The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
Think about it. Steele clearly isn't up to the job. The organization is facing a disruptive internal struggle. We all agree -- even those of us who don't think of her as presidential material -- that she's a dynamite spokesperson for the center/right.
It's not my idea. It's already been suggested by Judson Phillips of the Tea Party Nation. (Whatever that is; I can't keep the various Tea Party organizations straight....)
But the best argument for it came last spring, from the very clever Kevin Williamson in NRO:
This is a job for Sarah Palin. Palin would be a much better RNC chairman than presidential candidate or freelance kingmaker. She’d raise tons of money and help recruit good candidates, i.e., she’d excel at doing the things Steele should have been doing instead of appointing himself Republican pundit-at-large.
A Chairman Palin would help set the right tone for the Republican party without having to get herself entangled in the minutiae of policy-development, which has not been her forte. Sure, she’d be polarizing, but so is Barack Obama, and these are polarized times. And it’s one thing to have a polarizing party chairman, another to have a polarizing candidate.
Fire Steele. Hire Palin.
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Jun '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
Agree wholeheartedly. I have been thinking and saying the same for a few months now.
Jul '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
Simply brilliant.
Jun '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
It's the perfect Palin role. Her energy, her brilliant use of "new" media, her thick skin, her consistent message ---- all great traits for the RNC chair. She actually HAS shown talent for policy development minutiae in her political roles held in Alaska. (I think Williamson sells her short.) But a force of nature like Plain is clearly gifted in her ability to fire up the party & bring in new supporters as well as press attention to her every move.
Jul '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
And what happens when she makes some off-the-wall statement? With Steele, it could be ignored. With Palin, the GOP couldn't renounce her without starting an intra-party civil war.
With Palin at the helm of the RNC, little tempests like Willow's "faggot" post are gonna be whipped into a hurricane.
I'd be very leery of this idea. Palin and her family have no more self-discipline than Steele does.
Aug '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
If I receive gainful employment in the RNC under Palin, will she allow me to expense strip club visits?
No?
Then I'm all for Steele. He puts the Party in Republican Party.
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
Palin would never take the job. The RNC is small potatoes compared to the things she aspires to. I think she'd do a good job in the role, but she seems to have a huge impact doing what she's doing and the RNC might act to limit or constrain her efficacy.
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
It's all about whether you want her inside the tent shooting out, or outside the tent shooting in. I'm a bit dismayed by the upcoming reality show episode in which she goes camping in Alaska with Kate Gosselin and her eight kids. Seriously. A gravitas implant that is not.
Aug '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
I wonder whether Sarah considers the party worthy, until proved otherwise. As for being confused by an inability to nail down what Tea Party organization said what, I would suggest that the strength of the Tea Party is precisely their lack of organization , therefore targets for the MSM. It's a movement, which the Republican Party looks upon as their own.
As someone who worked for Goldwater in 64, threatened to vote for McGovern in 72 until threatened by parents with expulsion from the northern hemisphere, but voted for Spock, then slowly through libertarian thought and work, came back to the right, I am pretty good slice of the demographic, still writing checks to republicans but more to the tea party in the last go-round.
Steele really stuck in my craw, or was woefully misrepresented by the always disappointing MSM. Haley Barbour on Ricochet was a perfect example.
Yes, the Republicans could use Sarah Palin and she needs lots of experience, but don't expect a whirlwind romance.
This isn't an opportunity to win next time, this is a chance to crush now.
For the country's sake, we need to be ruthless.
Edited on Dec 6, 2010 at 11:20amMay '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
I can't quite see it; can't quite say why.
Is the RNC chairman supposed to be a big personality with very definite views of her own? I guess I think of the RNC chairman as a background manager type--someone whose talent lies in cultivating and showcasing the talents of others, while quietly strategizing, trouble shooting and making sure the background operation runs smoothly...
Or am I wrong?
Edited on Dec 6, 2010 at 11:23amMay '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
Couldn't agree more, James. I am more positive about Palin than many, but that was a popular-outreach too far in my opinion.
Aug '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
Kenneth:
I'd be very leery of this idea.
Kenneth, you're only "leery"? I'm surprised you're not keeling over from a heart attack at the suggestion.
(Thump...)
Oh.
Aug '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
But Palin puts the "fun" in "fundamentalist".
Jul '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing this morning, James. People talk about her good common sense....
Aug '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
My last post was in jest, but having read Lileks' post -- which is astoundingly serious for a Lileks post -- I find myself no longer able to see Palin in any kind of leadership role other than punditry.
Initially, I was willing to accept Sarah Palin's Alaska as a kind of video "fluff" get to know me literary piece, but this is too much.
Palin and Kate +8? Really?!
Voting for her now would be like voting for a Saturday Night Live writer for Senate.
What's next? Palin vs. Mantracker? Palin on Top Shot? Palin on Vanilla Ice Project?
May '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
Agreed. Right now, Palin is essentially an informal lobbyist for the Tea Party movement who can keep the GOP in line by calling media attention to problems. It's a powerful role that she should continue to fill.
Jul '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
I think it's a fabulous idea and six months ago, she would have accepted it but not now. She's running for president. And there's an awful lot of indicators that she's in the lead.
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
This debate aside, excellent conformity to the CoC, James! I've never seen that Bowdlerization before.
Jun '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
I don't think RNC chairs must ooze gravitas. They need to attract attention for candidates, raise cash, get press coverage, research potential candidates and encourge them to step up. Virtually every candidate Palin supported received huge boosts in coverage & cash.
I'd guess that anyone considering a run knows that politics today is not conducted like the Lincoln-Douglas debates. They have to know who John & Kate + 8 are. They might have to make a joke about Dancing with the Stars. They can't be unaware of a check-out scanner or forget who the home team is starting at quarterback. We may not like it, but politicians win followers when they present themselves as "regular guys." As long as our regular guys have plenty of cerebral fire power & solid character, I can live with that.
Aug '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
This debate aside, excellent conformity to the CoC, James! I've never seen that Bowdlerization before. · Dec 6 at 11:40am
Claire, a gravitas implant would sag.
Jul '10
Re: The RNC Should Replace Michael Steele.....with Sarah Palin
One thing the RNC chair is not supposed to do is draw more attention than the candidates, she would effectively be a celebrity chair, and to be effective I believe the chair needs to be a veteran campaign manager type that is faction-neutral. Although, the last time I was caught up in this argument, the other way to go was pointed out. Go with a faction leader as a clear signal that that faction is in charge.