Sarah Palin must go, conservative columnist Kathleen Parker opines

This just in: Sarah Palin has NOT given up her spot of the Republican presidential ticket.

Nor do we expect her to.

But we broach the prospect simply because a nationally syndicated conservative columnist, Kathleen Parker, has called for Palin to do exactly that.

Parker's piece showed up at midday Friday on the National Review website (you don't get much more conservative than that) and since then has generated lots of buzz (and been picked up, not surprisingly, by lots of liberal blogs).

The columnist, who resides in South Carolina and posts regularly at Townhall.com (another conservative outlet), was high on Palin earlier this month in the immediate aftermath of her selection as John McCain's running mate.

In a commentary following Palin's boffo speech at the Republican National Convention, Parker wrote that the Alaska governor had shown "strength, conviction, determination, confidence, a willingness to rumble and fearlessness."

Now, in the wake of Palin's less-than-well-received Q & A with Katie Couric of CBS, Parker writes:

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted. Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there.

Parker, who if nothing else has increased her visibility, concludes her column with her call for Palin to "bow out [of the national race] for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn."

Those on the left with a conspiratorial bent may wonder if the latest developments in the Palin saga are part of a hidden effort to create an environment in which she can't help but exceed expectations in her Thursday debate with Joe Biden.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Karol]

Sarah Palin does not need to go. Sarah Palin needs to be Sarah. What needs to go are her "instructors" who seem to be telling her what to say, limiting her appearances etc.
If left to her own talents and speaking ability, she will do just fine without coaching.

She could have answered Couric's questions had she not been trying to follow the coaching. Don't follow the coaching - follow your instincts and your heart.

Back off McCain campaign and let Sarah be Sarah and she will do what you chose her to do: make McCain a winner in November.

[mgultch]

I fell like I am watching someone cram for a multiple choice standardized test. No wonder our schools stink!

http://www.boppoll.com

Obama '08

[Ron M.]

Jeff,
Thank you for so perfectly illustrating the pseudo-intellectualism of Governor Palin's critics. You have inappropriately used the word "lieu."

[JimmyHat]

Watch out Joe Biden, the Rove machine is baiting you! Sarah is not as dumb as she is acting. Think about it. If there's anything a beauty queen knows how to do it's acting dumb. She didn't become governor of Alaska by being stupid, but she might become president of the U.S.A. by acting stupid and then opening a can of whoop-ass on you. Please take her seriously in spite of her weak performance during the Couric interview. She is Bush in a skirt.

[Chris tyker]

at this rate the dems don't need to campaign for the next month.All they gotta do to win is schedule and pay for Palin's air time on any station, any planet, any language(even gibberish), any time.Game ,set , match.

[JimmyHat]

Watch out Joe Biden, the Rove machine is baiting you! Sarah is not as dumb as she is acting. Think about it. If there's anything a beauty queen knows how to do it's acting dumb. She didn't become governor of Alaska by being stupid, but she might become president of the U.S.A. by acting stupid and then opening a can of whoop-ass on you. Please take her seriously in spite of her weak performance during the Couric interview. She is Bush in a skirt.

[David Parker]

Based on the very limited access the American public has been allowed to Sarah Palin's views by her McCain handlers, we can safely assume that she is in no way qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. She demonstrates very little understanding of the issues facing our nation. I am impressed that she was able to win the governorship of Alaska, but to elect her as VP would do a tremendous disservice to the American people. We need no further evidence than her poor performance in the recent interview with Katie Couric. If she cannot compose herself with the "kid's gloves" interview with Katie, how can she conceivably represent us with negotiations other world leaders. Don't take my word for it, watch the interview here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP12aNzocSc

P.S. feeling sorry for Palin as a reason for electing her would be a tragic error on our part.

[peter]

There's something rotten in Denmark. Its almost as if McCaine is purposely trying to lose or he's setting up some kind of Oct surprise. Why wouldn't anybody help her with the foreign policy blunder and let her repeat it again to Katie Couric. She has to have some kind of debating/interviewing experience. She looked like a middle school cheerleader w/Couric. Strange world. McCaine has poor judgement period. I read somewhere that he crashed 3 fighter planes during his navy career. When you wreck 3 multi million dollar planes and get caught by the enemy ,it speaks to your judgemnt and ability. Everyone talks about what a hero he was for not accepting an early release from the POW camp but a lot of that was due to the shame he surely would have endured being a privledged son of an Admiral and what his father would have thought of him. Im sorry but sometimes the truth is a bitter pill. Good luck America.

