The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Narrative Arc: Second-Guessing Palin, Santorum’s Story and Romney’s Doom

Posted on | April 17, 2012 | 71 Comments

Sarah Palin speaks in Manchester, N.H., Sept. 5, 2011

Yesterday, Ross Douthat engaged in a “counterfactual” what-if about the 2012 primary campaign: Could Sarah Palin have won?

Speculation unmoored from actual facts is one of those games intellectuals love to play. It’s light work for brainy people to imagine what might have been in an alternative universe. By contrast, the business of reporting — trying to get sources to return your calls, for example — is often enormously frustrating and the labor-to-output ratio sometimes makes you wonder if it’s worth it.

Why bother picking up the phone, when you can just speculate?

Successful politics involves telling stories — “narrative arc,” as the intellectuals say. In 2008, Sarah Palin had an awesome narrative arc: Feisty mother of five, husband an oil worker and snowmobile race champ, she fought the odds, beat the Republican establishment, became governor of Alaska, and was plucked from (relative) obscurity as the surprise choice for vice-presidential running mate.

Then her enemies went to work on her, and messed up that story, so she was scapegoated for John McCain’s 2008 loss and was made a symbol of everything anybody might hate about the Republican Party: A religious fanatic. A negligent mother. A tacky, selfish, scheming manipulator. An unsophisticated airhead lacking basic knowledge about major policy matters, who quit before her first term ended under a cloud of ethics allegations, and then cashed in with a book deal, a reality show, and a contract with Fox News.

A 2012 Palin for President campaign would have been about repudiating that negative version of her story, recapturing the narrative arc of the feisty Alaska hockey mom that had made her a heroine to so many people in 2008. And I would have loved to cover that campaign.

Peter Singleton and Michelle McCormick had me half-convinced at one point it might actually happen. (See, “Still Waiting for Sarah,” The American Spectator, Aug. 22.) I traveled to New Hampshire over Labor Day weekend to cover a Palin rally (“The People’s Palin,” The American Spectator, Sept. 6) where she drew a bigger crowd — and vastly more media coverage — than Mitt Romney had the day before. By the time she finally bowed out (“Sarah Says No,” The American Spectator, Oct. 6) Palin’s supporters had endured two months of agony, only to have their hearts broken, and were exposed to sadistic mockery from Erick Erickson merely for having hoped at all.

Perhaps you understand why I don’t particularly relish watching Ross Douthat, Allahpundit and Philip Klein (none of whom were ever prominently pro-Palin) do a leisurely re-hash of the hypothetical counterfactuals of a Palin campaign that didn’t happen.

You might want to re-read what I wrote about embittered cynicism as the bedrock belief system of the conservative grassroots.

What I liked about Rick Santorum’s campaign was that he had a great narrative arc: Grandson of an Italian immigrant coal miner, cast aside after his 2006 Senate defeat, given no chance at all by the media experts, tirelessly crisscrosses Iowa and — in a Christmas miracle! — suddenly surges ahead to win the crucial caucuses, becoming an overnight contender, emerging to mount a grassroots populist challenge to the Establishment frontrunner. As I wrote last week:

Santorum’s campaign raised just $2.2 million in all of 2011; by the time he emerged as one of the final four candidates for the GOP nomination, he had outlasted five candidates — Pawlenty, Cain, Bachmann, Huntsman, and Perry — all of whom once led him in the polls, and whose campaigns spent a combined total of more than $55 million.

One reason I preferred Santorum over Gingrich is that Newt’s life story lacked any appealing narrative arc. One reason Mitt Romney’s candidacy fills me with such forebodings of doom is that it will be so easy for Team Obama to construct a negative narrative about him.

Rather than wasting time on hindsight speculation, then, let’s consider this: Lisa Graas and some diehard Santorum supporters have mounted a “Vote for Rick Anyway” campaign. Even though he has officially suspended his campaign, Santorum will still be on the ballot in many states. By casting a vote for Santorum, conservatives can register their continued commitment to principle, and their continued resentment of the way the GOP Establishment lined up behind Romney.

It is possible — perhaps not likely, but nevertheless still possible — that the “Vote for Rick Anyway” movement could actually hand Romney an unexpected defeat in one or two primaries between now and June. A surprise win by a non-candidate over the presumptive nominee would at least make it clear to Team Mitt that they can’t just take conservatives for granted, which would seem to be their game plan for the general election campaign. (Supporting the Lilly Ledbetter Act? Really?)

