Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Beliefnet Editor: Palin has 'Christian protective armor'

Steven Waldman, Beliefnet's editor in chief, says he's "bullish on Sarah Palin's prospects" and cites her popularity with religious conservatives. Waldman believes that demographic will be "as important if not more so in the 2012 Republican primaries" than it was in 2008:
"She's beloved largely because of who she is and what she's accomplished as a person, not what she's accomplished as a Governor. The most important fact for the religious conservatives who love her remains that she gave birth to a baby with downs syndrome rather than opting for an abortion. Everything else pales in comparison. She's viewed as a pro-life politicians who practices what she preaches. Each conservative politician who ends up caught in the men's room with a male prostitute or in Argentina with a soul mate, only makes Palin's authenticity more powerful."
The Beliefnet editor says that the attacks on Palin and her family only serve to make her supporters admire her even more:
"She wears Christian protective armor. She uses every attack on her as proof that someone is out to get her and in fact many Christians believe that anti-Palin bias is anti-Christian bias. Like some superhero with special powers, the more she's attacked the stronger she becomes."
After Sarah Palin is free from the virtual prison of the Alaska governor's office, she will be able to travel without being slammed for it in her home state. Campaigning and raising money for conservative candidates will earn her political IOUs, which Waldman thinks will increase her popularity:
"Within two years, she'll go from a popular outsider, to a woman with a lot of friends."
Though she still has work to do to win over a substantial majority of independents to help her win a general election, Waldman sees Sarah Palin taking care of first things first -- by focusing on the GOP nomination. And toward that end, he believes that by resigning as governor of the remote state of Alaska, Sarah Palin has done herself no harm.

- JP

No comments:

Post a Comment