So long Sarah.

I’m not sure if any of you were surprised by Sarah Palin’s decision to step down as Governor of Alaska this past weekend, but I was absolutely stunned.

Stunned because she strikes me as the type of person that truly enjoys sticking it to her detractors (an admirable trait in my mind) and nothing would accomplish that better than unabashedly staying in office and conducting business as usual.

But that really wasn’t possible for Palin. The business of Alaska was being needlessly interrupted by numerous, frivolous ethics investigations concocted by her political enemies to smear her good name (In fact, in the 15 cases she has had to defend herself, she has been exonerated in all 15). Her personal life was becoming too much of a distraction as she (truthfully) and numerous members of the media were seemingly obsessed with the Palin story. She also seemed to be torn between her duties in Alaska and her aspirations of becoming a larger, national leader.

So she quit, leaving her political future as muddled as a Joe Biden policy explanation.

I cannot say that I blame her, but unlike many commentators, I think this buries her chances at her becoming president and I don’t really know if that is a bad thing or not.

I like Sarah Palin, I like her rags to riches story, I like her feistiness and I like her stances on some issues, but am I ready to jump on board the Palin bandwagon for president?

Absolutely not.

This is mainly due to the fact that I don’t really know where she stands on a lot of issues.

Does she have a firm grasp of the critical budgetary and economic issues facing our nation and the world? I don’t know.

Does she have enough foreign policy savvy to strengthen our relationships with our allies or repair the ones with our enemies? Beats me.

Can she rally moderate republicans in Congress to adhere to a true conservative agenda? Perhaps, but probably not.

Now in all fairness to her, I’m not sure that any prospective 2012 republican nominees are capable of achieving the above goals, but I’m not exactly high on any of them either…not yet at least.

The bottom line for me with Palin is her level of experience and I, frankly, don’t think she has enough to be president. I know some of you are probably shouting, “Obama had less experience than she did!”

True… but where has that gotten us?

I know that, if she chooses, she now has roughly three years to tour the country, make alliances with republicans from coast-to-coast, become more familiar with issues without being hamstrung by her responsibilities in Alaska and emerge as a national, conservative leader. This could position her nicely for 2012, but I don’t think it will play out that way.

She will be hounded by the press (fairly) for leaving office early and (unfairly) for her supposed family scandals. I think this will ultimately be the thing that prevents her from making a serious run at the presidency and I think that is incredibly sad. Sad in the sense that she has been so unfairly demonized in the press and by operatives within the McCain campaign that depicted her as aloof, stupid, crazy and, frankly, a bitch.

You know, I am used to the media mistreating conservatives, but her treatment from the McCain camp really doesn’t sit well with me. I can tell you that the, literal, only time I was ever excited about the McCain campaign was when he named her as his VEEP candidate. She was not the reason they lost, rather it was the fact he was a poor candidate with a meandering message and a rudderless campaign.

As I said, I am not sure that I would have supported her, but I think she should be given the opportunity, the fair opportunity, to run if she chose. However, due to the personal attacks by the media and the coordinated efforts by democrat and republican operatives alike to destroy her reputation, I don’t think she’ll get the chance.

And I think that that is how the Sarah Palin story will end, as a footnote or cautionary tale for some and a punch line and object of scorn for others.

I think she deserved better than that.

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John

What a joke!

Way to go Senate Republicans, you really blew it. And yes, I blame all of them.

I know a number of them did not and will not support the plan, however, this shows that there’s a complete lack of leadership at the top of the party.

This was a total failure by Mitch McConnell and, if you ask me, he should be completely embarrassed by his inability to get all of his fellow republicans on the same page.

I hope I’m wrong about this plan. I hope that somehow it actually does turn around the economy and if it does that, I will be the first to congratulate the democrats and admit I was wrong.

However, I find this incredibly unlikely to happen and now, the republicans won’t be able to run for cover when the fallout from this enormous pork monstrosity starts to rain down.

Well done republicans, way to completely sell out.

Will the Republicans squander this opportunity?

Well, it appears that my prediction that the stimulus bill would quickly go through the Senate after the little resistance it met in the House last week was woefully incorrect.

Note to self, stop making predictions.

So we seem to have a bit of a standoff on our hands here, don’t we?

I really think that this is an extremely important moment for the Republican Party. If the Senate Republicans follow the lead of their House brethren, I think they have a real chance at making some significant gains in 2010…maybe even regaining control of Congress.

You see, I have no doubt that the stimulus bill will fail. I know that this is simply speculation and not a veritude, but I really fail to see how it will work. You have heard all of the arguments against it from me and other commentators, but, in short, there are so few sections of this bill that will do anything to actually stimulate the economy, that the rest of this pork-filled nightmare will more than eliminate the little good the actual stimulus sections would do.

If the Senate Republicans refuse to support this bill, then they will be completely absolved of any blame when it fails. This will allow them to give voters a clear choice when voting in 2010…those who supported a plan that contributed to sinking our economy deeper into debt while alienating our global trading partners and those that did not.

This really is the only choice the Republicans have or else they run the risk of going the way of the dodo.

The party has been watered down by a bunch of lazy hacks that have far more interest in getting elected than upholding the conservative values they supposedly stand for.

It has gotten to the point that it is nearly impossible to tell the two parties apart.

This action, this willingness to say “no”, would draw a direct line in the sand. It would be a major difference that voters could look to when deciding who should run the country in a couple of years.

If the Senate Republicans say “no” to this plan, they will breathe some much-needed life into the Republican Party and show the Obama administration that he will not be able to woo them with mere uplifting rhetoric …this type of opportunity does not come around too often.

Hopefully, the Republicans will sense this and continue to stand firm against this bill that will do a lot of things…except stimulate the economy.

I suspect that they will as the national tide is really beginning to turn against this plan as Congress continues to heap more and more spending onto this already gargantuan bill.

There I go with my predictions again.

Ok, no more predictions starting…now!

That’s all for now folks. Until next time, take care and be well.

-John