L.A. blogger Joe Fein at Valley of the Shadow talks about narrative arc in terms of TV Tropes, and his understanding of how the “meta-story” works in politics is important to study for 2012 and beyond. Today’s headlines portend doom this fall:

CNN Poll: Gender gap and
likeability keep Obama over Romney
— CNN

Romney gaining on Obama: Reuters/Ipsos poll
— Reuters

Poll: Romney rallies GOP, faces big
popularity deficit for general election
— Washington Post

Others see reasons for hope in these early polls, but what I see is Romney struggling against the SCOAMF from the very outset of the general election campaign, before the Obama message machine — what Breitbart called the Democrat-Media Complex — has even really started telling its version of Mitt’s story: The insincere flip-flopping panderer, the greedy vulture capitalist with the weird “secretive” religion. By the time the machine is done working him over, Romney will have higher negatives than Martin Boorman.

Republicans are prepared to flush $800 million down the toilet in their doomed effort to elect Romney and, when we find ourselves sitting amid the ruins of another electoral cataclysm on the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 7, the GOP Establishment will still find some way to blame the defeat of their handpicked candidate on the conservatives who opposed his “inevitability” all along. I remind you once again of these numbers:

REPUBLICAN PRIMARY VOTE

Mitt Romney ……… 4,595,908 (40.7%)
Rick Santorum …… 3,209,301 (28.3%)
Newt Gingrich ……. 2,284,557 (20.4%)
Ron Paul ……………. 1,191,026 (10.6%)

CAMPAIGN SPENDING

MITT ROMNEY
$66.8 million + super-PAC $40.5 million = $107.3 million

NEWT GINGRICH
$19.2 million + super-PAC $16.6 million = $35.8 million

RICK SANTORUM
$13.0 million + super-PAC $7.5 million = $20.5 million

SPENDING PER VOTE

MITT ROMNEY
$107. 3 million (65.6% of total)
4.6 million votes (40.7% of total)
Price per vote = $23.33

NEWT GINGRICH
$35.8 million (21.9% of total)
2.3 million votes (20.4% of total)
Price per vote = $15.57

RICK SANTORUM
$20.5 million (12.5% of total)
3.2 million votes (28.3% of total)
Price per vote = $6.41

Whatever else is said about 2012, no one can argue with this: Romney bought its primary votes at a premium, while the Santorum campaign was more than three times as efficient on a dollar-per-vote basis.

Now, anyone can feel free to believe that there is still some chance Mitt can beat Obama. We cannot preclude that possibility, no matter how remote the odds seem on a sober calculation. But if I’m right, and Romney is already doomed beyond all hope of redemption, then Santorum is already pre-positioned as the 2016 frontrunner.

Go ahead and scoff. I remember early December, when he was stuck in single digits, and “Santorurm Surge” was a sarcastic inside joke among the campaign press corps. Reporters showed up at that Dec. 26 duck hunt because Santorum was pretty much the only candidate campaigning the day after Christmas, and none of those reporters really believed — as I had detected two weeks earlier — that the surge was for real. Two days later, on Wednesday, Dec. 28, a CNN poll showed Santorum had moved up to a strong third place, and he was off to the races. He won the Iowa caucuses six days later without ever having led a single poll.

Nothing succeeds like success. Santorum’s 2012 campaign added a compelling new chapter to his story, and provides a solid base for 2016. One hesitates to provide unsolicited advice, but what if:

  • Santorum can identify among his 2012 contributors 5,000 hard-core supporters who will commit to giving $50 a month to a new political action committee? That’s $3 million a year.
  • Santorum campaigns actively for GOP candidates at every level, and making early contributions from his PAC to help “seed” contenders?
  • Santorum works hard on his messaging and image, staying firmly conservative while emphasizing the optimistic, cheerful side of his personality and his policy expertise?

One can imagine Santorum finding many occasions to visit Iowa regularly, speaking at county GOP dinners and so forth, and also working to build a strong network of support in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and Nevada. One can likewise imagine him making occasional (unpaid) TV appearances as a guest commentator. Conservatives who were slow to rally to Santorum in this cycle because of his long-shot status would have every reason to back him early in the 2016 cycle.

