The Ashford Zone Blog

He doesn't mince words… and he's right on the money:

Republican strategist (and NBC analyst) Mike Murphy again takes on Sarah Palin. He calls her "the political train wreck that keeps on giving." He said she "brought nothing to the [McCain] ticket except a surefire knack for exciting voters who were already reliably Republican." More: "We are now told the party base — those voters who will vote for a bag of cement if it has an R or D attached to it — must be carefully appealed to, romanced and appeased. Under that funhouse reasoning, Palin was an inspired pick." And: "She lacks any real accomplishment – no military or private-sector career of note, no academic achievement beyond a frenetic bounce between five colleges, including a sun 'n' surf-oriented outfit in Hawaii. She has served only two years as governor of a small and uniquely easy-to-govern state (other governors pine for Alaska's small population and billions of dollars in easy revenue from oil production), a job she has now abandoned." To her presidential chances? "[S]he may have enough support to attempt a run for President. She'll lose, of course, almost certainly the Republican primaries and certainly the general election."

After a rambling press conference Friday explaining her sudden and unexpected resignation, Palin had to clean up her own mess this weekend by granting additional interviews to, well, everybody to clarify why she's leaving.  As the Anchorage Daily News reported, "Palin Says Ethics Complaints Were Paralyzing".

Ah, that explains it, I guess.

Well, someone who looked into discovered that there were only three complaints pending as of last Friday when Palin resigned, out of 18 that had been brought during her term.

Perhaps there was some "there" there to one of those complaint, hmmmm?

AND…. two of those three complaints were directed at Palin's aides.  So that leaves:

April 27: Contends Palin is misusing the governor's office for personal gain by securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through the Alaska Fund Trust. The fund was recently established by supporters to help Palin pay off more than $500,000 in legal debts stemming from other ethics complaints, including troopergate. Complaint filed by Eagle River resident, Kim Chatman.

Steve Benen notes that Palin's abrupt resignation has actually increased her standing a bit among Republicans according to a recent Gallup poll.  Steve writes:

Inexplicably quitting, for less-than-clear reasons, has managed to endear Palin to her party more.

It doesn't strike me as "inexplicable" at all.  Palin resonates with the "Joe Six-packs" who are basically "anti".  Not just anti-left, but also anti-media, anti-government, and anti-elite.  And by "anti-elite", I mean they're not just against the "elite Northwestern liberal establishment" but even against the elites in their own party.

Palin is — in their view — just like them.  An average "real American" who doesn't do wonkish things like understand how government works or anything like that.  Plus, she's a proxy for their woes; she gets attacked and victimized (by the media, supposedly) for being who she is, just like they do albeit on a smaller scale.  She's the victims' martyr.

I mean, Palin's strongest support comes from people who could never be President, but who hold fast to the American dream that "anybody" can become President.  Why, if she can make it, then who can't?

So she taps into something rather compelling in human nature, at least for a segment of the population.  The problem is that the "segment of the population" inspired by Palin is finite.  In fact, Palin may be close to that ceiling right now. 

She can't become president on a platform of martyrdom alone.  To win the GOP nomination, she has to convince people (Republicans and independents, mostly) that she is up to the job of President.  And you can't do that as a soccor mom, because people outside her fan base actually believe — I know this sounds crazy — that the President should actually have superlative skills and education, not just be a regular average person.  Palin's "average real American" shtick actually turns off voters — including Republican voters – who seek, well, excellence from their leaders.

It really has nothing to do with her being a "Washington outsider".  One can be a "Washington outsider" and still comprehend economic principles, issues of diplomacy, and the other tools necessary to qualify (see Perot, Ross).

So Palin's fan base may grow, but only marginally.  Unless she educates herself — "cracks open a Civics 101 book" as someone put it — she'll only win over people who can't distinguish between the Presidency and the winner of American Idol (or, the Presidency and Miss Congeniality, if you want). 

But that would mean abandoning her anti-elite card, and I don't think she intends to do that.  I think she's planning to win the GOP nomination on charm, folksiness, and playing the unseasoned novice thing as a virtue.  It won't work in the long run, no matter what brief spike in the polls may foreshadow.

A little reminder:

Sarah Palin did have a job in between being mayor of Wasilla and Alaska Governor: she was chair of Frank Murkowski's Oil and Gas Commission. How long was she on this Commission? Less than a year… until she quit in January 2004 with a big public huff (leaving the Commission in the lurch with only one member), saying "the experience was taking the 'oomph' out of her passion for government service and she decided to quit rather than becoming bitter." She publicly cited her frustration with being unable to be all straight-talky and mavericky about the corruption and backbiting on the Commission, but the resignation also came at a very convenient time for switching over to lay the groundwork for her successful 2006 gubernatorial run.

And let's not forget that she quit four colleges on her way to getting a journalism degree.

One wonders how her marriage has managed to last this long.

More Sarah flashback — Sarah discusses how Hillary Clinton should deal with the mean press by "working harder":

>

By the way, Palin resumed what's left of her term as Alaska governor, and it appears that all she is doing with that time is twittering.  And apparently twittering what is on her Inspirational Quote Of The Day desk calendar, too.

UPDATE:  Time’s Jay Newton-Small asked Palin about this contradiction in a new interview. Palin replied that she’s totally different than Clinton because the accusations she’s facing are way worse:

What I said was, it doesn’t do her or anybody else any good to whine about the criticism. And that’s why I’m trying to make it clear that the criticism, I invite that. But freedom of speech and that invitation to constructively criticize a public servant is a lot different than the allowance to lie, to continually falsely accuse a public servant when they have proven over and over again that they have not done what the accuser is saying they did. It doesn’t cost them a dime to continue to accuse. That’s a whole different situation. But that’s why when I talk about the political potshots that I take or my family takes, we can handle that. I can handle that. I expect it. But there has to be opportunity provided for truth to get out there, and truth isn’t getting out there when the political game that’s being played right now is going to continue, and it is.

I see.  So accusing Hillary Clinton of killing Vince Foster, and faking tears, etc., that's all fair game First Amendment stuff.-