Dem majorities in the House than we've seen in 50 years and 60 or so Senate seats for the Dems.

 

After the 04 beating the Dems took, the first thing to come up was the election for the DNC. A bunch of the people who were sick of the way things were being run out of Washington in the party banded together, put out a "50 state strategy", and picked a guy who wanted to head a strategy like that, Dean. The Repubs and Fox news naturally went after the Dems, "They're lurching left", "Yeaaargh!", and so forth, but in hindsight, the strategy wound up working.

 

I have a very hard time believing Dean did anything to deserge credit for the turn around. It's pretty simple to me: Mix (1) very well-spoken young politician (boosting interest in all elections, not just the prez one) and (2) an old moron 2-term president that nearly everyone believes (either rightly or wrongly) has blown up the country and it's future (causing an association of all other people with "R" next to their name - 6 years of a Republican congress that did nothing but back him hasn't helped).

 

Everything about the shift from Republican to Dem in the last 2 years is a result of Republican's becoming more and more extreme. I have a feeling that when government becomes all Dem, nothing will get done, as the extreme left and moderate left battles it out. They're Dems afterall (see: last 2 years).

 

I'll give this 8 years tops before the country is back to true Republican values - smaller government, less spending, lower taxes.

It really depends on what the Republican brand wants to become.

 

If they want to move towards being economically conservative while being socially moderate, Palin is done and the Republican party will come back strong.

 

If they want to move away towards economic conservative thought while moving their party more socially conservative, then Palin will become powerful and the Republican's are going to struggle to gain back congress as most of America I believe will reject social conservative thought.

 

I personally think if the Republican's get hammered this election that Palin will be done and that they are going to start distancing themselves from the Christian Right. But thats speculation.

 

I agree. The party has to get back to the middle. For the same reasons the Dems lost in 2000, the Repubs lost in this one. Extremism (either fiscally or socially) is not a winning strategy. I've been ashamed at what my chosen party has been the last 6-7 years.