Hindsight spilled-milk “what if” speculation about 2012 is an interesting intellectual exercise, but speculation about a Santorum 2016 comeback might be quite realistic. However, this possibility is premised on catastrophe: A cataclyasmic wipeout for Romney on Nov. 6, with Obama re-elected to a second term of incompetent misrule.

If this is too much gloom for you, look on the bright side: The ancient Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world in December, which would at least spare us from another four years of Obama.

But the ancient Mayans could not be reached for comment.

Hit the freaking tip jar!

UPDATE: Thanks to Lisa Graas for this tip:

Santorum to His Supporters: ‘Stay Tuned’

 

 

 

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Category: Doomed Beyond All Hope of Redemption, Election 2012, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Sarah Palin

Comments

71 Responses to “Narrative Arc: Second-Guessing Palin, Santorum’s Story and Romney’s Doom”

  1. Jgzyla
    April 17th, 2012 @ 1:08 pm

    Paragraph six: HOCKEY Mom, not soccer Mom.

  2. robertstacymccain
    April 17th, 2012 @ 1:12 pm

    Fixed it. Thanks!

  3. alwaysfiredup
    April 17th, 2012 @ 1:28 pm

    Vote Gingrich.  He’s still actually running.  Or vote Paul.  There’s nothing to be accomplished with a glorified write-in campaign.

  4. richard mcenroe
    April 17th, 2012 @ 1:37 pm

     Well, there’s not voting for Mitt Newt or crazy uncle Ron.  That’s something right there.

  5. Serr8d
    April 17th, 2012 @ 1:38 pm

    Sarah Palin was destroyed by the GOP Establishment (may piss rain down on their Ozymandian statues) with help from Joe McGinniss…and Mike Tyson (special thanks! to Tucker Carlson). Seems after that, interest in Mrs. Palin vanished, as did her efforts to push back against the foul winds of those monumentally evil people.

  6. daialanye
    April 17th, 2012 @ 2:06 pm

    Much as I despise servile flatterers, it must be acknowledged that Stacy (despite the girly name) is one of — if not the — foremost prognosticators on the conservative side.

    Assuming Mitt manages to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, Rick will stand high in 2016. The only problem will come if a conservative is picked for VP, as the defeat will then be blamed on him/her. Even so, if that conservative isn’t Santorum, no big deal.

    Thus, Santorum should avoid the VP nomination at all costs, and not let himself be bought by Romney-of-the-Republican-Dream-Act.

  7. TR
    April 17th, 2012 @ 2:08 pm

    While you also are riding the Palin “hits parade” trope from a cynical “I’m NOT one of them” vewpoint, you continue to blind yourself to the crucial point about Rick S. 

    He was going to lose PA and could not stand it.

    Next time (2016?) he will still face that wall.  5000 hard core delusional people with an extra $50/month for Rick?  You make me laugh my friend.  He is over $450,000 in debt right now.  Thats 9,000 $50 dollar donations shy of reality in your 2016 dream.

  8. alwaysfiredup
    April 17th, 2012 @ 2:09 pm

    Then stay home.  there’s no point to voting for someone not on the ballot.  If you want to deny Mitt votes, you have to choose one of his opponents.

  9. alwaysfiredup
    April 17th, 2012 @ 2:11 pm

    Palin continues to push back.  She is takinng a low profile in response to people saying “Hey Palin, go away so you stop overshadowing people who are actually running!”  Yet another damned if you do, damned if you don’t moment, apparently.

  10. HoundOfDoom
    April 17th, 2012 @ 2:11 pm

    Extras points for using SCOAMF in the article

  11. Brenda Ward
    April 17th, 2012 @ 2:37 pm

    Newt is the reason Romney is the nominee, fat chance we will back his ego trip.

  12. Brenda Ward
    April 17th, 2012 @ 2:37 pm

    Rick is on the ballots and will win delegates as he has not asked the RNC to remove him from ballots.

  13. Finrod Felagund
    April 17th, 2012 @ 2:38 pm

    That exact same argument can be used against Santorum.

  14. Adjoran
    April 17th, 2012 @ 2:42 pm

    SSDD.

    I suggest a week or two off, away from anything electronic that has voices coming out of it or words appearing on it.

