Chris Barron: Confusing Red State Attack on Palin

"I suspect he & other Perry supporters view Palin’s candidacy as an existential threat to their candidate."
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From Christopher Barron, as posted at Red Barron:

I have to admit to being more than a little perplexed at the line of attack against former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin taken by Red State’s Erick Erickson. Erickson first took the line of attack on his blog last week and it was picked up in an AP article today. Erickson goes after Palin saying:

“We are coming to the end of the line for Sarah Palin’s ability to string the Republican primary voters along,” wrote conservative blogger Erick Erickson of RedState last week. “They are trying to settle on a candidate now, they’ve held out hope of her entry and are now ready for her to put up or shut up. Many of them have already moved on.”

This line of attack is particularly bizarre given that Erickson’s preferred candidate, Texas Governor Rick Perry, announced his bid just two weeks ago. Apparently, two weeks makes all the difference in the world to Erickson.

Was Governor Perry “stringing” primary voters along when he said he wasn’t running for President and then changed his mind and decided to run for President?

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h/t: John Nolte

- JP

Norquist and Barron: Sarah Palin has earned the right to run for president

"Palin’s résumé more than qualifies her as a top-tier candidate"
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In a Politico 44 opinion piece, Grover Norquist, of Americans for Tax Reform, and GOProud's Christopher Barron make the case for Gov. Palin qualifications and her right to run for president:

Palin has made clear that she is thinking about running for president. Everyone, from pundits to former first ladies, has weighed in on what she should do. Many urge her not to run.

But if she decides to, Republicans of all stripes should applaud her decision. This isn’t an endorsement of her candidacy. It is, however, an endorsement of her right to participate in the process.

[...]

Palin has earned the right to run if she chooses. Despite the left’s caricature of her, Palin’s résumé more than qualifies her as a top-tier candidate. She brings almost 20 years of public service experience to the table. She has served as city council member, mayor, chairwoman of Alaska’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, governor and GOP vice presidential nominee.

Men with no elective experience have sought the GOP nomination. In the 2012 cycle, we might see a former mayor, a former ambassador, a senator defeated by almost 20 points in his reelection bid, a sitting governor and a former one-term governor all seek the Republican nomination. Rightly, none of these men has been urged not to run — and neither should Palin.

[...]

We don’t pretend to know what Palin will do — and can’t tell her what’s in the best interest of her and her family. We can, however, say with confidence that if she wants to run, she should. She has earned that right. A Palin candidacy would be good for the process, good for our party and good for our country.

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Hmmm... Norquist and Barron must not be among those Republican leaders Joe Scarborough has talked to whom he claims agreed with his criticism of Gov. Palin. As we have already pointed out, Scarborough also claimed that all of the conservative radio hosts he's talked to share his opinion of the governor as well. Yet both Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin are among Sarah Palin's strongest supporters, and they have in common a very low opinion of Scarborough.

SCARBOROUGH: They will not say it on camera, but they all say it, all say it, all say it off set.

BRZEZINSKI: All of them.

We can only conclude that Mika and Joe don't talk to many "major Republican figures." Not conservative ones, anyway. Either that, or they both lied. It's not like MSDNC hosts have sterling reputations for veracity...

- JP