Well, at least one of those warm fuzzy feelings of Hope has died: Republican insiders claim we haven't heard the last of Sarah Palin.
Many in the party continue to speak in tones of awe as they ponder her prospects for a presidential run in four years, or eight, depending. Which seems astonishing, considering she could be used as Exhibit A in why McCain lost.
All she did was excite the neocons and fundamentalists who would never have voted for a Democrat under any circumstances. Her choice sent a message to moderates in the Republican party and even centrist Democrats that they weren't welcome anymore. Given the fading popularity of the Bush administration, the ongoing wars overseas and especially the sinking economy, you would have thought somebody would have realized they needed to appeal to everyone, not just the usual wingnuts.
Instead, incredibly, the wingnut vote seemed to be the only one courted, with Palin leading the charge. Her every public utterance displayed a braying ignorance of the national mood, even as her private behavior belied the blue collar workin' mom image she claimed for herself. Longtime conservatives, veterans of the Reagan and Bush administrations, fell over themselves to denounce her, using her as the reason they would support Obama. Poll after poll (even those conducted by the likes of Fox News) continued to show Palin as a liability, her approval rating dropping the more people found out about her.
Most damningly, despite her blatant efforts to steal the spotlight away from the guy at the top of the ticket--she even wanted to give a concession speech before Mccain's, even though there's no history of the VP candidate doing so--her party lost. That should pretty much be the end of that, right? People saw who she was, and rejected her. Do the Republicans really think we'll forget that? Do they really think we want the same pathetic loser paraded in front of us?
Since when did they start acting like Democrats?