    Relax, calm down, chill out with a colon cleanse and some electroshock therapy to clear out the cobwebs and the McDonald’s residue, and come back tanned, rested, and ready like Nixon in ’68.

    Even a great writer hits a limit on the number of ways he can present the same sniveling,  doomsaying whine.

  15. hrh40
    April 17th, 2012 @ 2:49 pm

    Vanished?

    She did an energy special with Eric Bolling last Friday night. Here are the ratings:

    http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/the-scoreboard-friday-april-13_b122615#more-122615

    Beat Hannity. Beat Baier.

    Vanished?

    Co-hosted the Today show and gave them their best ratings. And said Anybody but Obama to their faces.

    Will be on The Five tonight.

    Vanished?

  16. hrh40
    April 17th, 2012 @ 2:51 pm

    If Santorum follows Mike Pence’s path and runs for governor, he’d have a much better chance of being president. Senators don’t do great jobs. And after Obama, it’ll be a long time before we get another senator. Especially one who’s been out of office 6 years, or 10 years by 2016.

  17. ThePaganTemple
    April 17th, 2012 @ 2:53 pm

     Mitt is the nominee for three reasons-

    1. Rick
    2. Newt
    3. Ron

    And if only one of those distinguished gentlemen had run against Newt, then that person would have been the one reason Mitt would be the nominee.

    Conservatives need to do a better job at picking their candidates the next time around if they want to beat the “RINOS”.

  18. Alice Huggins Linahan
    April 17th, 2012 @ 2:57 pm

    This Texan will vote for Rick Santorum in the Primary!! 

    “It truly is simple, Newt Gingrich can’t win in the primary and he can’t beat Obama in the general election. The current delegate count proves that. That is the goal correct? Beat Obama in the general election in November.”
    http://www.voicesempower.com/why-this-texas-conservative-tea-party-activist-wont-fall-inline-behind-newt-gingrich/ 

  19. alwaysfiredup
    April 17th, 2012 @ 3:11 pm

    Absolutely false.  Just before Santorum dropped out, Newt was taking votes mostly from Mitt.  The Newt people who liked Rick had already jumped ship.

  20. alwaysfiredup
    April 17th, 2012 @ 3:12 pm

    If Gingrich got all Santorum’s delegates tomorrow he’d be only about 50 behind Romney.  That’s absolutely do-able.  Santorum people need to not give up, the fight isn’t over.

  21. richard mcenroe
    April 17th, 2012 @ 3:12 pm

     Your hero is already selling access to the WH.

    He’s already indicating he won’t make major changes in the tax code.

    He won’t scale back the Federal Government, he’ll just make it “smarter”.

    And if SCOTUS doesn’t do it for him there’s no way he will repeal the health mandate.

    I want my opposition on the record all the way to Tampa, and I’m thinking about November.

  22. alwaysfiredup
    April 17th, 2012 @ 3:13 pm

    He can win votes, he cannot win delegates.

  23. daialanye
    April 17th, 2012 @ 3:27 pm

    The flippant response would be, tell that to Richard Nixon. But you’re right, as long as Santorum wins his next contest. He can’t afford to lose, despite the example of Nixon’s amazing comeback after California.

    But if you think the voting public will learn, after Obama, not to accept another senator, I disagree. The voting tendencies of the majority, especially including lefties and independents, are living examples of the triumph of hope over experience.

  24. Dave R
    April 17th, 2012 @ 3:44 pm

    Romney is the nominee because Pawlenty and Perry imploded, Huntsman decided to run as a liberal, and no one else running had the capability to run a serious campaign.

  25. willpeir
    April 17th, 2012 @ 3:44 pm

    I agree with the analysis, Stacy, except for one thing. If Romney loses, then I think that’ll send a clear signal to the GOP candidates that sat out to wait their turn “in due time” that the GOP turnstile is closed for business. Then we might end up with a candidate more likely to appeal to fiscal GOP’ers. You know, them’s that freak out if their porn spigot might be turned off. 

    But first we all have to be “shocked” in November. 

  26. Serr8d
    April 17th, 2012 @ 3:46 pm

     By ‘vanished’ I mean, you know, not the GOP nominee. As she should’ve been, had she been given the support she deserved.

    Believe me, I’ve been for Sarah Palin for far longer than 99% of her current crop of supporters knew she even existed.

