Quote of the Day (June 22, 2011)

Hey Ed Rollins, you deal with it...
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William A. Jacobson, at Legal Insurrection:

“Your candidate is getting the predictable Palin-treatment, but of course, you have so pissed off Palin supporters, you deal with it. After all, you are a serious campaign consultant.”

- JP

Quote of the Day (June 9, 2011)

Rollins hire was Rep. Bachmann’s first campaign mistake
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William A. Jacobson at Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion:

“Dear Michele Bachmann, If Ed Rollins Stays, I Go... As long as Ed Rollins is one of your advisers, I'm looking elsewhere. It troubles me to say that because I think you have a lot to offer, and I've been as disgusted with the unfair attacks on you as I am with such attacks on Palin. But Rollins spit in the face of every Palin supporter (and I use that term in the broad sense, not just people who support her for President). I cannot support a campaign run by Ed Rollins. Every time I see his smug face as your spokesman, I'll be reminded that the opening shot of your campaign was directed by him at Palin.”

- JP

Team Palin Returns Fire: Glassner blasts Rollins (Updated)

Palin chief: "One would expect that his woodshed moment is coming"
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Sarah Palin's chief of staff returned fire today, in response to comments by Michele Bachmann's newly-hired strategist Ed Rollins criticized the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee. Rollins had suggested to POLITICO that his candidate would benefit by comparison to Gov. Palin and told a radio host that the former Alaska governor was "not serious":

"Beltway political strategist Ed Rollins has a long, long track record of taking high profile jobs and promptly sticking his foot in his mouth," said Sarah PAC chief of staff Michael Glassner in an emailed statement. "To no one's surprise he has done it again, while also fueling a contrived narrative about the presidential race by the mainstream media. One would expect that his woodshed moment is coming and that a retraction will be issued soon."

[...]

Rollins, a top aide to Mike Huckabee in 2008, has a history of blunt talk, and his words exposed developing tensions between the Bachmann and Palin camps.

Rollins demonstrated incredible arrogance by first bashing Gov. Palin and then telling CNN, "In the long run we want Palin and her people as our allies." Memo to Ed Rollins: you don't gain allies by trashing their candidate of choice. Too late, Mr. Rollins. That train has already left the station, and you were the one driving it.

Rollins also told CNN that his recent criticism of Gov. Palin is "not part of an electoral strategy." Not a successful one anyway, in our opinion.

Updates...

Now Rollins is saying that Sarah Palin is serious, and with his comment yesterday, he "missed a step."

That wasn't a step. That was a flying leap worthy of Wyle E. Coyote.

Rep. Bachmann has issued a statement:

“The Congresswoman has nothing but admiration and respect for Governor Palin. The two enjoy a good friendship, and Rep. Bachmann looks forward to working with the Governor for the common goal of making sure President Obama is a one-term President.”

Somehow we missed the apology to Gov. Palin and the rebuke of Ed Rollins in that statement.

Jim Geraghty comments "That’s Just Ed Being Ed":

I found this still-revelant quote from a 1992 New York Times profile of Rollins: “One thing I respect about Ed is that he doesn’t leak,” said James Lake, a Washington lawyer and longtime associate who is advising the Bush re-election team. “He does more damage on the record than any leaker that I’ve ever seen.”

Jonah Goldberg tweets:

"Ed Rollins would be better suited being Anthony Weiner's press secretary."

Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, no Palin fan buy any stretch of the imagination, advises that perhaps the Congresswoman should drop Rollins like a burning ingot:

Bachmann has a reputation on the Hill as a tough boss. Perhaps she’ll keep Rollins around, but no one would think ill of her if she canned him. In fact, the sign of a good executive is the willingness to cut dead wood that is dragging the team down.

Greta weighs in:

A campaign for President should be about the candidates’ positions on issues and we have very important issues to discuss and debate. Rollins’ start with Congresswoman Bachmann makes him look like a has been resurrecting old tactics. She won’t look Presidential with him. She will look strong if she dumps him now and says “not my campaign.”

Blogger and Cornell Law Professor William A. Jacobson posted this today:

A successful career and lifetime of achievement is turned into a caricature based on a handful of misstatements or mistakes. That's what Rollins is doing to Palin, and it's what will be done by others to Bachmann.

Michele Bachmann has a chance to carve out a successful insurgency campaign by uniting the non-establishment base of the party, particularly if Palin does not run. Bachmann's chance will disappear quickly if Ed Rollins' smash-mouth tactics towards Sarah Palin continue much longer.

John Hayward, in a Human Events op ed Tuesday:

It seems like an odd tactical mistake to try appealing to people who like both Bachmann and Palin by trashing Palin. I would imagine some of them will view that as a species of contempt, as if their own support for Palin were not based on sound matters of policy. If a Palin supporter is going to gravitate to Bachmann, it will happen because they view her as a superior champion of the causes they believe in, or because Palin doesn't enter the race. The Rollins approach implies that Palin's supporters are as unserious as he claims Palin is.

Ace opines:

What is this, a bid for the coveted Andrew Sullivan endorsement?

This is horrifically stupid. I am not on Team Palin but if I were part of someone's campaign I would not be deliberately alienating Palin supporters, who already are alienated and feel betrayed by a party which increasingly refuses to take their preferred candidate seriously.

I think this is read not just as a snub of Palin, which would be one thing, but as a snub of Palin supporters -- primary voters -- on a personal level, a rejection of them and their own values, which is, of course, intensely personal.

