Thursday, May 13, 2010

Ed Morrissey on Principled Palin Pragmatism

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Hot Air's Ed Morrissey was at the Rosemont Theater last night for Gov. Palin's speech and posted about it this morning. Here are some excerpts which we think are significant, in light of the dust up over Gov. Palin's most recent endorsement:
Palin addressed the issue of her endorsement of Carly Fiorina during her speech. Without mentioning Fiorina by name, Palin defended the California Senate candidate as “pro-life, pro-business,” and underscored Fiorina’s conservative credentials. Activists need to back the “best conservatives we can elect,” Palin said, and said that activists have to have some pragmatism about electability. Palin took a more veiled shot at Tom Campbell by noting that Fiorina was a better conservative choice than some of the alternatives.

She also challenged the notion of RINOs in her speech, which may also have surprised some in the audience. While the name “Mark Kirk!” got yelled repeatedly, Palin warned about purity purges in the Republican Party, especially in this midterm cycle. Palin admitted that RINOs exist but argued that they’re more rare than people think — and to remember that the goal is to produce conservative leadership in Congress and eventually in the White House. That won’t happen, Palin reminded people more than once, while Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi control the agenda.

The crowd was highly receptive to the entire speech, although one could hear a little grumbling about RINOs during Palin’s argument. It was an effective rally speech, but also a practical defense of her efforts and endorsements in this campaign season.
Read the full Morrissey post here.

- JP

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