ALG's Rick Manning: Don't blame Sarah Palin

The GOP establishment lost the Senate
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On The Hill's Pundits Blog, Rick Manning, communications director of Americans for Limited Government, stands up for Gov. Palin, who is under attack by a GOP establishment which is trying to blame her for its own failure to win the Senate in the midterm elections:

Sarah Palin did not cast a single vote in Delaware, Kentucky, Florida, Utah, Colorado or Nevada. Republican voters in those states did. The fact that the candidates “chosen” by the professional Republican class in D.C. failed to impress Republican Party voters enough to win their respective nominations should be a wake-up call for the D.C. Republican know-it-alls, who think they should choose the “right” candidate and the rest of America should just accept their omniscient judgment.

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This rebellion by the masses against the Republican establishment is borne out by poll after poll showing that Republicans (read — establishment Republicans) are not held in particularly high esteem by the voters, even those who identify themselves as Republicans.

Sarah Palin has captured this sentiment, and helped provide voters with choices through her endorsement of alternative candidates.

Palin, who has personally felt the barbs and snickers of the Republican establishment, has given hope to Republicans across the nation that they don’t have to settle for Democrat-lite candidates who represent their values in party affiliation only.

Unfortunately, those who want to blame Palin are missing the basic fact that if they identified and supported candidates who were strong advocates of the free-enterprise system rather than hollowed-out cores running in Republican suits, their candidates would have won.

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- JP