Dave Weigel's Predictable, Pathetic Response to Deb Fischer's Win

Last night, Steve wrote:

As it became clear these past few days that Governor Palin’s endorsement had succeeded in catapulting Fischer past Stenberg and into a position where she had a legitimate chance to defeat Bruning, panic set in among those wishful thinkers in the DC Establishment on both sides of the aisle who’ve been telling us that her time had passed, that she was irrelevant.

Predictably, Dave Weigel tried to outdo the other "wishful thinkers" in trying to make his handful of readers believe that Governor Palin had nothing at all to do with Deb Fischer's win in Nebraska. Yesterday, in a post titled "Nebraska: Prepare Yourself for Stories About Sarah Palin, Kingmaker," he wrote:

State Sen. Deb Fischer has won the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Nebraska, making her the odds-on favorite to replace Ben Nelson. What you will hear: Sarah Palin endorsed a Mama Grizzly and pushed her over the top. The larger backstory: Fischer benefitted from a yearlong, bloody, stupid primary between state Attorney General Jon Bruning and Treasurer Don Stenberg. The former, working his way up the greasy pole for years, had spooked Chuck Hagel out of running for re-election in 2008, then gotten chased out of the primary by then-Agriculture Sec. Mike Johanns. The latter had lined up conservative support -- Jim DeMint, Rick Santorum, Erick Erickson. The two of them tore chunks out of each other, leaving Fischer alone.

I write that this was predictable because this is what Dave Weigel does anytime Governor Palin is in the news. He downplays her success, takes numerousjabs at her on Slate, and uses childish snark by writing "who?" next to any story he retweets about the Governor on Twitter. It's rather pathetic that a grown man would spend this much time and effort to try and convince the world that someone else is "irrelevant." Normally, you don't have to spend any time or effort persuading the public that a person is irrelevant, people just know that they are.

Weigel may have been correct by stating that the Nebraska GOP primary was "bloody" yearlong process, but that doesn't explain why Fischer picked up so much steam in such a short time period. Just ten days ago, she was polling 16 points behind Jon Bruning.

Also, a few days ago, Tony Lee wrote the following over at Big Government:

This is the first attempt at seeking statewide office for Fischer, a 61-year-old state Senator who has not been a career politician, who needed Palin’s endorsement to level the playing field against her well-funded opponents.

Fishcer’s campaign manager Aaron Trost told Breitbart News that Palin’s endorsement had a “big impact on publicity” and would “help educate a lot of people who the true conservative reformer in the race is.”

Two recent polls show Bruning with the lead, with Fischer in second followed by Stenberg. In a poll commissioned by the Fischer campaign, Bruning led with 30 percent, followed by Fischer with 25.6 percent and Stenberg with 18 percent. Twenty four percent of those polled were still undecided. The primary is on Tuesday.

Palin Power

Fischer e-mailed Palin in December of 2011 while Kay Orr, the first female Republican governor ever to be elected and who is one of Fischer’s statewide co-chairs, also contacted Palin to ensure Fischer stayed on the former governor’s radar screen.

When Palin decided to endorse Fischer, Trost said it led to “an awesome day.”

“Gov. Palin has tremendous support in this state; there were a lot of people excited with the endorsement and wanted to get involved with the campaign,” Trost said, noting that there was a big surge in online contributions and phone calls in the office but would not disclose how much the campaign raised.

“Gov. Palin supporters are not only volunteers but they are workers; supporters of Gov. Palin are in the office every day, going door to door, really into running a grassroots campaign,” Trost said. “They are not into an establishment-type campaign.”

So, Weigel can spend his time trying to convince his readers and Twitter followers that Governor Palin is "irrelevant," and that she had nothing at all to do with the victory in Nebraska, but the campaign manager of the victor in that race disagrees. He, after all, doesn't live in a false reality where he's surrounded by chronically Palin-obsessed leftists, who spend a big chunk of their time trying to convince themselves and each other that she's "irrelevant."

I don't think they can see the irony here.