Tony Lee: Christie says ‘Not My Time' -- All Eyes Now on Palin

"So could it now be Palin’s time?"
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Human Events columnist Tony Lee calls our attention to the interesting coincidence that on the same day New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had to call a press conference to convince some in the GOP establishment and the media once and for all that he's not running for president this election cycle, DVDs of the Sarah Palin documentary "The Undefeated" went on sale in thousands of retail and online outlets.

If it is not Christie's time, as the governor declared Tuesday, the question now becomes, is it Gov. Palin’s time?

From now until the end of October, when candidates must meet the first official filing deadline to get on the primary ballot, the eyes of the political world will be on Palin, who, unlike other candidates who have shown a public sense of indecision, has never gone on record to say that she would not run for President.

In recent weeks, books that have sought to potentially undermine Palin have been thoroughly discredited.

For instance, Joe McGinniss​, an author of an anti-Palin book, had an e-mail he wrote to a source discovered in which he wrote that a “legal review of my manuscript is under way, and here’s my problem: No one has ever offered documentation of any of the lurid stories about the Palins.”

McGinniss’ shenanigans and vindictiveness are representative of the frivolous ethics charges Palin was confronted with when she came back to Alaska after the 2008 election, which The Undefeated documents.

In an unconventional cycle in which candidates have seen rapid and wild swings in their poll numbers in a matter of weeks, Palin is the only Republican figure with enough clout, name recognition and grassroots support to enter this late and be a contender.

In fact, one difference between Palin and Christie is that while the Republican and financial elite have backed Christie, Palin’s support comes from her fervent grassroots supporters who disdain and loathe the GOP establishment and what Palin has referred to as the “permanent political class,” almost as much as they love Palin. Another difference is Palin’s bold conservatism, as opposed to Christie’s more pastel brand, the former’s fitting the spirit of this cycle way more than the latter’s.

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In a delicious twist of irony, the same ruling and chattering classes who have assured us that it was too late for the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate to get into the 2012 race for the White House just made such a turn of events plausible by arguing that there was still plenty of time for New Jersey's governor to start a presidential campaign entirely from scratch. All that remains to be seen are whether Sarah Palin will run and when she will formally announce her intentions. While political junkies wait for those questions to be answered, Tony Lee concludes, "all eyes will be on Palin, and the GOP field is far from being considered set."

- JP