Thursday, July 28, 2011

NY Times: Palin’s Well-Timed Reminder to Freshmen

Did Governor Palin's well-timed Facebook post influence this afternoon's events on Capitol Hill? New York Times writer Michael Shear posted an article today pondering the matter. He wrote:
Sarah Palin has impeccable timing.

The former Republican vice presidential nominee took to her Facebook page Thursday afternoon to warn freshman Republicans in the House that they just might face primary opposition if they cave in to demands by their party to raise the debt ceiling.

“All my best to you, GOP Freshmen, from up here in the Last Frontier. Sincerely, Sarah Palin,” she wrote. “P.S. Everyone I talk to still believes in contested primaries.”

Just two hours later, House Speaker John A. Boehner was forced to postpone the vote on his proposal to increase the debt ceiling at the last minute, apparently facing a revolt among some of those very members.

The House delayed the vote on Mr. Boehner’s bill, moved onto the business of naming post offices, and eventually went into recess.

There is no proof that Ms. Palin’s online missive was even read by any of the wavering Republicans or played any role in helping to stir up the sheep in Mr. Boehner’s flock.

But the former Alaska governor is very good at capturing media attention when she wants it. And refusing to go along with what the establishment — especially the Republican establishment — wants is one of the ways she does it.
I do take issue with Mr. Shear's slight insinuation there, that the governor was looking for media attention. As was obvious from the Scott Conroy interview with CBS from earlier today, the "conventional wisdom" in Washington DC is that Governor Palin does things strictly FOR media attention. Just how ignorant is DC "conventional wisdom" anyway? Do these people not realize that Governor Palin could pick up the phone at any given time and call any reporter of her choosing to get some "attention" if that is what she wanted? No, Sarah Palin doesn't do things so people will feed her ego. That's a trait usually reserved for the non-hobbits who currently reside in the nation's capitol.

Beyond that, it is interesting the how things panned out today. GOP House leaders had been telling the media that their bill was as good as passed, then all of the sudden, it wasn't. Shortly after she republished her letter to the freshmen congress-members from last November, things in the House shifted. Her statement was a reminder about principles and it was a timely reminder, indeed.

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