[patrick abbott]

To those who bothered to vote last time and gave their vote to G.W. Bush, please use some good old American common sense and use your vote to get us out of the mess into which the Republicans have dropped us.
You don't need to be brilliant to see that Sarah and McCain, hero though he truly is, are not the team to make Anerica great again. Think before you vote, we need to regain our credibility as a nation. The Blue team just don't cut it!

[Ryal Haakenson]

Why is it that Parker questions Palih's qualifications on economics and foreign policy when they're just as good as all our presidents beginning with Jimmy Carter were when they first took office and certainly much better than 2004 VP candidate John Edwards.

[acarponzo]

It is ridiculous that a conservative would try to sabotage Sarah at this point in the campaign. So much of her gaffes at this point are the results of editing. If you do not think Katie purposely ended her first interview with that "I'll have to check and bring that back to you," you are all more naive then I thought. But I guess that was McCain's point. Obama is naive, so must be his followers. http://www.bop-o-rama.com
I am starting my morning with 500 bops on NOBAMA. Going to email a few friends to do the same.

McCain/Palin '08

[Ginger K.]

Palin + McCain = Pain

[Dominick Arbolay]

When I first registered to vote, I joined the Republican Party 32 years ago. It was a hard-headed party that supported science, standards in education and conduct, a party that was not afraid of the word "elitist." The '60s liberals were a bunch of touchy-feely Luddites who espoused "situational ethics", i.e., there's no absolute standards of right or wrong, only the ends justifying the means. You see much of the corruption of the Republican Party today by the 60s (The Patriot Act, rendition, illegal wire-tapping, down to the invasion of Iraq as examples of situational ethics), the Yippie-type in-your-face theaterics
of FoxNews and talk radio. Even the Bush tax cuts, with out corresponding spending cut, is a perverted form of that old, liberal warhorse, Keynesian economics. That attacts on science is the most glaring example of the de-evolution of the conservative movement. Hard-headed facts don't mean anything to a bunch of "touchy-feely"
conservatives. I miss those days when conservatives drank Scotch istead of beer, listened to Mahler and DeBussy, and had a firm grasp of this country's and the world's issues.

[br]

Watching the debate on Thursday will be like going to a NASCAR race. Sure, you're there to see who'll win, but there's a part of you hoping there's a firey crash somewhere in the contest! And that'll be Palin. (Unless, of course, the Couric interview was just part of crafted plan to make Sarah look so insipid that so long as she doesn't drool into her mike come debate time she's declared/spinned the winner.)

[HyperGirl]

I've watched, in entirety, the interviews Palin gave on both ABC and CBS. She clearly is in way over her head. The vice-president is required to do very little constitutionally and usually votes along party lines. Given, however, McCain's age and cancer history, he might not last one term. Palin clearly is not ready for the presidency and will not be anytime soon.

[Anne]

I'm embarssed for her... and for the women who have thrown their discernment and logic out the window and hopped on teh Palin bandwagon because they "like her".
Any thinking person sees that she is neither well educated nor qualified, makes policy from personal pettiness and preference and lies through her teeth. ... but her fans "like" her.
People like that don't deserve democracy... and I am deeply sad for this great country

[Terri Elders]

Thank you to the person who attempted to introduce civility and reason into this thread. Of course, Sarah Palin is NOT stupid. She has managed to get herself elected to be mayor of a small town, and governor of a state. She has a college degree. She has played competitive basketball and won beauty contests. She has many accomplishments to be proud of. Nonetheless, she is, as Kathleen Parker reminds us, in way over her head. I don't want the girl next door running this country. I want an extraordinary individual, a person capable of heading the Harvard Law Review, a person who can articulate the US position to foreign diplomates. I want intelligence, coherence, an understanding of nuance. And I don't want somebody who believes that humans and dinosaurs roamed the early together just 6000 years ago. Palin is entitled to her beliefs. I just don't want her leading our country at this crucial moment. Like many women, I am happy to see females taken seriously at the national level, at long last. But Palin is the wrong woman with the wrong message for right now.