  27. ThePaganTemple
    April 17th, 2012 @ 3:50 pm

     Like all great reporters, Stacy has that dogged, determined, stubborn streak that just won’t let it go until he gets the story he’s after. That’s the personality you’re seeing at work here.

    Having said that, I see his point, a vote for Santorum, while wasted as far as any prospect of him actually winning the nomination, might well give Romney room for pause if he should entertain thoughts about dissing conservatives.

    But, so would a vote for Newt, or a write-in vote for Palin. Therefore, it doesn’t really matter whether or not every such protest vote is a vote for Santorum, or for any of the other two or any others you might think of. The main point is the total aggregate of non-Mitt votes by conservative voters. It might be worth the effort, and it might actually make an impression on him. It might turn out to be easier to win the nomination without them than to win the general election without them.

  28. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    April 17th, 2012 @ 3:55 pm

    There is a difference, but a guy from the South might not understand.  

  29. K-Bob
    April 17th, 2012 @ 3:57 pm

    The extra points are earned because of Stacy’s avoidance of the use of ‘SCOAMF’ as gratuitously as some of us would (and did).  He slid it in there slick, like adding a couple o’ four of them yellow peppers on an Italian sub.

  30. K-Bob
    April 17th, 2012 @ 4:00 pm

     I read that as meaning “vanished from GOPE event horizon.”  Obviously Sarah Palin draws huge crowds wherever she goes.  Who’s there? The folks the GOPE loves to stab in the back.

  31. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    April 17th, 2012 @ 4:07 pm

    I am sorry Rick Santorum is not going to win the GOP nomination, but Rick Santorum failed to reach out beyond his own base.   His campaign got better towards the end, but by then it was too late.  

    Yes the GOP establishment was against him, yes the media distorted him, yes Romney out spent him…but the fact is he lost.  What he should have done is reached out to libertarians, Democrats, Ron Paul people, etc. in order to take on Romney.  He didn’t do that.  
    I am not endorsing Mitt Romney.  Mitt has some pretty profound flaws of his own.  But after seeking Rick Santorum in action, I doubt things would have changed in the general.  And if Santorum could not beat Romney, how in the heck was he supposed to beat Obama?  

    I will support Romney (yes holding my nose).  I hope he takes Mark Levin’s advice.  http://marklevinshow.com/Article.asp?id=2436805&spid=32364  This is the speech he should give.  

  32. TR
    April 17th, 2012 @ 4:13 pm

    consenting “moo”

  33. K-Bob
    April 17th, 2012 @ 4:23 pm

    The DOOM! is real. Bob Dole connected better with the people than Mitt does.  I don’t see Romney winning against an incumbent.  Not even an incumbent SCOAMF.  So 2016 is something restoration-minded folks and non-soul-selling conservatives should be looking toward.

    We’re going to breast the falls folks.  We ARE slowly headed over. But in 2016 there might be one last chance to arrest the downward motion (say, by heroically fastening lines to rock outcroppings) enough to winch it back to safety.  Some of the crew and passengers will be lost.  The keel will be bent. It’s gonna be ugly.

    I’ll torture that metaphor no further.  Today (moo ha ha!).

    If Rick can learn to Reaganize his responses on guns, gays, religion, and abortion, then I’ll send him some money.  Until then, I’m thinking a two-term congressman who is also a retired Lt. Colonel, and who can deliver a speech following the ancient greek method of oratory deserves every dime I can scratch up to send in aid.

  34. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    April 17th, 2012 @ 4:30 pm

    Very true.  

    Mitt is not my first choice, but he can beat Obama.  http://www.gallup.com/poll/150743/Obama-Romney.aspx  If any good comes from this, we need a GOP congress (House and Senate) to repeal Obamacare.  And we need a Republican to sign the bill.  We are not going to get majorities to override a veto, so we need Mitt elected.  And yes, he will sign that bill.  So stop channeling your inner Tabitha Hale.  

  35. Wombat_socho
    April 17th, 2012 @ 4:44 pm

     Hey, Adjoran, Anamika appears to have hacked your Disqus account. I’m assuming that’s who came up with the notion of colon cleansing and ECT.

  36. Emdede1208
    April 17th, 2012 @ 4:58 pm

    Oh yes, he can continue to win delegates and he will

  37. Tennwriter
    April 17th, 2012 @ 5:00 pm

    Interesting.

