It’s not even election day, and already the GOP is taking out the long knives. I’m unsure if McCain picked Palin as a stunt to woo the unicorns PUMAs, as a dog whistle to crazy-baselanders, or as a patsy for his increasingly probably defeat. In any case, the coalition of convenience formerly known as the GOP three legged stool of social conservatives, policy and pundit conservatives, and fiscal conservatives is rapidly coming off the rails. We can only hope that the GOP is too busy dealing with their own insurgents to pay attention to any of the real work getting done in picking up the pieces of eight-years of GOP-rule.
One of the camps clearly sees Sarah Palin as the heir-apparent to the Reagan Legacy, with Matt Yglesias writing the following, via GOVGAP:
Jim Nuzzo, a White House aide to the first President Bush, dismissed Mrs Palin’s critics as “cocktail party conservatives†who “give aid and comfort to the enemyâ€.
He told The Sunday Telegraph: “There’s going to be a bloodbath. A lot of people are going to be excommunicated. David Brooks and David Frum and Peggy Noonan are dead people in the Republican Party. The litmus test will be: where did you stand on Palin?â€
The crazylanders have chosen their horse in 2012, and are clearly running against the moderate, sane wing of the GOP. Another interesting twist comes with one of the initiators of Palin’s run, Bill Kristol, and her introduction to the neocon-warmongering faction on a Cruise to Nowhere:
This, of course, runs counter to the pragmatism of supporting the most electable candidate, Mitt Romney, who has had his surrogates knocking down Palin at every opportunity, positioning himself for 2012:
Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers, some of whom are currently working for Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin’s bid for the White House, have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election. “Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won’t be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,†says one former Romney aide, now working for McCain-Palin. “The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney. He’s in charge on November 5th.â€
[...]
Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a “diva†and was going off message intentionally. The former and current Romney supporters further are pushing Romney supporters for key Republican jobs, including head of the Republican National Committee.
The McCain camp clearly seeks to align itself with the Romney camp, and appears to be nudging Palin towards the wheels of the Straight Talk Express, maybe going as far as replacing her with her stunt double:
The infighting within the McCain campaign has become increasingly public, with growing frustrating directed at Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK). Last week, CNN reported that one McCain source called Palin “a diva†who “takes no advice from anyone.†Politico’s Mike Allen reports another McCain adviser’s criticism of Palin:
***In convo with Playbook, a top McCain adviser one-ups the priceless “diva†description, calling her “a whack job.â€
Asked to respond to reports that she is “going rogue,†Palin declared them “absolutely, 100 percent false,†adding, “John McCain and I, and our camps, are working together to get John McCain elected.†MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow noted Palin’s word choice: “Your camps, plural? A McCain camp and a Palin camp? That does not sound good.â€
It seems as though the war of the pundits will be the most entertaining of all, as it goes on before the public’s eyes and ears. Witness the treatment Smerconish, Parker, and scores of lesser pundits have suffered at the hands of Real Americans, in addition to Limbaugh and the others. The other group, Republicans not in elected office will similarly be villified, such as Chuck Hagel and Colin Powell, among others.
As far as what the GOP voter thinks, as revealed in surveys, they’ve learned what the insiders have not – Palin is a lightweight, polling behind Romney and Huckabee as the candidate they’d be most likely to support in 2012 if McCain is not elected this year. Strangely enough, though they’d still like to have her run.
What certainly seems likely is that all the legs of the GOP’s stool will be vying for control, and from my perspective, it will be awesome! Instead of learning the lesson that Conservatism can indeed fail, that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, and that Americans aren’t quite as religiously extreme as one thinks, the powers-that-be will set themselves on running an even more nasty, more divisive campaign the next time around.
Tags: Bill Kristol, bush, Chuck Hagel, CNN, Colin Powell, David Brooks, David Frum, Jim Nuzzo, John McCain, Matt Yglesias, McCain camp, Mike Allen, Mitt Romney, Peggy Noonan, Playbook, Rachel Maddow, Republican National Committee, Republican Party, Republicans, Romney camp, SARAH PALIN, White House