[jim]

People who plan to vote for Sarah after seeing the interviews on TV or the net must have an IQ of about 80 or less. Of course those same people will not know that is not a compliment.

I'm a republican and I'm being forced to vote for Obama to protect our country because Palin is too close to running the country. John is great but he is an old old old man who is not in the best of health.

[Tina olsen]

I think Palin might be a better debater than shown in the interview. But she sure is not qualified for the job. McCain has shown poor and stumbling judgement. He is erratic and desperate. I would not feel safe with his finger on the nuke button. McCain is a 20th century soldier. Americans need a 21st century leader. Obama at least presents a vision. McCain only talks about the past (not that I blame him - it's only natural when you're in your 70s). Palin's world view is even more outdated than McCain's.

[Dan]

After watching Sarah Palin at the UN photo opps posing with some of the world leaders this week and the Pakistani leader describing her as "gorgeous". It is horrifyingly apparent that she will NEVER be taken seriously on the international stage. Her ignorance in domestic and global affairs is an embarrassment to women everywhere! God help us!

[Obie Obien]

am embarrassed. I was rooting for this but must admit, Obama/Biden are the better of two evils frankly. A lifelong Republican I always voted along party lines...stupid yeah...I can't vote for my party's ticket. Palin's a BIMBO and an AIRHEAD. I don't want to be a bimbo myself by voting for her on the ticket. I'm no longer a Republican...I have seen the error of my ways...McCain shot himself in the head on his choice of Pallin...confirming that he too is a bimbo indeed. I'm an Independent after seeing her bimbo performance, no longer a proud Republican, and will vote for the best. The McCain Palin ticket isn't the best for our country.

[norman ravitch]

It is not only Palin's inexperience that troubles me. She is also of that ranting and raving wing of Christianity based on the Book of Revelations, a book which was added to the New Testament over objections by many early Christians who viewed it as the product of delusion and excess rather than the revelation of God.

[legal222]

It's OK to like Sarah Palin - I'm sure she's a nice lady and fun at a block party. But she is NOT qualified to be in such high office, let alone run this country. Let's get real. Please. This is not a 'sisterhood' this is real life. I find it frightening that many in this society can't see this.
I can only equate it something that is very close to my own personal experience. When my son was born I needed to choose a godparent that would raise my son if something should happen to me. I have some wonderful girlfriends...some as long as 35 years...but there was only one that I felt over the long haul would be able to raise my child. It didn't mean that I didn't love the others...they just weren't 'qualified' for the job. The way we live our lives and care for our families are tied to this election like no other. We are in a place in this world that we've really never been. MCain is ready to go to war with just about anyone that he doesn't agree with. He's got absolutely no diplomatic bent to his personality. Sarah is just not up to the task. I believe that MCcain still has a huge chip on his shoulder from the war. I see a future with a draft in it. Where are all these troops going to come from? If you're willing to risk the lives of your children and their future then absolutely...go for Sarah. Rah Rah. I hope that all of this public bravado is just that...but once inside the voting booth you'll make another choice. We will not survive a MCcain/Palin America.

[C. Markey]

For her extreme rt. wing conservative religious views alone, Palin should NEVER have been chosen as Republican Veep candidate. Religion has no place in government.---certainly not in a democracy. Plus, the ideas she expresses on politics reveal her to be completely unaware of a world outside of Alaska! She is not in touch! She is cunning but she is not intelligent nor well-educated. Needs to go back to school and major in history and poly-sci.

[Joe W]

Imagine if Condoleezza Rice had left after Bush’s first term and now was McCain’s VP selection. Obama’s ONLY chance would have been with Hillary Clinton as his running mate.
To show how far the Republican Party has fallen, imagine these scenarios:

Condoleezza Rice and Sarah Palin debating Foreign Policy. Wow!
Dan Quayle and Sarah Palin debating Foreign Policy. Mr. Quayle would suddenly look great.
I’m not a republican, but I admire quality (even when I have opposite views).
If Bill Clinton were running again, this race would be over within five minutes of the polls closing (actual polls). That’s how bad the last eight years have been.