    So what are you saying…floor fight….Gingrich/Santorum 2012….deny the Mittens the first vote, and then pick up the rest in a mad scramble for vote no. 2?

  38. Tennwriter
    April 17th, 2012 @ 5:02 pm

    The proper way to reach out to Libertarains is to hit them with a stick first.  Unreasonable, bigoted, prejudcided…and thats the smarter ones.

  39. Tennwriter
    April 17th, 2012 @ 5:04 pm

    Well, Bob Dole was an experienced pol  which while it has its abundant flaws, also has an advantage or two.  And he was a war hero with easily visible damage.

    Mitt won one election, and he’s not a war hero.

  40. sheryl
    April 17th, 2012 @ 5:18 pm

    Well, my personal opinion is that Sarah and Rick will win. Newt will win too. It will be these three that will get people out to vote for the inevitable in chief. I have ordered my nose plugs for the election, and a big fat bottle of wine I will save to drink just prior to being driven to the polls to vote.

  41. alwaysfiredup
    April 17th, 2012 @ 5:40 pm

    I am on board. All the way to Tampa.  (Mitt is not my hero, we may have a few wires crossed here.)

  42. alwaysfiredup
    April 17th, 2012 @ 5:51 pm

    Sure.  It’s an option, at least.  I have no idea what its chance of success is and I freely admit the odds aren’t great.  But I’m just not willing to give up when a) Romney really looks like a loser in the fall and b) even if he wins, conservatism still loses because Romney is demonstrably ready to roll over on the Dem agenda.  We haven’t lost yet.  Keep fighting until it’s over.

  43. alwaysfiredup
    April 17th, 2012 @ 5:53 pm

    Sorry, I read that as a Palin slam too. My mistake.

  44. CPAguy
    April 17th, 2012 @ 7:32 pm

    No to Santorum 2016.

    There is a reason why it took all the other candidates dropping out for him to catch on.

    True Blue Fiscal Conservative 2016!

  45. Zilla of the Resistance
    April 17th, 2012 @ 7:43 pm

     Since Rick’s campaign is “suspended” but not cancelled or whatever the permanent word for that is, if he got lots of votes and won more states, is it theoretically possible that we could still maybe possibly get him as our nominee – especially if we get a brokered convention? And could we get him to jump back in to the race if that happened?  Because if you can tell me YES, that it’s possible, even if it may not be likely, then I’ll give Rick my vote when I go to the polls next Tuesday, otherwise, Newt will get my vote, because unlike what that guy up there said about how you have to vote for mittens in the primary or stay home (which is a load of crap because he obviously does not understand how primaries work and that we’re NOT talking about the general election in November).

  46. Zilla of the Resistance
    April 17th, 2012 @ 7:45 pm

     I don’t think you understand how primaries work, there’s no reason why we have to vote for who the GOP tells us to in our PRIMARY, that’s what the general election is for. Our primaries are our last chance to make our voices heard before we all suck it up and vote ABO GOP in November.

  47. Election Inspection: One Dope Over The Line, Sweet Jesus « The Camp Of The Saints
    April 17th, 2012 @ 7:46 pm

    […] Santorum supporter Lisa Graas and some of her friends are involved in an interesting endeavor, as Stacy McCain reports: …Lisa Graas and some diehard Santorum supporters have mounted a “Vote for Rick Anyway” […]

  48. Narrative Arc: Second-Guessing Palin, Santorum’s Story and Romney’s Doom
    April 17th, 2012 @ 7:58 pm

    […] Categories: Editorials, OpinionSarah Palin speaks in Manchester, N.H., Sept. 5, 2011Source: The Other McCain.comby Robert Stacy McCainYesterday, Ross Douthat engaged in a “counter-factual” what-if about the […]

  49. richard mcenroe
    April 17th, 2012 @ 8:32 pm

     It’s exactly the speech he’s  not giving.  We’re following the 2006/08 strategy to the letter.

  50. RichFader
    April 17th, 2012 @ 8:41 pm

     I prefer to think of it this way: As far as presidental hopefuls go, Palin turned out to be the equivalent of the cabinet member that stays away from the State of the Union in case the Capitol gets bombed…and the Capitol got bombed.

    (No actual politicians were harmed in the making of this post.)