And Rollins, and this other unnamed aide, just told them all they could go to hell and he didn't have any regard whatsoever for their beliefs or opinions.

Rollins will be fired by the end of next week.

- JP

Jacobson: The GOP Can't Win Without Palin Supporters

Run, don't walk, away from Ed Rollins and others who demean Sarah Palin
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William A. Jacobson comments on Ed Rollins' line of attack on the Mama Grizzly, i.e., "Palin, I knew Reagan. You're no Reagan":

Rollins was Mike Huckabee's campaign manager in the 2008 cycle, and guess who Rollins thought was the next Ronald Reagan:

"Governor Huckabee has probably inspired me as much as Ronald Reagan. He had an ability to connect with people and he was a great communicator. I've looked for a long time for another candidate to do that.

"People are always asking: 'Who's the next Ronald Reagan?' Well, I was with the old Reagan. I can promise you that this man comes as close as I've ever seen."

Prof. Jacobson says he has nothing against Gov. Huckabee, but by calling attention to Rollins' equating of Huckabee with Reagan, he exposes Rollins' own bias and the likely motivation for the unprovoked attack on Gov. Palin.

More importantly, the good professor offers some friendly advice to all viable Republican candidates, advice which we believe should be taken seriously by their various operatives as well:

Run, don't walk, away from Ed Rollins and the others who think that demeaning Sarah Palin is the best way to advance your campaign.

Jacobson points out that to insult Sarah Palin -- as did Ed Rollins and Vichy Joe Scarborough -- is to "seriously misread the Republican electorate":

Without the enthusiasm of Palin supporters the Republican Party is nothing moving into 2012.

The campaign troops who will be in the field, on the telephones and at the fundraisers in 2012 will be the same troops who fought the 2010 campaign war. And those troops weren't carrying Mitt Romney, or Mike Huckabee, or Newt Gingrich signs.

Without the enthusiasm of Gov. Palin's supporters, warns Jacobson, the GOP "is nothing moving into 2012." That does not mean, he explains, that Gov. Palin is entitled to nomination or that her backers make up the majority of the Republican Party:

It does mean that the Republican nominee cannot win against Barack Obama without the enthusiasm and support of Palin supporters.

In other words, poking Gov. Palin and her troops in the eye is not exactly a good political career move for would-be Republican candidates and their would-be staffers.

- JP

Refudiating Ed Rollins

Sarah knows the issues, Mr. Rollins. Read her op-eds and get a clue.
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Mike Huckabee's 2008 campaign manager Ed Rollins launched a vicious attack today on Gov. Palin in a hit piece posted on CNN's website. Dan Calabrese calls him out for his disingenuous smear job:

There is much to mock about a piece on Gov. Palin’s supposed lack of presidential qualifications, especially coming from a man who once tried to help win the presidency for H. Ross Perot, who was not only unqualified but also insane.

But the one that deserves to be exploded is one of the most oft-repeated, condescending slams on Palin. It certainly does not represent any original thinking on Rollins’s part, as it’s been expressed many times by the likes of George Will and just about every D.C.-based political consultant. It is this:

“If you want to be a player, go to school and learn the issues.”

Bulls___, Mr. Rollins. Bulls___.

The notion that Sarah Palin isn’t up to speed on the issues is one of the most groundless ideas on the political landscape today. Take your pick where it comes from: The stupid Charlie Gibson “Bush Doctrine” question? (In which Gibson demonstrated he doesn’t know anything about the Bush Doctrine.) The media’s full-court coverup of Palin’s truthfulness in talking about death panels? People’s confusion between Tina Fey’s caricature and the genuine article?

Whatever the source, it only goes to prove that lots of people believing something doesn’t make it true.

Spend some time on Palin’s Facebook page, where she regularly holds forth on the issues. See what she has to say about tax policy, the WikiLeaks fiasco, monetary policy, energy policy, Iraq and the crucial priorities facing the incoming GOP Congress.

And that’s just the most recent. Palin regularly uses her Facebook platform to deliver her thoughts on leading issues of the day to nearly 2.5 million fans who receive her posts in their newsfeeds. So she not only knows the issues and expounds on them with eloquence, she is smart enough to go directly to the public with her message, bypassing the idiotic legacy media in the process.

[More]

Another well-documented refudiation of Rollins' politically-motivated anti-Palin barrage was published today by Whitney Pitcher on Conservatives 4 Palin. Give it a read.

- JP

Ed Rollins: Primaries prove Palin, Tea Party are for real

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Ed Rollins,who was political director for the Reagan White House, is currently a senior political contributor for CNN. He comments on the political primary season which wrapped up Tuesday:

The Tea Party is for real! Sarah Palin is the woman!

Whether mainstream Republicans or the political class like it, she is the darling of the angry, motivated voters out there and her endorsement counts big time, at least in Republican primaries.

Forget Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's endorsement. In May, he couldn't even get his hand-picked candidate the nomination in a state he is supposed to control. You want to win, get support from Senator Jim DeMint, chairman of the conservative Senate Republican Steering Committee, or former Majority leader and Tea Party activist Dick Armey.

Not every Palin-endorsed candidate won, but she certainly was a major player in taking unknown candidates and getting them across the finish line. The winners in the Senate primaries yesterday in New Hampshire and Delaware yesterday were just added to that list.

I can't remember any political cycle where the Republican establishment took the mugging its taken over the last few months.

(More...)

Read the full Rollins political analysis here.

- JP