John Phillips: For GOP in 2012, it's Sarah Palin or another big fat L

This is Republicans' best shot at sneaking in a true blue authentic conservative
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Excerpts from a guest post at Top of the Ticket by LA radio talk show host John Phillips, who believes Sarah Palin should be the 2012 GOP presidential nominee:

The Republicans have zero chance of winning the 2012 presidential election themselves.

For the GOP to win, Obama needs to lose.

Gas needs to be at $6.00 a gallon. Unemployment needs to be over 10% and climbing. Vice President Joe Biden needs to be replaced on the ticket with Snooki. The country needs to be going to hell at 100 mph on very expensive gasoline -- and foreign tires.

If Obama loses, it almost doesn't matter who the Republicans nominate -- they will win.

So, if that's your road map for victory, why not nominate someone who will deliver exactly what you want?

[...]

This is the Republican Party's best shot at sneaking in an actual true blue authentic conservative, who can take on all of Washington's sacred cows and then become the most vilified person in the country.

The man for that job is Sarah Palin.

Would a President Huckabee put his office and popularity on the line to take on the highly unpopular, yet urgently necessary issue of entitlement reform? Not likely.

Could you see a President Romney taking the risk of being vilified as a xenophobic racist by demanding an enforcement first approach to illegal immigration? No way, Jose.

How about a President Mitch Daniels going up to Alaska and drilling for oil like a crazed dentist? Good luck.

Sarah Palin? Check. Check. Check.

[More]

A couple of points of contention. For Obama to lose, gasoline doesn't have to be at $6 a gallon, except perhaps in Phillips' California. Anything over $4, however, will work. That's the price point at which most people here in flyover country will lose that last drop of tolerance they have for Obama's suicidal energy policy. Who is vice president at the time is irrelevant.

Also, it surely does matter who the Republicans nominate. If it's Mitt Romney, voters won't perceive that much difference between the GOP candidate and the incumbent on matters such as flip-flopping on the major issues and socialized medicine. RomneyCare equals ObamaCare in the eyes of the electorate. Newt Gingrich can't win his own party's nomination. Blaming his marital infidelity on his patriotism won't fly with the socially conservative base. It's just too Clintonesque. As for Huckabee, it seems that every time he opens his mouth lately, he shoots himself in the foot. Besides, he has a mega-mansion in Florida to pay for, and a POTUS salary and book sales don't add up to enough to meet the payments. Huck needs the checks he gets from doing his television and radio programs big time, but he'll have to give them up if he runs. To quote a Steve Miller Band tune, "What a sacrifice." So much for the top tier of GOP presidential hopefuls.

Down in the lower ranks, there's no winners. None of them has much name recognition. Tim Pawlenty's ability to fire up the voters is somewhere down in the Bob Dole range. That goes double for Mitch Daniels. Haley Barbour carries all that baggage around from his days as a lobbyist, and the left would just love to go after him as a racist, even though he isn't one. But since when have pesky things like the truth mattered to the left?

It's next to impossible to win the presidency from a seat in the U.S. House, which effectively eliminates Michelle Bachmann, Ron Paul and some other congress critters who aren't running anyway. After four years of Obama, voters will likely understand why sitting U.S. Senators are rarely elected to the White House. It's a poor prep school for the presidency. It's even rarer for a figure outside of government to become president, a fact which will eventually deflate the Herman Cain balloon. But the former Godfather's Pizza CEO would be a very unconventional VP choice (ahem).

Rick Santorum's embarrassing 18-point loss for reelection in 2006 does not bode well for his prospects as a presidential candidate, and the base is not likely to forgive his support for Snarlin' Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania circa 2004. Jon Huntsman's resume is tainted by having Barack Obama as his most recent employer. In addition, the former Utah governor angered fiscal conservatives with his support for Cap and Trade, and social conservatives don't cotton to his his support for same sex unions. Rudy Giuliani couldn't live up to all the media hype that designated him as the front-runner in 2008, and nothing has changed since then to alter that fact.

That leaves... Sarah Palin as the only logical choice. And on that much, at least, we heartily agree with John Phillips.

h/t: Andrew

- JP